January 1 – National
Boze Hadleigh a author publishes “The Vinyl Closet Gays and Lesbians in the Music World”
Bernard Cooper
January 1 – National
Eight Michigan State University students pledge new gay fraternity Delta Lambda Phi.
January 1 - Michigan
Birmingham includes protections for sexual orientation in new Fair Housing Ordinance.
June 15 - Ohio
L & G Pride Day (Greater Cincinnati Gay & Lesbian Coalition)
January 1 – Michigan
Great Lakes Bears, a gay male social group, forms in Detroit.
June 1 - National
The Lutheran Church wide Assembly acts to welcome gays and lesbians as members of ELCA congregations, but does not “bless their committed relationships, nor does it allow gays and lesbians in committed relationships to be ordained or to remain as clergy.”
April 1 - Washington State
Entre Hermanos is established in Seattle to address the need for social, educational, and health support services in the Latino/a community.
January 1 - Michigan
Eastern Michigan University bans discriminatory acts against minority students, including lesbians and gays.
May 26 - National
Will Roscoe a poet publishes “The Zuni Man-Woman”
January 23 - Oregon
The Portland City Council adopts a civil rights ordinance that bans discrimination based on sexual orientation in housing, employment and public accommodations. The ordinance was sponsored by City Commissioner Mike Lindberg. Helping Lindberg was his openly gay assistant, the late Keeston Lowery.
November 7 - National
Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Jr. holds a press conference to announce that he is HIV- positive, raising the public discourse on the disease to new heights.
Barbara Roberts
Governor of Oregon 1991 - 1995
February 28 - National
Queer Nation’s Atlanta chapter organizes a nationwide boycott of the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain after it fires lesbian cook Cheryl Summerville from a suburban Atlanta Cracker Barrel. To date Cracker Barrel has not revised it’s inclusion policy.
August 1 - National
John Preston an erotic writer published “The Big Gay Book: A Man's Survival Guide for the Nineties”
September 8
Brad Davis commits suicide after hiding that he was HIV positive for most of his life.
January 1 - National
Psychologists Sari Dworkin and Ron Fox became the founding co-chairs of the Task Force on Bisexual Issues of Division 44
April 1 - National
Aaron Fricke publishes his novel “Sudden Strangers: the Story of a Gay Son and his Father”
Jason Gould
December 1 - National
Rolf Konig’s graphic novel THE KILLER CONDOM is translated and released in North America
(Catalan, 1991).
July 11 - Michigan
Public station WTVS Channel 56 in Detroit refuses to air documentary "Tongues Untied." It aired on PBS five days later. Marlon Riggs' essay film Tongues United gives voice to communities of black gay men, presenting their cultures and perspectives on the world as they confront racism, homophobia, and marginalization.
October 11 - National
Dick Sargent on National Coming Out Day, he publicly came out and supported gay rights issues. He attributed his willing to come out to the high rate of suicide among young gay people; he jokingly referring to himself as a "retroactive role model."
United States LGBT History for 1991
January 1 – National
The first of five issues of the anthology STRANGE LOOKING EXILE, edited by Robert Kirby, is published (Giant Ass Publishing, 1991).
September 13 - Texas
Martina Navratilova is sued for “galimony” by ex-lover Judy Nelson.
January 1 - National
Chris Glaser a writer publishes “Coming Out to God”
January 1 – Michigan
PRIDE Gay/Lesbian Community Center opens at Unitarian Universalist Church in Flint.
June 6 - Washington D.C.
First appearance of "lesbian" in Public Papers of the Presidents Exchange with Reporters Aboard Air Force One. (June 6, 1991). Public Papers of the Presidents: George H.W. Bush (Book 1), p. 618.
March 1 - National
Roberta Gregory’s BITCHY BITCH appears for the first time in NAUGHTY BITS #1 (Fantagraphics, March 1991). Her adventures have continued to appear in the magazine and have been gathered in several collections.
May 1 - Hawaii
May In Hawaii, one gay and two lesbian couples jointly file a lawsuit alleging that the denial of marriage licenses by the state Department of Health (in Dec 1990) is unconstitutional (Hawaii’s constitution forbids sex discrimination). In Oct 91, a circuit Court judge throws out the case before a trial. The couples appeal that ruling to the Hawaii Supreme Court.
