January 1 - Oregon
Portland Community Bowling Association begins with 50 bowlers and ten teams.
September 7 - Minnesota
Robert Allen Taylor was stabbed to death near Loring Park in Minneapolis. A local reporter interviewed the murderer from jail and was told, "I don't like gays. Okay?"
May 21 - California
Dan White is convicted of voluntary manslaughter for the assassinations of Harvey Milk and George Moscone and is sentenced to seven years in prison. Outraged by what they believed to be a lenient sentence, more than 5,000 protesters ransack San Francisco’s City Hall, doing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property damage in the surrounding area. Additional protests occur nationwide. The following night, approximately 10,000 people gather on San Francisco’s Castro and Market streets for a peaceful demonstration to commemorate what would have been Milk’s 49th birthday.
January 1 - New Jersey
The Diocese of Trenton, N.J., appoints a liaison for sexual minorities.
May 7 - Florida
Tennessee Williams was beaten by five teenage boys in Key West. He escaped serious injury. The episode was part of a spate of anti-gay violence inspired by an anti-gay newspaper ad run by a local Baptist minister.
April 15 - California
Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence debuts. The Sisters have devoted themselves to community service, ministry and outreach to those on the edges, and to promoting human rights, respect for diversity and spiritual enlightenment. We believe all people have a right to express their unique joy and beauty and we use humor and irreverent wit to expose the forces of bigotry, complacency and guilt that chain the human spirit.
President Jimmy Carter
January 1 - Washington D.C.
In Richmond, Beth Marschak is hired by the Virginia Coalition on Lesbian and Gay Rights as the first lobbyist at the General Assembly on behalf of LGBT rights.
October 14 - Washington D.C.
Gay and lesbian Latinos announce their presence nationally at the historic 1979 March on Washington. Coalitions from Texas, California, and the East Coast--together with representatives from Latin America--convened days before the March at Howard University to participate in the Third World Gay Conference.
June 5 - Minnesota
Terry Knudsen was beaten to death by three men in Loring Park in Minneapolis
State equality and discrimination bills
January 1 - National
The co-founders for Exodus International, a religious organization that offered conversion therapy to gays and lesbians resign the organization and have a commitment ceremony with each other two years later. In 2007 they issue a public apology to the community at large for the work that they did. Though Exodus International disbanded a spin off “global” organization still carries on their work outside of the United States. The organization was plagued with internal love affairs and scandals as they preached conversion therapy to America.
June 23 - Virginia
Richmond, Virginia, the city’s first PRIDE festival commemorates the 10th Anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion, includes a car parade down a main street from Azalea Gardens to Byrd Park, and ends with a picnic at Byrd Park. The Richmond Lesbian Feminists (RLF) sponsors a dance following the PRIDE event.
June 1 - California
Affirmation marched in a Pride Parade for the first time in in Los Angeles.
June 11 - New York
The Comite Homosexual Latinoamericano (COHLA) attempts to march in New York City’s annual Puerto Rican Day Parade. Although denied participation, they succeed in bringing attention to gay lives and politics in the Puerto Rican and broader Latino community. A 63-page pamphlet in Spanish, AFUERA, is published highlighting the political dimension of coming out, Third World liberation, Marxist thought, and patriarchy.
October 14 - Oregon
A candlelight march at South Park Blocks coincides with National March in Washington DC, co- sponsored by Portland Town Council and MCC.
January 1 - National
Randy Turner was a punk rocker and is regarded as a pioneer gay performer in the world of punk rock.
January 1 - National
Betty Hicks, a founder of and player on the LPGA, writes a positive article, a first, about lesbians in golf in Christopher Street, a monthly literary magazine for the gay community featuring fiction, nonfiction, poetry, news, book reviews and photography.
January 18 - Michigan
Michigan Supreme Court restores custody of Jillian Miller to her lesbian mother Margareth.
January 1 - National
Philip Gefter coauthors a book about his life “Lovers: The Story of Two Men”
January 1 - Virginia
The City Council in Richmond, Virginia, considers the Richmond Human Rights Commission’s proposal to add nondiscrimination to the City code, but deletes sexual orientation from the list of protected classes; as of 2015, sexual orientation is still not included as a protected class.
November 1 - Minnesota
Tim Campbell a writer and activist founds the GLC Voice newspaper.
