The Full Wiki

Timeline of LGBT history: Map
  
  
  

Wikipedia article:

Map showing all locations mentioned on Wikipedia article:


The following is a timeline of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) related history.

25th/24th century BCE



7th century BCE



Marriage between men in Greece was not legally recognized, although life-long relationships between adult men were not uncommon. The partnerships between two men in Greece were similar to heterosexual marriages in that generally there was about a generation difference in age and the older person served as the educator or mentor.

  • 600 BCE – Sappho of Lesbosmarker writes her famous love poems to young women, providing the eventual inspiration for the word lesbian .
Much of Sappho's work was later destroyed by Christians . Later writings by Plato credit Sappho for inventing the Mixolydian mode (a type of musical scale).

5th century BCE

  • 425 BCE- 388 BCE A series of satires published by Aristophanes ridicule the effeminate man, the transvestite, and adult males who enjoyed the passive sexual role. This provides evidence that although Greek culture was accepting of homosexuality, they did not accept effeminate males. Effeminacy in men was publicly ridiculed.


4th century BCE

  • 385 BCE Plato's Symposium is published. Plato argues that love between males is the highest form and that sex with women is lustful and only for means of reproduction. Only with men, can the Greek male reach their full intellectual potential.


  • 350 BCE Plato publishes Laws in which he takes a drastically different approach than in Symposium. Here homosexuality is critiqued as being lustful and wrong for society because it does not further the species and may lead to irresponsible citizenry.


  • 338 BCE The Sacred Band of Thebes, an undefeated elite battalion made up of one hundred and fifty gay couples, is destroyed by the forces of Philip II of Macedon who bemoans their loss and praises their honor .




1st century BCE





The Roman Empire is a time in which art and literature depict homosexual love in a positive light. Romans, like the Greeks, celebrated love and sex amongst men. Two Roman Emperors publicly married men, some had gay lovers themselves, and homosexual prostitution was taxed. However, like the Greeks, passivity and effeminacy were not tolerated, and an adult male freeborn Roman could lose his citizen status if caught performing fellatio or being penetrated.

1st century

  • 54 – Nero becomes Emperor of Rome. Nero married two men in legal ceremonies, with at least one spouse accorded the same honours as a Caesar's wife.


  • 98 – Trajan, one of the most beloved of Roman emperors, begins his reign. Trajan was well known for his homosexuality and fondness for young males. This was used to advantage by the king of Edessa, Abgarus, who, after incurring the anger of Trajan for some misdeed, sent his handsome young son to make his apologies, thereby obtaining pardon.


3rd century

  • 218 – The emperor Elagabalus begins his reign. He married a man named Zoticus, an athlete from Smyrnamarker, in a lavish public ceremony at Rome amid the rejoicings of the public.


  • 244-249 - Emperor Philip the Arab tries and fails to outlaw homosexual prostitution.


4th century

  • 305- 306 Council of Elvira (now Granadamarker, Spain). This council was representative of the Western European Church and among other things, it barred homosexuals the right to Communion.




  • 314 Council of Ancyra (now Ankaramarker, Turkey). This council was representative of the Eastern European Church and it excluded the Sacraments for 15 years to unmarried men under the age of 20 who were caught in homosexual acts, and excluded the man for life if he was married and over the age of 50.


  • 342 – The first law against homosexual marriage was promulgated by the Christian emperors Constantius II and Constans.


  • 390 – In the year 390, the Christian emperors Valentinian II, Theodosius I and Arcadius declared homosexual sex to be illegal and those who were guilty of it were condemned to be burned alive in front of the public.


  • 390- 405 Nonnus' Dionysiaca is the last piece of literature for nearly 1,000 years to celebrate homosexual passion.


5th century

  • 498 – In spite of the laws against gay sex, the Christian emperors continued to collect taxes on male prostitutes until the reign of Anastasius I, who finally abolishes the tax in favor of sampling of the best men.


6th century

  • 529 – The Christian emperor Justinian I (527-565) made homosexuals a scape goat for problems such as "famines, earthquakes, and pestilences."


  • 589 – The Visigothic kingdom in Spainmarker, is converted from Arianism to Catholicism. This conversion leads to a revision of the law to conform to those of Catholic countries. These revisions include provisions for the persecution of gays and Jews.


7th Century

  • 693 – In Iberia, Visigothic ruler Egica of Hispania and Septimania, demanded that a Church council confront the problem of homosexuality in the Kingdom. The Sixteenth Council of Toledo issued a statement in response, which was adopted by Egica, stating that homosexual acts be punished by castration, exclusion from Communion, hair shearing, one hundred stripes of the lash, and be banished into exile.


9th century



11th Century

  • 1007 The Decretum of Burchard of Worms equates homosexual acts with other sexual transgressions such as adultery and argues, therefore, that it should have the same penance (generally fasting).


12th century

  • 1102 – The Council of London took measures to ensure that the English public knew that homosexuality was sinful.




  • 1140 The Italian Monk Gratian compiles his work Concordia discordantium canonum in which he argues that sodomy is the worst of all the sexual sins because it involves using the member in an unnatural way.




13th century

  • 1232 Pope Gregory IX starts the Inquisition in the Italian City-States. Some cities called for banishment and/or amputation as punishments for 1st and 2nd offending sodomites and burning for the 3rd or habitual offenders.


  • 1250–1300 – "Between 1250 and 1300, homosexual activity passed from being completely legal in most of Europe to incurring the death penalty in all but a few contemporary legal compilations." — John Boswell, Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality (1980) p. 293. Other historians dispute Boswell's claim, however .


