Firsts
Before Stonewall
AIDS Crisis
Hidden Figures
Media Corner
100
This was the first state to legally gay marriage in 2004.
What is Massachusetts?
100
This god Atum was known for having both male and female qualities and according to mythology of this ancient culture created the first gods.
What is Ancient Egypt?
100
This 1993 film, starring Tom Hanks, was one of the first major Hollywood movies that addressed the AIDS epidemic.
What is Philadelphia?
100
This Mexican artist's bisexuality is often overshadowed by her tumultous marriage to Diego Rivera. She was romantically involved with famous artists Josephine Baker and Georgia O'Keefe.
Who is Frieda Kahlo?
100
This fairy tale, written by Hans Christian Andersen, published in 1837 and later adapted into a Disney animated film released in 1989, has been interpreted as an allegory for gay unrequited love.
What is The Little Mermaid?
200
In 2021, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez was the first openly transgender person to win a Golden Globe for her role in this Hulu series about 1980s/90s ball culture in New York City.
What is Pose?
200
In the 17th and 18th centuries, this term described the situation in which two women lived together. This was a socially acceptable arrangement.
What is Boston Marriage?
200
This 1990 American documentary film explores the African American and Latino gay communities within the 1980s drag ball culture in New York City. Sadly, many of the main subjects interviewed for the film died from complications from AIDS.
What is Paris is Burning?
200
This ancient figure, considered one of history's most successful military commanders, was so devestated by the death of his closest companion Hephaestion that he held a funeral whose cost equates to $240,000,000 in today's money.
Who is Alexander the Great?
200
This popular American poet wrote a series of poems in the poetry collection Leaves of Grass that connected thematic topics of gay love and nature.
Who is Walt Whitman?
300
The first openly transgender educator and Berkeley alum, Steve Dain, taught PE in the Bay Area, came out, and openly transitioned during this decade.
What is the 1970s?
300
Similar to the Red Scare where red meant communism, this color was used to refer to the "scare" against homosexuality in the mid-twentieth century. This color is also particularly associated with the lesbian community since the 600s BCE.
What is lavender?
300
Howard Ashman, who tragically died of AIDS in 1991, wrote the iconic songs of this animated film that was nominated for Best Picture at the 1992 Academy Awards.
What is Beauty and the Beast?
300
This author, known as one of the earliest writers of the modern science fiction movement and the creator of one of the most popular characters in the horror genre, wrote about her bisexual inclinations in letters to her friends.
Who is Mary Shelley?
300
This 1990s manga (Japanese comic) featured the first openly gay couple. It was adapted into an anime and its original American translation was notorious for changing their relationship from girlfriends to cousins due to censorship in children's media.
What is Sailor Moon?
Line from the 1990s American version:
400
This Canadian soccer player, who goes by one name professionally, was the first out non-binary athlete to compete in the Olympics, the first to medal, and the first to win a gold medal. This player was also the first openly trans person to compete in the FIFA World Cup.
Who is Quinn?
They played in the 2016 Olympics and won Bronze. They won gold at the 2020 Olympics, and competed in the 2023 Women's World Cup. 
400
The first transgender confirmation surgery took place in this country in 1931.
What is Germany?
Bonus: Here's Lili Elbe
400
This transgender author and activist was the first who publicly identified as gay and passed away due to complications from AIDS in 1991.
Who is Lou Sullivan?
400
This woman, known as the founder of modern nursing and awarded as a war hero by Queen Victoria, experienced passionate and intense relationships with women.
Who is Florence Nightingale?
"I have lived and slept in the same beds with English Countesses and Prussian farm women. No woman has excited passions among women more than I have.”
400
This 1952 novel, later adapted into the 2015 period film Carol starring Cate Blanchett, was revolutionary for its time because no one gay dies at the end!
The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith
500
This First Lady was one of the first openly gay residents of the White House.
Who is Rose Cleveland? (Served as First Lady to Grover Cleveland from 1885-1886)
500
In ancient China, the Emperor Ai of Han did this to his robe so he would not wake his sleeping lover.
What is cut the sleeve off?
500
The San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus, established in 1978, lost this amount of members due to the AIDS epidemic.
What is over 300?
500
This famous poet and author of famous poems such as "I, Too" and "Let America Be America Again" had close relationships with other gay men during the Harlem Renaissance.
Who is Langston Hughes?
500
In 1984 this feminist writer and civil rights activist published Sister Outsider, a foundational text that explores the intersectionality of race, class, gender, and sexuality.
Who is Audre Lorde?
