June 1 - National
Presbyterian General Assembly votes to uphold the ban on ordaining homosexuals, while also turning the issue over to the Special Task Force on Human Sexuality for further study.
April 18 - National
Richard Chamberlain was outed at the age of 55 by the French women's magazine Nous Deux. He refused to acknowledge it until 2003.
July 1 - National
Court Rulings Define Same-Sex Couples as Families "The New York State Court of Appeals declares that a lesbian or gay couple living together for a least ten years can be considered a family for purposes of rent control protection, the first time a state's highest court rules that a gay couple can be called a family...The California Bar Association urges that lesbian and gay marriage be legally recognized and in Seattle, San Francisco and other cities, 'partners' regulations extending certain protections and rights to unmarried couples, straight and gay, are adopted."
July 1 - National
Bodybuilder Bob Paris, who won the Mr. America and Mr. Universe titles reveals himself as a gay man in the July issue of Ironman.
April 1 - Great Britain
Ian McKellen is a co-founder of Stonewall, an LGBT rights lobby group in the United Kingdom, named after the Stonewall riots in New York City. Now the largest LGBT rights organization in Europe. The organization has been the driving force for equal rights for the LGBT community and to prevent the social injustice that the United States experiences.
Stonewall Riots
April 3 – National
Journalist Leroy F. Aarons to this point had been covering national news for many years and was asked to begin polling gay and lesbian journalist in the industry to measure how many were in the closet and how many felt they worked in an inclusive industry. He presented his findings at a national convention and used the opportunity to come out to the audience.
January 1 – National
Castro comics, a flip book featuring “Between the Sheets!” by Bruce Billings and “Under the Covers” by Kurt Erichsen is released
January 1 – National
BiPAC New York successfully challenges the Hetrick-Martin Gay and Lesbian Health Clinic to remove a “Bisexual Men: Fact or Fiction?” workshop from its curriculum.
January 1 – Michigan
Affirmations Community Center is established for Detroit area lesbians and gays
United States LGBT History for 1989
January 1 – National
“thirtysomething” The ABC drama broke new ground when it showed two men (out actors David Marshall Grant and Peter Frechette) in bed together. They were only talking, but the episode sparked huge controversy, with even though Grant and Frechette were forbidden to touch each other during the scene. A number of advertisers pulled their commercials and ABC withdrew the episode from rotation for rebroadcast.
May 1 - National
Founded by Jericho Wilson with central mailer Mark Phillips, NORTHSTAR becomes the first gay APA (amateur press association) with its first mailing.
January 1 – National
The COMICS CODE AUTHORITY again revises its standards, but this time requires that social groups such as homosexuals must be portrayed in a positive light and that derogatory references to sexual orientation are forbidden unless used for dramatic purposes.
November 15 - Oregon
The State of Oregon enacted a hate crime law that includes sexual orientation. Later, the law was amended so that sexual orientation includes gender identity.
January 1 - Kansas
The Kansas Supreme Court interprets the state’s sodomy law as not criminalizing cunnilingus. The Kansas legislature acts swiftly to “correct” the oversight, but accidentally includes heterosexual cunnilingus. Then they “correct” that error by rewording the law to re-legalize heterosexual cunnilingus.
October 1 - National
Angela Bocage edits the first issue of REAL GIRL, a comic anthology which is “about sex for all genders & orientations.” Eight more issues follow over the next several years
February 22 - Washington D.C.
101st Congress - The Hate Crimes Statistics Act is reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. It was also introduced in the 99th and 100th congresses. It would require the Department of Justice to collect and publish data about crimes motivated by hatred based on race, religion, ethnicity and sexual orientation.
November 22 - National
David M. Halperin a theorist and historian publishes “One Hundred Years of Homosexuality”
December 1 - New Jersey
Episcopal Bishop Spong of Newark, New Jersey ordains the first gay male minister, Rev. J. Robert Williams, in Hoboken, New Jersey. Three protesters attended the ordination from other denominations, one that was ejected from the service. Bishop Spong draws controversy for his action, which some claim to be in violation of the General Convention of 1979, which Spong claims is only “advisory.”
January 1 – Michigan
Gay rights supporters hold hug-in at Moriarty's Pub in Lansing to protest policy against same-sex affection.
Cliff Arnesen
Military Veteran
September 1 - National
A story in WONDER WOMAN Annual #1 features KEVIN MAYER, a gay man.
January 1 – California
The first Lambda Literary Awards ceremony is held and recognizes the best gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender books of the year and affirm that LGBTQ stories are part of the literary world.
January 1 – National
Two gay-themed horror stories of Clive Barker, “Human remains” and “In the hills, the cities“, are adapted into comics form in the first two issues of Tapping The Vein
November 13 - Michigan
Greater Lansing Gay Men’s Chorus is founded
January 1 – Michigan
Fire guts dormitory room of gay student Jerry Mattioli at Michigan State University.
June 1 - National
Lutheran Church officially establishes guidelines that “practicing homosexuals” are to be excluded from ordained ministry. Two San Francisco congregations, however, announce plans to defy the official policy and ordain a gay pastor and lesbian couple respectively.