  • 1260 In France, 1st offending sodomites lost their testicles, 2nd offenders lost their member, and 3rd offenders were burned. Women caught in same-sex acts could be mutilated and executed as well.


  • 1265 Thomas Aquinas argues that sodomy is second only to murder in the ranking of sins.


  • 1283 French Civil Code dictated that convicted sodomites not only were burned but that their property was forfeited.


14th century

  • 1327 – The deposed King Edward II of England is killed, allegedly by forcing a red-hot poker through his rectum. Edward II had a history of conflict with the nobility, who repeatedly banished his former lover Piers Gaveston, the Earl of Cornwall .
  • 1370s – Jan van Aersdone and Willem Case were two men executed in Antwerpmarker in the 1370s. The charge against them was gay sex, which was illegal and strenuously vilified in medieval Europe. Aersdone and Case stand out because records of their names have survived. One other couple still known by name from the 14th century were Giovanni Braganza and Nicoleto Marmagna of Venicemarker.
  • Dante's Inferno places sodomites in the 7th Circle


15th Century

  • 1432- 1502 In a 70 year span, the Florentine Officers of the Night tried over 15,000 men and convicted over 2,000 of sodomy. Sodomy had begun to be equated with treason.
  • 1476 Leonardo Da Vinci is charged with sodomy but no verdict was rendered in his trial.
  • 1483 The Spanish Inquisition begins. Sodomites were stoned, castrated, and burned. Between 1540 and 1700, more than 1,600 people were prosecuted for sodomy.


16th century

  • 1532 Holy Roman Empire makes sodomy punishable by death.
  • 1533 – King Henry VIII passes the Buggery Act 1533 making all male-male sexual activity punishable by death.
  • 1553 Mary Tudor ascends the English throne and removes all of the laws passed by Henry VIII.
  • 1558 Elizabeth I ascends the English throne and reinstates the sodomy laws.


17th century



18th century

  • 1721 – Catherina Margaretha Linck is executed for female sodomy in Germany.
  • 1726 – Mother Clap's molly house in Londonmarker is raided by police, resulting in Clap's death and the execution at Tyburnmarker of all the men arrested.
  • Between 1730 and 1811, a widespread panic in the Dutch Republic leads to a spectacular series of trials for sodomy, with persecutions at their most severe from 1730 to 1737, 1764, 1776, and from 1795 to 1798.
  • 1779 – USAmarker- In 1779 Thomas Jefferson prepared a draft of Virginia’s criminal statute, envisaging that the punishment for sodomy should be castration. The bill read:
:“Whosoever shall be guilty of rape, polygamy, or sodomy with a man or woman, shall be punished; if a man, by castration, a woman, by boring through the cartilage of her nose a hole of one half inch in diameter at the least.” (Virginia Bill number 64; authored by Jefferson; June 18, 1779).
  • 1785 Jeremy Bentham is one of the first people to argue for the decriminalization of sodomy in England.
  • 1791 – Revolutionary Francemarker (and Andorramarker) adopts a new penal code which no longer criminalizes sodomy. France thus becomes the first West European country to decriminalize homosexual acts between consenting adults .
  • 1794 The Kingdom of Prussiamarker abolishes the death penalty for sodomy.
  • 1795 – Luxembourgmarker, and Tuscany (a state in Italy) decriminalize homosexual acts.


19th century



  • 1895 – The trial of Oscar Wilde results in his being prosecuted under the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 for "gross indecency" and sentenced to two years in prison.
  • 1895 – Earl Lind forms Cercle Hermaphroditos which is the 1st group to announce a political agenda to fight against the persecution of homosexuals.
  • 1897 – Magnus Hirschfeld founds the Scientific Humanitarian Committee on May 14 to organize for homosexual rights and the repeal of Paragraph 175.
  • 1897 – George Cecil Ives organizes the first homosexual rights group in England, the Order of Chaeronea.


20th century

1901-1909

  • 1903 – In New Yorkmarker on February 21, 1903, New York police conducted the first United States recorded raid on a gay bathhouse, the Ariston Hotel Baths. 26 men were arrested and 12 brought to trial on sodomy charges; 7 men received sentences ranging from 4 to 20 years in prison.
  • 1906 – Potentially the first openly gay American novel, Imre, is published.
  • 1907 – Adolf Brand, the activist leader of the Gemeinschaft der Eigenen, working to overturn Paragraph 175, publishes a piece "outing" the imperial chancellor of Germany, Prince Bernhard von Bülow. The Prince sues Brand for libel and clears his name; Brand is sentenced to 18 months in prison.
  • 1907–1909 – Harden-Eulenburg Affair in Germany


1910s

  • 1910 – Emma Goldman first begins speaking publicly in favor of homosexual rights. Magnus Hirschfeld later wrote "she was the first and only woman, indeed the first and only American, to take up the defense of homosexual love before the general public."
    wpunj.edu Jeffrey Escoffier, Left-wing Homosexuality Emancipation, Sexual Liberation, and Identity Politics.
    "During the first decade of the twentieth-century, the great anarchist and feminist leader Emma Goldman argued for the acceptance of homosexuals in her speeches and writings."]
  • 1913 – The word faggot is first used in print in reference to gays in a vocabulary of criminal slang published in Portland, Oregonmarker: "All the fagots [sic] (sissies) will be dressed in drag at the ball tonight".
  • 1917 – The October Revolution in Russia repeals the previous criminal code in its entirety — including Article 995. middlebury.edu Russian Gay History
    "It was not until 1832 that the criminal code included Article 995, which made muzhelozhstvo (men lying with men, which the courts interpreted as anal intercourse) a criminal act punishable by exile to Siberia.... The October Revolution of 1917 did away with the entire Criminal Code .... The new Russian Criminal Codes of 1922 and 1926 eliminated the offence of muzhelozhstvo from the law."
  • 1919 – In Berlin, Germany, Doctor Magnus Hirschfeld co-founds the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft (Institute for Sex Research), a pioneering private research institute and counseling office. Its library of thousands of books was destroyed by Nazis in May, 1933.


