January 1 – National
Savoy Howe becomes the first out lesbian in women’s boxing.
November 1 - California
Hap Stewart, M.S.W. (1934-1996), early outspoken advocate for alternative holistic HIV/AIDS care and treatment with ACT UP San Francisco, is appointed to Marin County (California) AIDS Commission.
Brandon Teena
October 1 - National
The fact based film M. Butterfly opened. Set in the mid-1960s during the Cultural Revolution in China, it told the story of Rene Gallimard (Jeremey Irons), an attaché at the French embassy in Peking who falls in love with Song Liling (John Lone) a Peking opera star and spy. The pair carried on an affair for 20 years, with Gallimard unaware that Liling was a man and using him to obtain French intelligence.
January 1 – National
Frank Browning, an author releases “The Culture of Desire: Paradox and Perversity in Gay Lives Today”
November 1 - National
Writer Bruce Bawer, publishes “A Place at the Table: The Gay Individual in American Society”
October 21 - Connecticut
Yale University announced that it would extend spousal health benefits to the domestic partners of its gay and lesbian faculty members, administrators and managers beginning in 1994. The university has a non-discrimination policy covering sexual orientation in its employee handbook. Yale is one of over 170 colleges and universities to offer these benefits.
March 1 - National
Simon LeVay publishes “The Sexual Brain” that focuses on medical studies related to how the human brain responds in sexual encounters and development.
January 1 – National
Robert Goss publishes “Jesus ACTED UP: A Gay and Lesbian Manifesto”
November 1 - Washington D.C.
The Religious Freedom Restoration Act was passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton
January 1 – National
“A Boy’s Life” a compilation of short gay films is released.
Miss Understood
Mark Alley
July 20 - Washington D.C.
President Clinton's proposal to lift the ban on openly gay military personnel sends anti-gay activists
into action, shutting down phone lines to Congress with hundreds of thousands of calls in protest. "Honestly," asks D. James Kennedy in a fundraising letter for Coral Ridge Ministries, "would you want your son, daughter, or grandchild sharing a shower, foxhole, or blood with a homosexual?"
November 1 - National
Lutherans After a four-year effort, the first draft of a statement on human sexuality by a committee of the ELCA, which claims that the Bible does not condemn homosexuality and that both homosexuality and masturbation are described as a “healthy part of human life,” is leaked by the media and provokes a firestorm of controversy among Church members. Over 21,000 responses, mostly negative and including some death threats, are received by the ELCA who appoints a new committee to prepare a new statement.”
June 8 - National
RuPaul releases the first album and is regarded as the single most successful drag performer in history.
Savoy Howe
Bill Brochtrup
August 23 - National
Jim Drew relaunches his fanzine CIAO! to focus exclusively on queer themes in comics with volume 2, #1.
May 7 - Washington D.C.
The battle over gay marriage is ignited when the Hawaii Supreme Court rules that denying same-sex couples marriage licenses violates "basic human rights" guaranteed in the state constitution — unless the state legislature can show a "compelling reason" to prevent gay marriage. Anti-gay groups begin a campaign to "defend marriage," with legal challenges led by ACLJ's Jay Sekulow.
May 1 - National
The first large study of female sexual orientation found that there was a strong genetic component to homosexuality and heterosexuality, as reported by researchers at Boston University and Northwestern University.
Roberta Achtenberg
January 1 - National
Ron Fox wrote the first large scale research study on bisexual identity, and established and maintained a comprehensive bibliography on bi research
January 20 - National
Southern Baptist Convention resolution is passed that “oppose[s] all effort to provide government endorsement, sanction, recognition, acceptance, or civil rights advantage on the basis of homosexuality.” The resolution also supports legislation prohibiting homosexuals from participation in the military, and “deplore[s] acts of hatred or violence committed by homosexuals against those who take a stand for traditional morality as well as acts of hatred or violence committed against homosexuals.”
August 1 - Washington State
The First Annual Northwest Regional Conference was sponsored by BiNet USA, the Seattle Bisexual Women's Network, and the Seattle Bisexual Men's Union. It was held in Seattle, and fifty-five people representing Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Montana, and British Columbia attended
May 7 - Hawaii
Three same-sex couples successfully challenge Hawaii’s heterosexual-only marriage code. The Hawaii state legislature amends the state constitution in response.
