March 23 - National
Harold Norse published “The Penguin Book of Homosexual Verse” A collection of poems by and about homosexuals.
October 1 - National
Jonathan Ned Katz publishes “Gay/Lesbian Almanac: A New Documentary”. A chronology of two sexual worlds--early Colonial America and early modern United States--combines a wide variety of information, including personal testimony, news reports, medical records, songs, cartoons, and more, to portray the history of gays in America. Original.
November 1 - Colorado
The gay and lesbian community mobilizes to elect Federico Peña, Denver’s first Latino mayor and a fierce ally to the community. Peña takes strong stances on anti-discrimination issues for gays, including zoning laws that weren’t favorable toward unmarried occupants living under one roof. (Since gay marriage wasnot an option, same-sex couples were in violation of some pretty gnarly Denver zoning laws that were enacted under the apparent guise of being “family-friendly.”)
January 1 - Massachusetts
Representative Gerry Studds reveals he is a homosexual on the floor of the House, becoming the first openly homosexual member of Congress.
January 1 – Michigan
State Rep. James Dressell introduces H.B. 5000 which would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Jobriath
Sharon Kowalski & Karen Thompson
August 27 - Oregon
Robert "Bobby" Wayne Griffith commits suicide in Portland, Oregon
January 1 – Oregon
Black Lesbians and Gays United forms in Portland.
January 1 - Massachusetts
The Boston Bisexual Women's Network, the oldest existing bisexual women's group began publishing their bi-monthly newsletter, BI Women. It is the longest-existing bisexual newsletter in the US.
January 1 – National
Jeff Krell’s strip “JAYSON” debuts in the Philadelphia Gay News and later appears in GAY COMIX, MEATMEN, and other publications before the stories are collected.
February 1 - National
Fantastic Four #251, written by John Byrne, contains the first use of the term “GAY” in mass-market comics.
Robert Wayne Griffith
January 1 – Michigan
Effort is made to revive a Detroit chapter of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.
March 2 - New York
Lambda Legal wins People v. West 12 Tenants Corp., the first HIV/AIDS discrimination lawsuit.
February 1 - National
1025 reported cases of AIDS with 394 deaths in the United States.
January 1 - Kansas
Kansas becomes the first state to amend its incest law specifically to make same-sex incest a crime. It also amends its law to specify that oral or anal sex is prohibited ONLY between persons of the same sex.
January 1 – National
'Spousal' Rights of Same-Sex Couples Becomes an Issue when Karen Thompson begins an eight year struggle for legal guardianship of her lover Sharon Kowalski, after a drunk driver collides with Sharon's vehicle, placing her in a coma for several months and leaving her quadriplegic and severely brain-damaged. Despite Sharon's wishes to be cared for by Karen, Sharon's parents refused Karen full access or input into her care. Karen Thompson became a key spokesperson for lesbian and gay couples' rights.
January 1 - Washington D.C.
Pat Buchanan, communications director for President Ronald Reagan, calls AIDS “nature’s revenge on gay men.”
August 29 - National
The Hunger, a horror film, is released. The film features a love triangle between a doctor, played by Susan Sarandon, and a vampire couple, played by Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie. The film develops a cult following, partly because of the lesbian seduction scene between Sarandon and Deneuve.
January 1 – National
The Advocate begins to run Howard Cruse’s “WENDEL”. The strip also appears in comics and paperback collections.
January 1 – Michigan
Wellness Networks Inc. is established in Detroit to combat AIDS epidemic.
January 1 - Rhode Island
The Rhode Island Alliance for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights is founded to begin the push for anti- discrimination protection in law.
December 1 - National
David Melnick publishes “Men in Aida” a homophonic translation of Book One of Homer's Iliad into a farcical bathhouse scenario, perhaps alluding to the homoerotic aspects of ancient Greek culture.
January 1 – Oregon
Reese House, Brown MacDonald, and others form Cascade AIDS Project (CAP).
July 1 - National
Toby Johnson publishes “In Search of God in the Sexual Underworld”. A former monk discusses his painful spiritual journey through the world of juvenile prostitution and his experiences on his quest for social, political, and spiritual enlightenment.
President Ronald Reagan
October 1 - Oregon
Just Out publishes its first issue that supports the LGBT community.