1920s

  • 1920 – The word Gay is used for the first time in reference to homosexual in the Underground.
  • 1921 – In England an attempt to make lesbianism illegal for the first time in Britain's history fails.
  • 1922 – A new criminal code comes into force in the USSRmarker officially decriminalizing homosexual acts.
  • 1923 – The word fag is first used in print in reference to gays in Nels Anderson's The Hobo: "Fairies or Fags are men or boys who exploit sex for profit."
  • 1924 – The first homosexual rights organization in America is founded in Chicagomarker — The Society for Human Rights. The movement exists for a few months before being ended by the police. Panamamarker, Paraguaymarker and Perumarker legalize homosexuality.
  • 1926 – The New York Times is the first major publication to use the word homosexuality.
  • 1927 (approximate date)– The Pansy Craze, a period in the late 1920s and early 1930s in which gay clubs and performers (known as pansy performers) experienced a surge in Underground culture popularity in the United States, begins.
  • 1928 – The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall is published in the UK and later in the United States. This sparks great legal controversy and brings the topic of homosexuality to public conversation.
  • 1929 – On May 22, Katharine Lee Bates, author of America the Beautiful dies. On October 16, a Reichstag Committee votes to repeal Paragraph 175; the Nazis' rise to power prevents the implementation of the vote.


1930s



1940s

  • 1940 – Icelandmarker decriminalizes homosexuality.
  • 1941 – Transsexuality was first used in reference to homosexuality and bisexuality.
  • 1942 – Switzerlandmarker decriminalizes homosexuality, with the age of consent set at 20.
  • 1944 – Swedenmarker decriminalizes homosexuality, with the age of consent set at 20 and Surinamemarker legalizes homosexuality.


  • 1945 – Upon the liberation of Nazi concentration camps by Allied forces, those interned for homosexuality are not freed, but required to serve out the full term of their sentences under Paragraph 175; Portugal decriminalises homosexuality for the second time in its history.
  • Four honorably discharged gay veterans form the Veterans Benevolent Association, the first LGBT veterans' group.
  • 1946 – "COC" (Dutch acronym for "Center for Culture and Recreation"), one of the earliest homophile organizations, is founded in the Netherlands. It is the oldest surviving LGBT organization.
  • 1947 – Vice Versa, the first North American LGBT publication, is written and self-published by Lisa Ben in Los Angeles.
  • 1948 – "Forbundet af 1948" ("League of 1948"), a homosexual group, is formed in Denmark.
  • 1948 – The communist authorities of Poland make age 15 the age of consent for all sexual acts, homosexual or heterosexual.


1950s



  • 1951 – Greecemarker decriminalizes homosexuality.
  • 1952 – In the spring of 1952, Dale Jennings was arrested for allegedly soliciting a police officer in a bathroom in Westlake Park, now known as MacArthur Park. His trial drew national attention to the Mattachine Society, and membership increased drastically after Jennings contests the charges, resulting in a hung jury.
  • 1952 – Christine Jorgensen becomes the first widely-publicized person to have undergone sex reassignment surgery, in this case, male to female, creating a world-wide sensation.
  • 1954 – June 7 – Mathematical and computer genius Alan Turing commits suicide by cyanide poisoning, 18 months after being given libido-reducing hormone treatment for a year as a punishment for homosexuality;
  • 1954 – Arcadie, the first homosexual group in France, is formed.
  • 1955 – Daughters of Bilitis founded in San Francisco, Californiamarker.
  • 1956 – Thailandmarker decriminalizes homosexual acts.
  • 1957 – The word "Transsexual" is coined by U.S. physician Harry Benjamin; The Wolfenden Committee's report recommends decriminalizing consensual homosexual behaviour between adults in the United Kingdom; Psychologist Evelyn Hooker publishes a study showing that homosexual men are as well adjusted as non-homosexual men, which becomes a major factor in the American Psychiatric Association removing homosexuality from its handbook of disorders in 1973.
  • 1958 – The Homosexual Law Reform Society is founded in the United Kingdom; Barbara Gittings founds the New York chapter of Daughters of Bilitis.
  • 1958 – The United States Supreme Court rules in favor of the First Amendment rights of a gay and lesbian magazine, marking the first time the United States Supreme Court had ruled on a case involving homosexuality.