February 23 - Massachusetts
The first large study of female sexual orientation found that there was a strong genetic component to homosexuality and heterosexuality, as reported by researchers at Boston University and Northwestern University.
November 1 - National
Ellen Forney’s strip “I WAS SEVEN IN ’75” is first published in Seattle’s The Rocket. She wins a Xeric Award and Grant for it in 1997 to self-publish a collection of the early strips as I Was Seven in ’75. Later the entire run through 1998 is collected under the title Monkey Food: The Complete I was Seven in ’75 (Fantagraphics, September 1999).
December 23 - National
David Hyde Pierce started his role as Niles Crane on the award-winning television show “Frasier”
April 21 - National
David M. Halperin a theorist and historian published “The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader”
January 1 – National
The first of two issues of DYKE’S DELIGHT, an anthology of works by both UK and US creators.
January 1 – National
Wayne Koestenbaum a writer and critic publishes “The Queen's Throat: Opera, Homosexuality and the Mystery of Desire”
January 21 - Hawaii
The battle over same-gender marriage is ignited when the Hawaii Supreme Court rules that denying same-sex couples marriage licenses violates “basic human rights” guaranteed in the state constitution — unless the state legislature can show a “compelling reason” to prevent same gender marriage. Anti-gay groups begin a campaign to “defend marriage,” with legal challenges led by the American Center for Law & Justice’s Jay Sekulow.
September 1 - National
John J. McNeill a Jesuit priest publishes “The Church and the Homosexual”
October 1 - National
“MAJOR POWER & SPUNKY” by Malachy Coney and Sean Doran appears in GAY COMICS #20 before headlining in a one-shot in 1994.
June 1 - Georgia
General Assembly stages public protest against North Carolina’s “crime against nature” laws. As required by GA 1987 resolution, UUA Board, staff, members, and GA delegates participated in candlelight vigil and witnessing.
December 21 - Washington D.C.
Department of Defense Directive 1304.26. Implements Don't Ask, Don't Tell via Section E1.2.8 - Provisions Related to Homosexual Conduct
April 25 - Washington D.C.
An estimated 800,000 to one million people participate in the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation. Several events such as art and history exhibits, public service outings and workshops are held throughout Washington, DC leading up the event. Jesse Jackson, RuPaul, Martina Navratilova, and Eartha Kitt are among the speakers and performers at a rally after the march. The march is a response to “Don't Ask Don't Tell”, Amendment 2 in Colorado, as well as rising hate crimes and ongoing discrimination against the LGBT community.
October 1 - National
Lutheran Conference of Bishops of the ELCA releases a statement that the ELCA does not approve of rituals recognizing same-sex relationships because of lack of biblical basis.
May 18 - Utah
Boyd K. Packer says in a talk that there are 3 enemies of the Church: Feminists, Intellectuals, and Homosexuals. He says the gay rights movement is one danger where members of the Church “influenced by social and political unrest, are being caught up and led away.”
December 1 - Minnesota
Minnesota becomes the first U.S. state to ban discrimination against transgenders.
January 1 – National
Miss Understood founds a drag queen booking agency called “Screaming Queens Entertainment”
State equality and discrimination bills
January 1 – National
Lutherans: The ELCA Church Council passes a resolution that “reaffirm[s] that the historical position of the ELCA is…support for legislation, referendums, and policies to protect the civil rights of all persons, regardless of their sexual orientation, and to prohibit discrimination in housing, employment, and public services and accommodations.”
January 1 – National
Terry Moore launches STRANGERS IN PARADISE featuring two lead female characters, KATCHOO and FRANCINE, who defy sexual orientation labeling.
June 1 - National
The Unitarian Universalist Association’s General Assembly passes a Resolution of Immediate Witness supporting the acceptance of openly lesbian, gay, and bisexual persons in the U.S. military.
November 1 - California
By a narrow margin, voters in San Francisco rejected a city-wide partnership ordinance that would grant legal recognition to the relationships of gay men and lesbians.
November 1 - Oregon
Both before and after the statewide Measure 9, the Oregon Citizens Alliance also took local action. Initiatives similar to Measure 9 were placed on the ballots of about 29 Oregon cities and counties. However, it is difficult to arrive at exact details because there is no one primary online source to research local elections. The vast majority of measures passed, some by huge margins. Pioneering gay attorney Charlie Hinkle worked to defeat many of the anti-gay ballot measures.