August 1 - National
In Richmond, Virginia, LGBT activists engage in a variety of advocacy efforts. The Richmond Organization for Sexual Minority Youth (ROSMY) is formed. Virginians for Justice underwrites a lawsuit challenging the Virginia ABC’s anti-gay regulations. In October, the ABC regulations are declared unconstitutional and unenforceable. OUT! Richmond stages sit-ins at Cracker Barrel restaurants to protest anti-gay employment policies.
July 3 - National
Samuel Steward a writer with a long career publishes “Understanding the Male Hustler”
January 1 – National
Toby Johnson publishes “Getting Life in Perspective”
July 1 - National
UP FROM BONDAGE, an erotic comic by Craig Maynard, begins (Eros/Fantagraphics, 1991).
April 3 - National
Allan Bérubé was a historian that studied and produced “Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War Two”
July 1 - National
Episcopal General Convention passes a resolution “noticing ‘discontinuity’ between the traditional teachings of the Church and the experience of some of its members.” The body approves a compromise leaving the church’s official stance on homosexual relationships ambiguous until the next convention, three years later.
July 2 - Virginia
The 18th General Synod of the United Church of Christ passes the Resolution on Virginia Privacy Laws, which urges the decriminalization of private and non-commercial sexual activity between
consenting adults. The UCC also affirmed its support for gay, lesbian, and bisexual person serving as ministers.
January 1 – Michigan
Grand Rapids group AWARE, As We Are, forms for lesbians and gays in the Christian Reformed Church.
Karen Thompson & Sharon Kowalski
June 22 - National
‘Magic’ Johnson publicly announces he has HIV.
June 1 - National
Allen Barnett a writer, publishes one volume of short stories, “The Body and Its Dangers”. The book is widely regarded as one of the most artistically significant depictions of gay life at the height of the AIDS crisis
November 1 - Oregon
Gail Shibley becomes the first open lesbian to join the Oregon House of Representatives.
June 29 - National
Gage Park in Topeka Kansas is the site of the first picket conducted by Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church for what they call “The Great Gage Park Decency Drive,” seeking a crack down on alleged homosexuals cruising for sex in the park.
Louis Bayard
January 1 – National
The first of twenty issues of hothead paisan: homicidal lesbian terrorist by Diane DiMassa is published (Giant Ass Publishing, 1991).
November 1 - National
Though almost always featuring incidental representations of LGBT persons, Neil Gaiman’s SANDMAN first introduces three major LGBT characters into the diverse cast of Neil Gaiman’s SANDMAN in issue #32 (Vertigo/DC, November 1991). Appearing for the first time is trans woman WANDA MANN, and also lesbian couple HAZEL and FOXGLOVE, who are featured in the spin-off series DEATH: THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE (April-June 1996) which wins that comic the 1997 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book.
Brad Davis
President George W. Bush
January 1 - National
Television’s first kiss between Amanda Donohoe and another woman, is shown on L.A. Law
April 1 - New York
Created by the New York-based Visual AIDS organization, the red ribbon is adopted as a symbol of awareness and compassion for those living with HIV/AIDS.
November 13 - National
Joe Keenan a screenwriter, producer and novelist publishes “Putting on the Ritz”
October 11 - Oregon
Five lesbian couples file for marriage licenses at the Multnomah County Marriage License office. Their requests are denied. The Lesbian Community Project organized the event as part of National Coming Out Day.
September 1 - Pennsylvania
Philadelphia Enquirer article about Rene Portland’s anti-lesbian policy – Marks shift in media coverage: Homophobia is the problem and Portland’s policy is wrong.
January 1 - National
One of the seminal books in the history of the modern bisexual rights movement, Bi Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out, an anthology edited by Loraine Hutchins and Lani Ka'ahumanu, was published
September 13 - National
Hubert Kennedy an author and mathematician publishes “Homosexuality and Male Bonding in Pre- Nazi Germany”
January 1 – National
Robert Kirby begins his strip “CURBSIDE” (1991) and later self-publishes a collection, called CURBSIDE (Hobnob Press, May 1998) with the help of a 1997 Xeric Award and Grant. A second collection is published under the title CURBSIDE BOYS (Cleis Press, October 2002).
January 28 - Michigan
Michael LaGatella graduated from Lincoln High School in Warren and tended bar at the Woodward in Detroit while attending Wayne State University. After he took his own life, LaGatella’s friends established a scholarship in his name for gay and lesbian students at Wayne.