1960s

  • 1961 – Czechoslovakiamarker and Hungary decriminalize sodomy; the Vatican declare that anyone who is "affected by the perverse inclination" towards homosexuality should not be allowed to take religious vows or be ordained within the Roman Catholic Church; The Rejected, the first documentary on homosexuality, is broadcast on KQEDmarker TV in San Franciscomarker on 11 September 1961; José Sarria becomes the first openly gay candidate for public office in the United States when he runs for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
  • 1961 – Illinoismarker becomes first U.S. state to remove sodomy law from its criminal code (effective 1962).
  • 1963 – Israelmarker decriminalizes de-facto sodomy and sexual acts between men by judicial decision against the enforcement of the relevant section in the old British-mandate law from 1936 (which in fact was never enforced).
  • 1964 – Canadamarker sees its first gay-positive organization, ASK, and first gay magazines: ASK Newsletter (in Vancouvermarker), and Gay (by Gay Publishing Company of Torontomarker). Gay was the first periodical to use the term 'Gay' in the title and expanded quickly, including outstripping the distribution of American publications under the name Gay International. These were quickly followed by Two (by Gayboy (later Kamp) Publishing Company of Toronto).
  • 1965 – Everett George Klippert is arrested for private, consensual sex with men. After being assessed "incurably homosexual", he is sentenced to an indefinite "preventive detention" as a dangerous sexual offender. This was considered by many Canadians to be extremely homophobic, and prompted sympathetic articles in Maclean's and The Toronto Star, eventually leading to increased calls for reform in Canada, passed in 1969 . Conservatively dressed gays and lesbians demonstrate outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia on July 4, 1965. This was the first in a series of Annual Reminders that took place through 1969.
  • 1966 – The Mattachine Society stages a "Sip-In" at Julius Bar in New York City challenging a New York State Liquor Authority prohibiting serving alcohol to gays.
  • 1966 – The National Planning Conference of Homophile Organizations is established (to became NACHO — North American Conference of Homophile Organizations later that year).
  • 1966 – The Compton's Cafeteria Riot occurred in August 1966 in the Tenderloinmarker district of San Francisco. This incident was the first recorded transgender riot in United States history, preceding the more famous 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York Citymarker by three years.
  • 1967 – Chadmarker decriminalizes homosexuality; The Sexual Offences Act 1967 decriminalises male homosexual behaviour in England and Walesmarker; The book Homosexual Behavior Among Males by Wainwright Churchill breaks ground as a scientific study approaching homosexuality as a fact of life and introduces the term "homoerotophobia", a possible precursor to "homophobia"; The Oscar Wilde Bookshop, the world's first homosexual-oriented bookstore, opens in New York City; "Our World" ("Nuestro Mundo"), the first Latino-American homosexual group, is created in Argentina; A raid on the Black Cat Tavern in Los Angeles, Californiamarker promotes homosexual rights activity. The Student Homophile League at Columbia University is the first institutionally recognized gay student group in the United States.
  • 1968 – Paragraph 175 is eased in East Germany decriminalizing homosexual acts over the age of 18; Bulgariamarker decriminalizes adult homosexual relations.
  • 1969 – The Stonewall riots occur in New York; Paragraph 175 is eased in West Germanymarker; Homosexual behavior legalized in Canada with an Age of Consent of 21 for sodomy, and 14 for non-sodomy; The Canadian Prime Minister is quoted as saying: "The government has no business in the bedrooms of the nation"; Poland decriminalizes homosexual prostitution; An Australian arm of the Daughters of Bilitis forms in Melbournemarker and is considered Australia's first homosexual rights organisation.
  • 1969 – On 31 December 1969, the Cockettes perform for the first time at the Palace Theatre on Union and Columbus in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco.


1970s



1980s

  • 1980 – The United States Democratic Party becomes the first major political party in the U.S. to endorse a homosexual rights platform plank; Scotlandmarker decriminalizes homosexuality; David McReynolds becomes the first openly LGBT individual to run for President of the United States, appearing on the Socialist Party U S A ticket; The Human Rights Campaign Fund is founded by Steve Endean; The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality.
  • 1981 – The European Court of Human Rightsmarker in Dudgeon v. United Kingdom strikes down Northern Ireland's criminalisation of homosexual acts between consenting adults, leading to Northern Ireland decriminalising homosexual sex the following year; Victoriamarker, Australia and Colombiamarker decriminalize homosexuality with a uniform age of consent; The Moral Majority starts its anti-homosexual crusade; Norway becomes the first country in the world to enact a law to prevent discrimination against homosexuals; Hong Kongmarker's first sex-change operation is performed.
  • 1982 – Laguna Beach, CA elects the first openly gay mayor in United States history.
  • 1982 in LGBT rights – France equalizes the age of consent; The first Gay Games is held in San Francisco, attracting 1,600 participants; Northern Irelandmarker decriminalizes homosexuality; Wisconsinmarker becomes the first US state to ban discrimination against homosexuals; New South Walesmarker becomes the first Australian state to outlaw discrimination on the basis of actual or perceived homosexuality.
  • 1983 – Massachusettsmarker Representative Gerry Studds reveals he is a homosexual on the floor of the House, becoming the first openly gay member of Congress; Guernseymarker (Including Alderneymarker, Hermmarker and Sarkmarker) and Portugal decriminalizes homosexuality, AIDS is described as a "gay plague" by Reverend Jerry Falwell.
  • 1984 – The lesbian and gay association "Ten Percent Club" is formed in Hong Kong; Massachusetts voters reelect representative Gerry Studds, despite his revealing himself as homosexual the year before; New South Wales and the Northern Territorymarker in Australia make homosexual acts legal; Chris Smith, newly elected to the UK parliament declares: "My name is Chris Smith. I'm the Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury, and I'm gay", making him the first openly out homosexual politician in the UK parliament. The Argentine Homosexual Community (Comunidad Homosexual Argentina, CHA) is formed uniting several different and preexisting groups. Berkeley, Californiamarker becomes the first city in the U.S. to adopt a program of domestic partnership health benefits for city employees.
  • 1984 in LGBT rights – West Hollywood, CA is founded and becomes the first known city to elect a city council where a majority of the members are openly gay or lesbian.
  • 1985 – France prohibits discrimination based on lifestyle (moeurs) in employment and services; the first memorial to gay Holocaust victims is dedicated; Belgiummarker equalizes the age of consent; the Restoration Church of Jesus Christ (the Gay Mormon Church) is founded by Antonio A. Feliz.
  • 1986 – Homosexual Law Reform Act passed in New Zealandmarker, legalizing sex between males over 16; June in Bowers v. Hardwick case, U.S. Supreme Court upholds Georgia law forbidding oral or anal sex, ruling that the constitutional right to privacy does not extend to homosexual relations, but it did not state whether the law could be enforced against heterosexuals.
  • 1987 – ACT UP stages its first major demonstration, seventeen protesters are arrested; U.S. Congressman Barney Frank comes out; In New York City a group of Bisexual LGBT rights activist including Brenda Howard found the New York Area Bisexual Network ; Homomonumentmarker, a memorial to persecuted homosexual, opens in Amsterdammarker. David Norris is the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in the Republic of Irelandmarker.
  • 1988 – Sweden is the first country to pass laws protecting homosexual regarding social services, taxes, and inheritances. Section 28 passes in England and Wales; Scotland enacts almost identical legislation; Canadian MP Svend Robinson comes out; Canada lowers the age of consent for sodomy to 18; Belizemarker and Israel decriminalize (de jure) sodomy and sexual acts between men (the relevant section in the old British-mandate law from 1936 was never enforced in Israel). After losing an Irish High Court case (1980) and an Irish Supreme Court case (1983), David Norris takes his case (Norris v. Ireland) to the European Court of Human Rights. The European Court strikes down the Irish law criminalising male-to-male sex on the grounds of privacy.
  • 1989 – Western Australiamarker de-crimilizes male homosexuality (but the age of consent is set at 21); Liechtensteinmarker legalizes homosexuality; Denmark is the first country in the world to enact registered partnership laws (like a civil union) for same-sex couples, with most of the same rights as marriage (excluding the right to adoption and the right to marriage in a church).