January 1 – National
Glenn Burke, a former outfielder with the LA Dodgers and Oakland A’s, who ended his baseball
career in 1979, comes out publicly. He dies of AIDS complications in 1995.
December 1 - Michigan
In a community meeting with the LGBT community, following the election of David Hollister as mayor, Lansing Police Chief Mark Alley personally apologizes to the community for the past arrests and targeting of the gay community.
October 1 - National
Steve Englehardt’s THE STRANGERS features the hero SPECTRAL, who is revealed to be gay in issue #5.
July 19 - Washington D.C.
President Clinton announces the "don't ask, don't tell" policy." The bill allows LGBT members of the military to serve so long as they don't tell anyone about their sexual orientation and ends efforts to effectively root them out of the military.
December 31 - Nebraska
In late December in Falls City, Nebraska, Brandon Teena, a transgender man, is beaten and raped by two men, John Lotter and Tom Nissen, who were outraged to discover he had been born biologically female. Brandon reported the crime to local police, who did nothing to investigate the crime. On New Year’s Day, Brandon was murdered along with Lisa Lambert, who had provided him a place to stay, and Philip Divine, a friend visiting from Iowa. Lambert’s 8-month-old baby was not attacked. Lotter and Nissen are convicted of the murders in 1995.
February 1 - National
QUANTUM LEAP #9, written by Andy Mangels, places the lead character at the STONEWALL RIOTS.
November 1 - National
Gay & Lesbian Victory Foundation, a 501(c)3 organization now called Victory Institute, is launched. The Foundation begins training future candidates and campaign workers to help LGBTQ leaders achieve careers in public service. The Foundation successfully pushes for Roberta Achtenberg to become the first openly LGBTQ presidential appointee to a Senate-confirmed position when she becomes Assistant Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
May 5 - Hawaii
The Hawaii Supreme Court rules that same-sex marriages cannot be denied unless there is a "compelling" reason to do so - Hawaii legislators respond by passing an amendment to ban gay marriage. Supreme Court rules that denying marriage to same-sex couples violates the Equal Protection Clause of the state Constitution.
November 20 - Washington D.C.
Don't ask, don't tell (Public Law 103-160) passes. It prohibits anyone who is not heterosexual from disclosing his/her sexual orientation, or from speaking about any homosexual relationships,
including marriages or other familial attributes while serving in the United States armed forces.
October 26 - National
PAUL BERGE begins to contribute political cartoons from a gay point of view to Gaze Magazine.
September 9 - Washington D.C.
The U.S. Senate passes legislation to discourage homosexual enlistment in the military, calling homosexuality an "unacceptable risk" to morale. Tougher than Clinton's "don't ask, don't tell" proposal, the measure would allow a future defense secretary to reinstate questioning of recruits on
their sexuality.
September 7 - Virginia
Sharon Bottoms loses custody of her 2-year-old son Tyler in Virginia. The Circuit Court states that Sharon Bottoms is an "unfit parent" because her relationship with her lover April Wade is "illegal and immoral." Parsons awards custody of Tyler to Bottoms' mother, Kay Bottoms even though Sharon testifies that Kay’s live-in lover sexually molested Sharon for five years when she was a child. Parsons also restricts Sharon Bottoms' visitation to one day a week, outside her home. Wade, whom Tyler regards as a parent, is forbidden from seeing him.
March 1 - National
Jameson Currier publishes “Dancing on the Moon: Short Stories About AIDS “
June 12 - Ohio
March begins at City Hall, Rally at Fountain Square (Greater Cincinnati Gay & Lesbian Coalition)
May 25 - Washington D.C.
Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Roberta Achtenberg becomes the first openly LGBT official to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate
January 1 – National
Fred Hersch announced publicly that he was gay and that he had been treated for HIV since 1984. He fell into a coma in 2008 for two months. When he regained consciousness, he had lost all muscular function as a result of his long inactivity and could not play the piano. After rehabilitation, he was able to play again.