August 21 - National
Harvey Fierstein wrote the book for “La Cage aux Folles” the musical. Based on the 1973 French play of the same name by Jean Poiret, it focuses on a gay couple: Georges, the manager of a Saint- Tropez nightclub featuring drag entertainment, and Albin, his romantic partner and star attraction, and the adventures that ensue when Georges’ son, Jean-Michel, brings home his fiancée's ultra- conservative parents to meet them. Robert "Bobby" Wayne Griffith commits suicide in Portland, Oregon
June 27 - Michigan
Gunman threatens demonstrators at Ann Arbor Gay Pride Week rally.
August 1 - National
Vincent Lardo a gay genre writer publishes his first novel “China House”. High on a hill near the New England town of Salem, an elegant Mansion stands deserted. Something happened there twenty years ago, something so horrible that those who remember keep it a secret. Now Scott Evans, haunted throughout his life by vague childhood memories of the house, has inherited the estate and its secrets. With the help of his handsome lover, Michael, Scott enlists the aid of Howard Roth, a psychologist who specializes in the supernatural, and his son, Ken, for a trip to Salem. They soon discover that in China House, anything can happen.
June 28 - National
The 14th General Synod of the UCC passes these resolutions:
→ “Report of the Task Force for the Study of Human Sexuality.” This resolution urged that attention and support be given to the development of proposals and programs to end sexual violence against men, women and children, regardless of their sexual orientation.
→ “Resolution Recommending Inclusiveness on Association Church and Ministry Committees within the United Church of Christ.”
→ “Resolution in Response to the Concerns of Same-gender Oriented Persons and their Families within the United Church of Christ.”
→ “Resolution on the Institutionalized Homophobia within the United Church of Christ.”
November 23 - Kentucky
A federal court rules against a man who sued the First National Bank of Louisville for requiring that he either resign his position or his membership in Dignity, a gay Catholic group.
June 25 - Georgia
2,000 marchers leave the Civic Center to Peachtree and 10th Street. For the first time a “Stop AIDS” banner is carried in the march. This is also Atlanta’s first Dyke March.
United States LGBT History for 1983
Pat Buchanan
Presidential Communication Director
December 1 - National
The Vatican releases a set of guidelines on sexual education, entitled “Educational Guidance in Human Love,” that, among other subjects, refers to homosexuality as a “social maladaptation” and “a disorder” that priests must treat with “understanding” but without offering “moral justification.”
June 1 - Massachusetts
The Boston Bisexual Women's Network (BBWN) is formed. The BBWN newsletter, Bi Women, has been in print since the group's inception and is today the oldest continuously published bisexual women's newsletter in the world.
August 1 - Massachusetts
Sasha Alyson founds the Boston gay and lesbian newspaper Bay Windows. Bay Windows is an LGBT-oriented newspaper, published weekly in Boston, Massachusetts and serving the entire New England region of the United States.
February 1 - National
Eric Rofes publishes the novel “I Thought People Like That Killed Themselves: Lesbians, Gay Men and Suicide”
State equality and discrimination bills
January 1 – California
BiPOL, the first and oldest bisexual political organization, was founded in San Francisco by bisexual activists Autumn Courtney, Lani Ka'ahumanu, Arlene Krantz, David Lourea, Bill Mack, Alan Rockway, and Maggi Rubenstein.Effort is made to revive a Detroit chapter of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.
October 1 - Georgia
Atlanta’s first candlelight AIDS vigil is held, in Piedmont Park.Just Out publishes its first issue that supports the LGBT community.
August 4 - National
Jobriath was the first openly gay rock musician to be signed to a major record label, and one of the first internationally famous musicians to die of AIDS.
October 29 - California
Lesbianas Unidas forms as a subcommittee of Gay and Lesbian Latinos Unidos (GLU) in Los Angeles.
March 4 - National
Paul Rogers publishes the novel “Saul's Book”. The story of a Times Square hustler called Sinbad the Sailor and Saul, a brilliant, self-destructive, alcoholic, thoroughly dominating character who may be the only love Sindab will ever know. Paul T. Rogers' insight into life and devotion in New York's most infamous district made Saul's Book a literary sensation; the author's tragic demise in that same world made his first and only novel legendary.
September 8 - California
The first National Lesbians of Color Conference is organized in Los Angeles.
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