1990s

  • 1990 – OutRage!, an LGBT rights direct action group, forms in the UK; Queer Nation is founded in March 1990 in New York City, USA by AIDS activists from AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power; In the United States of Americamarker the United States national bisexual/pansexual Civil rights and advocacy organization BiNet USA is founded; Czechoslovakia equalizes the age of consent and Jerseymarker legalizes homosexual acts. Justin Fashanu is the first professional footballer to come out in the press.
  • 1991 – Bahamasmarker, Hong Kong, Ukrainemarker and Queenslandmarker in Australia decriminalize sodomy; The red ribbon is first used as a symbol of the campaign against HIV/AIDS.
  • 1992 – The World Health Organization removes homosexuality from its ICD-10; allows homosexuals to serve in the military for the first time; Isle of Manmarker, Ukraine, Estoniamarker and Latviamarker legalize homosexuality; Iceland, Luxembourg and Switzerland all equalize the age of consent; Nicaraguamarker recriminalizes homosexuality (then de-crimilizes homosexuality again in March 2008).
  • 1993 – Brandon Teena is raped and murdered; The third homosexual rights march on Washington, DCmarker is held; Sodomy laws are repealed in Norfolk Islandmarker and the Republic of Ireland; Belarusmarker, Gibraltarmarker and Russia decriminalizes consensual male sodomy (with the exception of the Chechen Republic); Lithuaniamarker legalizes homosexuality; Norway enacts registered partnership civil union laws that grant same-sex couples the same rights as married couples, except for the right to adopt or marry in a church; Minnesotamarker passes the first statewide anti-discrimination law protecting transgender people.
  • 1994 – Bermudamarker, Serbiamarker and South Africa legalize homosexuality; The United Kingdommarker reduces the age of consent for homosexual men to 18; The AMA denounces supposed cures for homosexuality; Canada grants refugee status to homosexuals fearing for their well-being in their native country; Paragraph 175 is repealed in Germany; Israel’s supreme court defines homosexual couple’s rights as the same as any common-law-couple’s rights.
  • 1995 – Sweden legalizes registered partnerships; The Supreme Court of Canadamarker rules that sexual orientation is a prohibited reason for discrimination under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms; Albaniamarker and Moldovamarker decriminalize homosexuality; The Human Rights Campaign drops the word fund from their title and broadens their mission to promote "an America where gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people are ensured equality and embraced as full members of the American family at home, at work and in every community;" transgender activists demonstrate at Brandon Teena murder trial in Nebraska.
  • 1996 – The age of consent is equalised in Burkina Fasomarker; Iceland legalizes registered partnerships; Hungary recognizes same-sex partners in unregistered domestic partnerships; Romaniamarker decriminalizes homosexuality that is not scandalous; Macedoniamarker decriminalizes homosexuality.
  • 1997 – South Africa becomes the first country to prohibit explicitly discrimination based on sexual orientation in its constitution and comes into force; The UK extends immigration rights to same-sex couples akin to marriage; Fijimarker becomes the second country to protect explicitly against discrimination based on sexual orientation in its constitution; Laws prohibiting private homosexual acts are finally repealed in Tasmaniamarker, Australia, the last Australian state to do so, as well as in Ecuadormarker; Russia equalizes the age of consent.
  • 1998 – Matthew Shepard is murdered; The Employment Equality Act is introduced in Ireland, covering wrongful dismissal based on the grounds of sexual orientation; Sexual orientation is read into the IRPA, Albertamarker's human rights act, through Vriend v. Alberta; Ecuador is the third country in the world to explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation; Bosnia and Herzegovinamarker, Chilemarker, Kazakhstanmarker, Kyrgyzstanmarker and Tajikistanmarker legalize homosexuality; Croatia and Latvia equalize the age of consent. Cyprus decriminalizes homosexuality; Rita Hester is murdered
  • 1999 – California adopts a domestic partnership law; France enacts civil union laws; The "Queer Youth Alliance" is founded in the UK; Israel’s supreme court recognizes a lesbian partner as another legal mother of her partner’s biological son; Finland equalizes the age of consent.