February 15 - Kansas
The Olathe, KS school district orders “Annie on My Mind” (about lesbian relationships written for adolescents) removed from school shelves; the book is burned in Kansas City at a demonstration held on the steps of the board of education offices. Two high school seniors (one is Stevie Case, who later becomes a KU student) and the ACLU sue the Olathe School District in Dec. (This drama will play out in Olathe until 3 years and over $160,000 later.)
LGBT activists in Kansas begin to use e-mail more widely and learn to use online material such as gophers and Mosiac. Although terribly flakey, online correspondence greatly increases the speed by which information is passed between Kansans.
Eighteen far-right members of the Kansas House of Representatives announce a resolution asking the U.S. Congress to deny any request for protection from discrimination based on sexual orientation. (“A RESOLUTION memorializing Congress to refrain from enacting or amending any legislation that would define certain sexual or life-style preferences as having protected class status.”) Members are: Representatives Shallenburger and King, Boston, Bryant, Cornfield, Donovan, Jennison, Lawrence, Lloyd, Mollenkamp, Myers, Neufeld, Shore, M. Smith, Snowbarger, Vickrey, Wagle and E.Wells.
United States LGBT History for 1993
June 1 - National
The Secretary of the U.S.D.A. created a Departmental task force to develop recommendations designed to implement the Secretary’s policy regarding sexual orientation.
January 1 – National
Eric Marcus publishes “Is It a Choice? Answers to 300 of the Most Frequently Asked Questions About Gay & Lesbian People”
August 4 - National
The movie “The wedding banquet” is released.
September 21 - National
Bill Brochtrup accepts a role on NYPD Blue a gay police public assistant. It will take him several years before he comes out publicly.
May 5 - National
George C. Wolfe directs the theater production of “Angels in America”. The play is a complex, metaphorical, and symbolic examination of AIDS and homosexuality in America in the 1980’s.
October 1 - New York
Sheela Lambert wrote, produced, and hosted the first television series by and for bisexuals, called Bisexual Network. It aired for 13 weeks on NYC Public Access Cable
April 5 - National
The Unitarian Universalist Association’s stages a public protest against North Carolina’s “crime against nature” laws.
January 1 – National
The Intersex Society of North America becomes the world’s first organization in support of rights for intersex people.
March 29 - California
Actor Tom Hanks wins the Oscar for Best Actor for playing a gay man with AIDS in the movie Philadelphia.
August 1 - National
ROCK ‘N ROLL COMICS #62 features a biography of ELTON JOHN.
July 1 - Kansas
Equality Kansas is formed to educate Kansans on growing anti-gay legislation.
November 1 - Minnesota
Minnesota passes the first state-wide law prohibiting discrimination against transgender people.
January 1 – National
Latinas and Latinos de Ambiente (LLANY) is founded in New York City, focuses on the social and cultural needs of GLBTQ Latina/o Americans in the city and the tri-state area.
July 1 - National
The 19th General Synod of the United Church of Christ passes the “Resolution Calling on the Church of Greater Leadership to End Discrimination against Gays and Lesbians” and “A Call to End the Ban against Gays and Lesbians in the Military.”
August 1 - National
Andy Lippincott appears to MARK SLACKMEYER in a dream and suggests to him that he is also gay in Gary Trudeau’s comic strip “Doonesbury”.
January 1 – National
Robert Chesley who died of AIDS related complications is honored through “The Robert Chesley/Victor Bumbalo Foundation” that was established to support playwrights of LGBT theatre and has been in partnership with the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos, New Mexico, since 2009 to annually award a residency at the Foundation and a stipend to a selected playwright.
June 1 - National
John Preston an erotic writer published “My Life as a Pornographer”
March 1 - National
Long-running character LAURENCE POIRIER reveals he is gay, becoming the first gay teen in newspaper comics, in Lynn Johnston’s strip “For Better or For Worse” (March 1993). A later storyline involving Lawrence wins the strip a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comic Strip, 1998.
May 16 - Delaware
Five males beat three gay males with champagne bottles and a baseball bat on the Rehoboth boardwalk. One of the victims suffered brain damage and the others were hospitalized with lacerations.
January 1 – Georgia
The Cobb County (Georgia) Commission passes a resolution calling homosexuality “incompatible with the standards to which this community subscribes.” Organizer Gordon Wysong declares, “We should blame them for every social problem in America.”
President Bill Clinton
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