State equality and discrimination bills
April 3 - National
Charles Silverstein publishes “Gays, Lesbians and Their Therapists: Studies in Psychotherapy”
January 1 – National
Flint City Council unanimously enacts non-discrimination ordinance.
October 11 - California
USC celebrates its first National Coming Out Day Festival
June 1 - National
Southern Baptist Convention a resolution is passed in order to “register outrage” at the Centers for Disease Control’s grant to the 13th National Lesbian and Gay Health Conference, which it believes to be “an example of the improper and inexcusable misuse of the public treasury and the public trust.” The resolution “call[s] upon the President…to ensure that such grants are prohibited in the future by means of an Executive Order requiring all federal policies to affirm the family and refuse… programs which encourage sexual immorality in any form.”
Paul Broussard
May 24 - Washington D.C.
The first Black Lesbian and Gay Pride celebration is held in Washington, D.C.
July 4 - Texas
Paul Broussard, a Houston-area banker, was murdered. He was attacked by 10 young men along with Clay Anderson and Richard Delaunay, who survived. All ten of the attackers were eventually convicted, with sentences ranging from a probation and fine for the respective hospitalization and funeral bills to the 45-year imprisonment of Jon Buice, who confessed to inflicting the fatal stab wound
September 29 - National
Gus Van Sant released “My Own Private Idaho” which is the story of two hustlers on their search for answers.
Rene Portland
November 1 - Washington D.C.
Seattle City Council candidate Sherry Harris became the first Victory Fund endorsed candidate. Despite a Victory Fund donor network of just 181 members, the nascent organization helped Harris defeat a 24-year incumbent to become the nation’s first openly lesbian African-American city council member.
January 1 – National
Robert Rodi publishes his first book “Fag hag” which is followed by a list of books and comics that contribute the LGBT culture in the United States.
January 22 - National
John Weir a writer and activist and in conjunction with ACT UP, New York's Day of Desperation action to draw attention to government and media neglect of the global AIDS crisis, Weir and several fellow activists interrupted The CBS Evening News with Dan Rather.
January 1 – National
Louis Bayard is a gay author, a staffer at the U.S. House of Representatives, working for Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and as press secretary for then Representative Phil Sharp (D-Indiana).
January 1 – National
Jason Gould the son of Barbara Streisand came out to his parents in 1988 but tabloids publicly outed Gould as being gay.
August 1 - National
Paul Russell publishes his novel “The Boys of Life”
Gail Shibley
Oregon House of Representatives
November 2 - Oregon
Barbara Roberts, long-time friend of the LGBTQ community, becomes Governor of Oregon.
December 18 - Missouri
After a 7-year legal battle for LGBT rights Karen Thompson named Sharon Kowalski’s her legal guardian. The legal battle began after Kowalski was incapacitated in a car accident and her family prevented Thompson from visiting her despite their long-term relationship.
April 1 - National
Max Allan Collins writes a gay bashing story in MS. TREE QUARTERLY #3 (DC, Spring 1991) that takes place on a university campus and also explores the new practice of outing closeted gays and lesbians.
August 1 - National
The reformed super-villain PIED PIPER comes out in THE FLASH (v.2) #53 (DC, August 1991), written by William Messner-Loebs.
September 15 - Virginia
Richmond Organization for Sexual Minority Youth formed which later becomes Side By Side
January 1 – National
E. Lynn Harris publishes “Invisible Life”
April 13 - National
Flint man Jecquin Stitt, an Oprah Winfrey look-alike, is finalist as Ladie's Home Journal contest.
February 8 - Oregon
Several employees at Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) sign up their partners for health
insurance by scratching out the word “spouse” and replacing it with “domestic partner” on the
insurance forms. The act leads to the Tanner versus OHSU lawsuit.
December 1 - National
The ELCA releases a study entitled “Human Sexuality and the Christian Faith,” analyzes sexuality- related issues without prescribing solutions to any of the problems. Among other things, the document examines homosexuality and affirms that “sexuality is God’s good gift…to all people,” and states that “Many gay men and lesbian women are well-adjusted and live out faithful, committed sexual relationships, but without the social approval and support that heterosexual couples take for granted.” The report challenges, “some moral rules and practices we have inherited,” stating instead that “morality…is continually changing.” It does, however, condemn “casual” sex, both hetero- and homosexual.
January 1 – National
Bernard Cooper writes “A Clack of Tiny Sparks: Remembrances of a Gay Boyhood”
Michael LaGatella
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