2000

  • 2000 – The United Kingdom's ban on homosexuals serving in the armed forces is abolished and Section 28 is repealed in Scotland; the former USSR states of Azerbaijanmarker and Georgiamarker legalize homosexual acts; Gabonmarker decriminalize homosexuality; the age of consent is equalised in the United Kingdom, Belarus, and Israel; The Bundestagmarker officially apologizes to gays and lesbians persecuted under the Nazi regime, and for "harm done to homosexual citizens up to 1969"; Vermontmarker becomes the first U.S. state to legalize civil unions; Israel recognizes same-sex relations for immigration purposes for a foreign partner of an Israeli resident.


21st century

2001-2009

(See individual year page for more info)
  • 2001 – Same-sex marriage is legalized in the Netherlands, making it the first country to do so; The state of Arizona repeals its sodomy law; Albania and Liechtenstein equalize the age of consent; Finland and Germany enacts registered partnership legislation; Protesters disrupt the first Pride march in Belgrademarker; and the rest of the United Kingdom's territories legalize homosexuality .
  • 2002 – Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprusmarker, Estonia, Hungary, Moldova, Romania and Western Australia all equalize their age of consent; both Romania and Costa Rica repeal "scandalous sodomy" provisions in the Penal Code; Sweden legalizes adoption for same-sex couples; Zurich extends marriage-like rights to same-sex couples; openly gay Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn is assassinated by Volkert van der Graaf; homosexuality is decriminalized in Chinamarker; a civil unions law is passed in Buenos Airesmarker, making it the first Latin-American city to legalize same-sex unions. The Arkansas Supreme Courtmarker strikes down anti-sodomy laws in Jegley v. Picado .
  • 2003 – Belize recriminalizes homosexuality; Section 28 is repealed in England and Wales; In Lawrence v. Texas, on 26 June 2003, the U.S.marker Supreme Courtmarker strikes down remaining state sodomy laws; Armeniamarker decriminalizes male homosexual sodomy; Lithuania, the Northern Territory and New South Wales all equalize their age of consent; same-sex marriage in Belgium is legalized; Germany's Supreme Court upholds the country's civil union Same-sex marriage legalized in Canadian provinces British Columbia and Ontario.
  • 2004 – In Tasmania, the Relationships Act 2003 providing a registered partnership becomes effective from January 1, 2004; Cape Verdemarker and Marshall Islandsmarker legalize homosexuality, both from February 1, 2004; Portugal is the fourth country in the world to protect people from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in their Constitution; Massachusetts legalizes same-sex marriage while eleven other U.S. states ban the practice through public referendums; Domestic partnerships are legalized in New Jerseymarker; Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil accepts civil unions; Australia bans same-sex marriage on the August 13, 2004; New Zealand provides passes a civil union bill; Luxembourg introduces civil partnerships; Same-sex marriages in Belgium get adoption rights and are equal to marriage. James McGreevey becomes the first openly gay Governor in U.S. history .
  • 2005 – New Zealand is the first nation in the world to outlaw hate crime and employment discrimination on the basis of Transgender; Puerto Rico repeals anti-sodomy law; Hong Kong age of consent equalized through legal ruling; Uganda and Latvia amend their constitutions to prohibit same-sex marriage; Same-sex marriage is legalized in Spain and Canada (together with adoption); Andorra recognizes same-sex partners in "Stable Unions"; Two gay male teenagers, Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni, are executed in Iranmarker; Switzerland votes in favor of extending rights for registered same-sex couples; South Africa's Supreme Court rules that it is unconstitutional to ban same-sex marriages, legalizing same-sex marriage effective December 1, 2006; André Boisclair is chosen leader of the Parti Québécois, becoming the first openly gay man elected as the leader of a major political party in North America. UK introduces civil partnerships with rights all but equal to marriage; Mainemarker adds sexual orientation and gender identity to existing anti-discrimination laws .
  • 2006 – Serbia and Isle of Man equalized the age of consent; Illinois outlaws sexual orientation discrimination; Washingtonmarker adds sexual orientation to its existing anti-discrimination laws; Missourimarker legalizes homosexuality between consenting adults; The first homosexual pride march in Moscowmarker ends with violence; The first regional Eastern European Pride is held in Zagrebmarker, Croatia; The United States Senate fails to pass the Federal Marriage Amendment; The International Conference on LGBT Human Rights is held in Montrealmarker; The Czech Republicmarker and Slovenia introduce civil partnerships; Mexico Citymarker introduces civil unions; South Africa legalizes same-sex marriage; The Israeli High Court orders Israeli law to recognize same-sex marriages performed abroad; Fiji legalizes consensual homosexuality and Germany includes gender identity in anti-discrimination law; South Australia the only state left in Australia to enact most laws that includes all couples; Another section 28 "successfully repealed" in Isle of Man and the Faroe Islandsmarker make sexual orientation discrimination illegal by a narrow vote of 17:15. Human Rights Campaign, 2006 Summary of legislative issues in each state of USA