June 1 - National
The Unitarian Universalist Association’s General Assembly adopts the Welcoming Congregation program to combat homophobia in UU congregations and to educate individual UUs. The General Assembly also adopts a resolution opposing discrimination toward people with AIDS/HIV and urges fuller effort towards education and treatment, including institution of clean needle programs for intravenous drug users. The General Assembly approves a Resolution of Immediate Witness condemning the Helms Amendment to restrict the travel rights of HIV infected people into the U.S.
Richard Chamberlain
November 15 - Washington D.C.
Members of Congress who support lifting the ban of gays serving in the military release draft copies of two internal Pentagon reports that find homosexuals in the military pose no security risk and in many cases, made better soldiers than heterosexuals.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report on gay teens estimates that they are two to three times more likely than other teens to attempt suicide.
December 10 - National
Over 4,500 people, many of whom are members of ACT-UP, demonstrate outside of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City against Cardinal O’Connor’s anti-homosexual and anti-abortion statements. Around 45 protestors enter the church, shouting “We will not be silent,” lying down in the aisles, and chaining themselves to the pews while more lie down in Fifth Avenue. One hundred and eleven of the demonstrators are arrested, many of which have to be carried out on stretchers because of their refusal to stand up.
January 1 – Oregon
Equity Foundation is founded by Terry Bean, Karen Keeny, Jim Vigher, and John Grigsby
January 20 - California
Act Up San Francisco stages a "Die-In" on the steps of the Pacific Stock Exchange on the day of George W. Bush's inauguration in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the AIDS epidemic.
January 1 – National
John Blackburn first self-publishes his COLEY series (1989), which is later continued and reprinted at Fantagraphics/Eros.
May 20 - Georgia
Atlanta’s Virginia-Highland Park is renamed for the late openly gay local citizen and political activist John Howell. This is the first dedication of public property in the city to an openly gay person.
July 1 - National
The Center for Disease Control announces that the number of confirmed AIDS cases in the United States has topped 100,000.
Billy Tipton
Jazz Musician
President George W. Bush
January 1 - Oregon
As a result of lobbying on the part of RTP, Oregon enacts a hate crimes law that includes sexual orientation. This was the first statewide victory for any type of LGBTQ legal rights.
Christian Coalition of America
March 1 - National
Neil Miller a writer publishes “In Search of Gay America: Women and Men in a Time of Change”
October 1 - National
U.S. Representative William Dannemeyer (R-Calif.) publishes a landmark anti-gay tome, Shadow in the Land: Homosexuality in America. Calling lesbians and gay men “the ultimate enemy,” Dannemeyer accuses straight people of “surrendering to this growing army without a shot,” and predicts gay rights will “plunge our people, and indeed the entire West, into a dark night of the soul that could last hundreds of years.”
January 1 – National
Eric Orner a cartoonist debuts his cartoon strip “The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green” It was unusual at the time as one of the first comics to portray gay men. The strip was carried by nearly 100 LGBT newspapers and alternative weeklies.
January 1 – Michigan
PFLAG/Detroit releases video documentary Listening, Learning, Loving, produced by Fred Shaheen.
January 1 – National
K.L. & Tom Roberts produce HOMO PATROL, a graphic novel dealing with AIDS and homophobia (Helpless Anger, 1989).
June 18 - Oregon
For the first time, there is a gay and lesbian sponsored float in Portland’s Rose Festival Starlight Parade.
July 19 - National
The movie “Longtime companion” is released. The screenplay was written by Craig Lucas.
May 3 - Washington D.C.
Openly bisexual veteran Cliff Arnesen testified before the U.S. Congress on behalf of bisexual, lesbian, and gay veteran's issues. He was the first veteran to testify about bisexual, lesbian, and gay issues and the first openly non-heterosexual veteran to testify on Capitol Hill about veteran's issues
in general. He testified during formal hearings held before the U.S. House Committee on Veterans Affairs: Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
June 1 - National
The 17th General Synod of the United Church of Christ passes a resolution deploring violence against lesbian and gay people.
January 1 - Virginia
In Richmond, Virginia, the Richmond AIDS Ministry holds its first training and opens guest houses for persons with AIDS.
March 1 - National
Joel Redon publishes “Bloodstream”
November 15 - National
The Christian Coalition is founded by Pat Robertson.
State equality and discrimination bills
January 1 – National
Andrea Natalie’s single-panel comic strip “STONEWALL RIOTS” begins (1989) and is soon collected in three books.
June 10 - Ohio
Pride Rally (Greater Cincinnati Gay & Lesbian Coalition)
January 21 - National
Jazz musician Billy Tipton dies and is revealed to be FTM. First Lambda Literary Awards given.
Ian McKellen
May 1 - National
Christopher Davis published “The Boys in the Bars”
January 1 – National
Felice Picano published his second memoir “Men Who Loved Me: A Memoir in the Form of a Novel”
January 1 – National
Richard Isay a psychiatrist publishes “Being Homosexual: Gay Men and Their Development”
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