June 1 - Oregon
By this time, three gay related groups are under one roof: The original Portland Town Council (PTC) which lobbies for legislation; PTC PAC which raises money for candidates; and the Town Council Foundation, which is tax exempt and does education. The latter group eventually became Phoenix Rising, an LGBT counselling center. Dr. Jack Abele and partner Warren James donate $30,000 to the foundation annually for five years.
April 11 - Georgia
First meeting of Atlanta’s Liberal Religious Gay Council.
June 30 - Ohio
Rally at Fountain Square = Proclamation by mayor Bobbie Sterne (10th anniversary of Stonewall) (Greater Cincinnati Gay Coalition)
April 1 - Oregon
PTC’s Jerry Weller relates the gay civil rights attempt in this legislative session. The Oregon House passes a bill to ban sexual orientation discrimination. Carried by Senator Ted Kulongoski, the Oregon Senate also passes it. However, the Senate President holds it back and so the bill dies without going to the governor.
January 1 - Oregon
The Oregon Court of Appeals overturns a visitation restriction on a Lesbian mother, six years after a Gay father was forced to end his relationship to keep his sons.
January 1 – Michigan
Lansing Association for Human Rights is founded.
May 31 - California
The California Supreme Court made a landmark decision that public utility companies may not arbitrarily refuse to hire homosexuals, nor can they interfere with employee involvement in gay organizations.
January 1 - National
In a national effort to stimulate the fundamentalist vote and elect Christian Right candidates, the Moral Majority organization is founded by televangelist Jerry Falwell. Early fundraising appeals include a “Declaration of War” on homosexuality. The group enjoys political successes during the presidency of Ronald Reagan but dissolves in the late 1980s due to financial difficulties.
August 1 - Georgia
Some 200 people show up for the first “Hotlanta Raft Race” down the Chattahoochee, an annual event eventually attracting gays and lesbians from around the country.
Randy Turner
January 1 - National
Sasha Alyson forms Alyson Books, which is a book publishing house which specializes in LGBT fiction and non-fiction.
October 14 - Washington D.C.
About 75,000 people participated in the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in Washington, D.C. It was the largest political gathering in support of LGBT rights to date.
January 1 - Oregon
Gay and Lesbian Affirmed (GALA) founded by the Reverend Robert Wheatley and cosponsored by the Office of Gay Concerns and Ferry Beach Park Association. A one-week conference, including workshops, worship, fun, fellowship. Success prompted founding of Gay Men's Spirituality Weekend and Sappho's Sisters conference.
Tennessee Williams
June 1 - Georgia
Shortly after Channel 11 runs a series on male prostitution, the Fulton County Solicitor issues warrants for the arrest of three gay owners and employees of local gay publications Score and Cruise Weekly on charges of distributing obscene materials.
June 1 - National
The Unitarian Universalist Association’s Gay and Lesbian Affirmed (GALA) is founded by the Reverend Robert Wheatley and cosponsored by the Office of Gay Concerns and Ferry Beach Park Association. The group’s success prompts founding of the Gay Men’s Spirituality Weekend and Sappho’s Sisters conferences.
United States LGBT History for 1979
January 1 - Oregon
PTC forms Portland Town Council Foundation and gets non-profit tax exempt status from IRS. Previous to that, IRS refused all such applications from gay groups because they thought the non- profits were too political.
January 1 - National
The Reverend Douglas Morgan Strong is called to serve All Souls Church in Augusta, Maine, becoming the first out gay man in the Unitarian Universalist ministry to be called to serve a congregation.
October 7 - New York
17-year-old Steven Charles of Newark, New Jersey, was beaten to death in New York City by Robert DeLicio, Costabile "Gus" Farace, Farace's cousin Mark Granato, and David Spoto. They also beat Charles' friend, 16-year-old Thomas Moore of Brooklyn. Moore was critically Injured but managed to get help at a nearby residence. Moore identified the four men via a lineup four days after the incident. Farace, the leader of the attack, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and was paroled after eight years, in 1988.
January 1 - Oregon
Attorneys Janet A. Metcalf and Katharine English start a law firm called English and Metcalf. English explains that this is “the first openly gay law firm serving the GLBT community.” It also spurs an educational program for judges and lawyers, which leads to a dramatic increase in wins of custody and visitation for gay men and lesbians.
October 14 - Washington D.C.
Billy S. Jones, a founding member of National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays, helped organize the first black gay delegation to meet with President Carter's White House staff. Jones was also a core organizer of the 1979 March On Washington for Gay and Lesbian Rights, and was a key organizer for "Third world conference: When will the ignorance end?" the first national gay and lesbian people of color conference.
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