  • 2007 – Registered partnership takes effect in Switzerland; age of consent equalized in Jersey and Vanuatumarker; homosexuality is decrimilized in two out of three New Zealand territories (Cook Islands refuses to decrimilize male homosexuality); in New Jersey and Coahuilamarker, Mexico civil unions law come into effect; The first ever gay pride parade in a Muslim country was held in Istanbulmarker, Turkey See video; domestic partnership law comes into effect in South Australia on June 1, 2007 and in Washington statemarker on July 22, 2007; comes into force for the UK (with provisions protecting people from discrimination in goods and services on the grounds of sexual orientation and establishing the Commission for Equality and Human Rights ). Oregon, Colorado, Ohio, and Iowa ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in the private sector. On August 9, 2007, the Logo cable channel hosts the first presidential forum in the United States focusing specifically on LGBT issues. Six Democratic Party candidates participate in the event. GOP candidates were asked to attend but turned it down. Nepalmarker makes homosexuality legal, by Supreme Court orders; Portugal and South Africa equal age of consent come into force from a new Penal Code. On November 29, the first foreign gay wedding has been hold in Hanoimarker, Vietnammarker between a japanese and an irish national. The wedding raised much attention in the gay and lesbian community in Vietnam.
  • 2008 – The "civil union" law goes into effect in New Hampshiremarker and Uruguay on January 1, 2008 and "domestic partnership" legislation in Oregon came into effect in February 4. Both Nicaragua and Panama legalizes homosexuality - With an equal age of consent, under a new Penal Code coming into effect; Kosovo declares to be an international country with a new constitution that includes "sexual orientation" the first of its kind in Eastern Europe, and the Registered partnership legislation called the Relationships Act 2008 will come into effect from December 1, 2008 in Victoria marker and the Australian Capital Territory will provide a Civil Partnership called the Civil Partnership Act 2008 will commence from November 15, 2008. On May 15, 2008, the California State Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional to deny same-sex couples equal marriage rights, thus making California the second state to legalize same-sex marriage. The California Supreme Court also becomes the first high court in the United States to recognize sexual orientation as a suspect classification, reviewing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the same manner as discrimination on the basis of race, gender, and religion. However, Proposition 8 passes in November, eliminating the right of same-sex couples to marry. In May, Portland voters elect Sam Adams mayor, making it the largest city in the US with an openly-gay mayor. Portland is about three times the size of the next-largest city with an out mayor, Providence, Rhode Islandmarker. On June 3 the first two same sex civil marriages (two men and two women)take place in Greece on the island of Tilosmarker. The supreme court prosecutor and the minister of Justice claim the marriages are null and void; France recognises same-sex marriages (but does not allow them to be performed); Same-sex marriage becomes legal in Connecticut, the third state in the USA. Arkansas voters pass Act 1, banning adoption by same-sex couples.
  • 2009 – SSMs law in Norway and Northern Cyprusmarker legalizes male homosexuality by a new Criminal Code, effective from January 1, 2009 . On February 1, 2009, Iceland elected the first openly gay head of government in the world, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir. On March 27, 2009, it was reported that Japanmarker has given the green light for its nationals to marry same-sex foreign partners in countries where gay marriage is legal. On March 10, 2009, in Tel Aviv, Uzi Even and his life partner was the first same-sex male couple in Israel whose right of adoption has been legally acknowledged. Iowamarker and Vermont become the 3rd and 4th American states to allow same sex marriage. On May 1, same-sex marriage becomes legal in Sweden. Vermont became the 1st state in the Union to permit same-sex marriage by going through a legislative vote, as opposed to a Judicial challenge. Colorado from 1 July 2009, allows certain domestic partner rights (such as health insurance and property rights for unmarried (including same-gender couples); Hungary's Registered Partnership Bill 2009 passes the Parliament, which comes into force from 1 July 2009 (it does not include marriage, surnames, adoption, IVF and surrogacy). On May 6, Gay Marriage Law signed in Maine. Finland allows same-sex couples the legal right to adopt a biological child (no full joint adoption) also the US state of Washington provides domestic partnerships in all areas of statute law. 26 May, 2009: California Supreme Court upholds Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that banned same-sex marriage in November 2008, with a 6-1 vote. Nevadamarker legally provides a domestic partnership from 1 October, 2009. The Canadian province of Alberta becomes the last province to include the words "sexual orientation" in the Human Rights Act . New Hampshire legalizes civil marriage for same-sex couples (eff. 1/1/2010). Colorado allows certain rights for same-sex couples; Wisconsin legally provides a limited number of rights within a domestic partnership (eff. 8/3/2009); Delawaremarker outlaws sexual orientation discrimination. Indiamarker decriminalises gay sex between consenting adults; District of Columbiamarker recognises same-sex marriage, however can not be performed (just like New York). On November 3, 2009, Maine’s same-sex marriage law was repealed by referendum. Maine's domestic partnership law remains in effect. Washington state voters approved to keep same-sex realtionship rights as Domestic Partnerships by 51 percent.


See also



Footnotes

  1. Boswell, John (1994). Same-Sex Unions in Pre-Modern Europe. New York: Vintage Books
  2. Suetonius, Julius 2-3; Plutarch, Caesar 2-3; Cassius Dio, Roman History 43.20
  3. Martial attests to same-sex marriages between men during the early Roman Empire, q.v. Martial Epigrams 1.24, 12.42
  4. Ancient History Sourcebook: Suetonius: De Vita Caesarum-Nero, c. 110 C.E Although this action was criticized by contemporary historians, these same historians do not criticize emperors such as Hadrian and Trajan who also had male lovers. The real reason behind the criticism of Nero and Elagabalus is that both of these emperors ignored the Senators (who wrote the surviving historical accounts) and appointed low class men (such as freedmen) to important positions of power, thereby incurring the hatred of the Senatorial class.
  5. Dio Cassius, Epitome of Book 68.6.4; 68.21.2–6.21.3
  6. Augustan History, Life of Elagabalus 10
  7. Theodosian Code 9.8.3: "When a man marries and is about to offer himself to men in womanly fashion (quum vir nubit in feminam viris porrecturam), what does he wish, when sex has lost all its significance; when the crime is one which it is not profitable to know; when Venus is changed to another form; when love is sought and not found? We order the statutes to arise, the laws to be armed with an avenging sword, that those infamous persons who are now, or who hereafter may be, guilty may be subjected to exquisite punishment.
  8. (Theodosian Code 9.7.6): All persons who have the shameful custom of condemning a man's body, acting the part of a woman's to the sufferance of alien sex (for they appear not to be different from women), shall expiate a crime of this kind in avenging flames in the sight of the people.
  9. Evagrius Ecclesiastical History 3.39
  10. Justinian Novels 77, 144
  11. Visigothic Code 3.5.5, 3.5.6; Online at: http://libro.uca.edu/vcode/vg3-5.htm; "The doctrine of the orthodox faith requires us to place our censure upon vicious practices, and to restrain those who are addicted to carnal offences. For we counsel well for the benefit of our people and our country, when we take measures to utterly extirpate the crimes of wicked men, and put an end to the evil deeds of vice. For this reason we shall attempt to abolish the horrible crime of sodomy, which is as contrary to Divine precept as it is to chastity. And although the authority of the Holy Scriptures, and the censure of earthly laws, alike, prohibit offences of this kind, it is nevertheless necessary to condemn them by a new decree; lest if timely correction be deferred, still greater vices may arise. Therefore, we establish by this law, that if any man whosoever, of any age, or race, whether he belongs to the clergy, or to the laity, should be convicted, by competent evidence, of the commission of the crime of sodomy, he shall, by order of the king, or of any judge, not only suffer emasculation, but also the penalty prescribed by ecclesiastical decree for such offences, and promulgated in the third year of our reign."
  12. (Fone, 2000)
  13. David Bromell. Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History, London, 2000 (Ed. Wotherspoon and Aldrich)
  14. Crompton, Louis. Homosexuality and Civilization. Cambridge & London: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2003
  15. R v Jacobs (1817) Russ & Ry 331 confirmed that buggery related only to intercourse per anum by a man with a man or woman or intercourse per anum or per vaginum by either a man or a woman with an animal. Other forms of "unnatural intercourse" may amount to indecent assault or gross indecency, but do not constitute buggery. See generally, Smith & Hogan, Criminal Law (10th ed), ISBN 0 406 94801 1
  16. p.123
  17. p.113
  18. Foster, Thomas (2007). Long Before Stonewall: Histories of Same-Sex Sexuality in Early America. New York University Press.
  19. Thomas Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Andrew A. Lipscomb, ed. (Washington, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1904) Vol. I, pp. 226–27, from Jefferson’s “For Proportioning Crimes and Punishments.”
  20. Gunther, Scott (2009). "The Elastic Closet: A History of Homosexuality in France, 1942-present" Book about the history of homosexual movements in France (sample chapter available online). Palgrave-Macmillan, 2009. ISBN 023022105X.
  21. (Chauncey, 1995)
  22. Marc Vargo. Scandal: infamous gay controversies of the twentieth century Routledge, 2003. pp 165-7.
  23. Steakley, James D. (revised 1989). "Iconography of a Scandal: Political Cartoons and the Eulenburg Affair in Wilhelmin Germany", Hidden from History: Reclaiming the Gay & Lesbian Past (1990), Duberman, et al., eds. New York: Meridian, New American Library, Penguin Books. ISBN 0-452-01067-5.
  24. Goldman, Emma (1923). "Offener Brief an den Herausgeber der Jahrbücher über Louise Michel" with a preface by Magnus Hirschfeld. Jahrbuch für sexuelle Zwischenstufen 23: 70.  Translated from German by James Steakley. Goldman's original letter in English is not known to be extant.
  25. Wayne R. Dynes, Stephen Donaldson. History of homosexuality in Europe and America. Taylor & Francis, 1992, pp. 174+
  26. hirschfeld.in-berlin.de, The first Institute for Sexual Science
  27. stonewallsociety.com
  28. Atina Grossmann. Reforming Sex. Oxford University Press, 1995.
  29. Archer, p. 110
  30. Miller, p. 347
  31. 1961 Ill. Laws 2044.
  32. Getting Rid of Sodomy Laws: History and Strategy that Led to the Lawrence Decision
  33. Sodomy Laws, Idaho
  34. Warner, Tom. ‘’Never Going Back: A History of Queer Activism in Canada’’, 2002 University of Toronto Press, ISBN 0802084605 p41
  35. Coming Out of the Bunker--Gay Nazis:
  36. ILGA
  37. Sunstone Magazine March 1986 Interview with Antonio A. Feliz Pages 43-44
  38. 365Gay.com: Hong Kong Gay Sex Law Dead
  39. Gay sex at 16 legal, Man
  40. of anti gay law in Missouri
  41. Fiji legalizes consensual homosexuality
  42. World Legal Wrap Up — November, 2006
  43. South Australia gays get new rights
  44. Timeline of lesbian and gay history
  45. Island Chain Votes To Ban Discrimination Against Gays
  46. BBC: State votes for consent age drop
  47. Sexual Offences (Jersey) Law 2007
  48. Japan allows its citizens same-sex marriage abroad
  49. Vermont legalizes gay marriage The Burlington Free Press
  50. Sweden oks gay marriage
  51. Gay marriage law signed in Maine, advances in N.H. - Local News Updates - The Boston Globe

References

  • Archer, Bert (2004). The End of Gay: And the Death of Heterosexuality. Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 1560256117.
  • Miller, Neil (1995). Out of the Past: Gay and Lesbian History from 1869 to the Present. New York, Vintage Books. ISBN 0099576910.


External links




Embed code:






Got something to say? Make a comment.
Your name
Your email address
Message
Please enter the solution to case below
5-2=