Historic Events
In 1952, this professional organization’s diagnostic manual lists homosexuality as a sociopathic personality disturbance that could be treated. The diagnosis would later be removed in 1973.
American Psychiatric Association
This Japanese and British singer, actress and model self-released her debut album. She identifies as pansexual and bisexual, she was an advocate for banning conversion-therapy in the UK.
Rina Sawayama
This is the location of a 1966 riot in response to police harassment and violence towards drag queens and trans people, particularly trans women. This event marked the beginning of transgender activism in the region.
Compton Cafeteria (Riot)
“Slay, Mama” -Drag entertainer and entrepreneur:
RuPaul Charles
This hand gesture was popularized in the 70’s by LA Dodger Glenn Burke, the first MLB player to come out as gay.
The High Five
Vermont
Marsha P. Johnson
When the US military discharged thousands of gay servicemen because of their sexuality in the early 1940’s, many of them settled in the Bay Area of California. This neighborhood in San Francisco has been a hub for queer activism and community. since the 1960’s and is considered “one of the first gay neighborhoods.”
The Castro District
Gay
This symbol was worn by nearly 100,000 German homosexual men placed in concentration camps along with Jewish people, disabled people, and other marginalized minorities between 1933-1945.
A pink triangle
In this year, the military allowed transgender Americans to serve openly in the military. This would be reversed by the Trump administration and reversed again by the Biden administration.
2015
An instrumental figure in the civil rights movement and mentor to Martin Luther King Jr. regarding his nonviolent ideas and tactics. He also co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). His identity as a gay man was used to undermine him and the civil rights movement.
Bayard Rustin
The location of a 1969 riot where patrons rebelled against persecution from the state’s “gender-appropriate clothing statute,” police harassment, and social discrimination. In 1999, this New York City bar was listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its historic significance to gay and lesbian history and in 2000 declared a National Historic Landmark.
The Stonewall Inn
“We deserve to experience love fully, equally, without shame and without compromise." -Actor and transgender-rights activist:
Elliot Page
The first documented U.S. gay rights organization, the Society for Human Rights, was founded in ____ by Henry Gerber, a German immigrant. They issued several issues of the country’s first gay-interest newsletter before being forced to disband.
1924
In 1779, Thomas Jefferson revises Virginia law to make this crime (committed by men or women) punishable by mutilation, rather than death.
Sodomy (sexual intercourse involving anal or oral copulation).
This American president, a lifelong bachelor, had a long-term relationship with William Rufus King, who served as vice president under Franklin Pierce. The two men lived together from 1840-1853 until King’s death. Some historians suggest by today’s terms, this former president was gay, but he predates the term.
James Buchanan
This university became the first collegiate institution in the United States to host an LGBTQ student group. In 1966 the Student Homophile League was founded- with permission from the university and religious advisors.
Columbia University
"There are many, many kids out there that don't have someone to look up to. All they have around them is people telling them, 'What you're feeling is evil. But, you can't force someone to come out. But if you have an egg and you open it from the outside, only death comes out. But if the egg opens up from the inside, life comes out." Latin pop singer and actor:
Ricky Martin
Since the 17th century this word has been associated with the works of Sappho, an ancient Greek woman from the island of _____ who wrote poems about same-gender passion.
Lesbian/Lesbos
Alicia Kozlowski made history in this year after being elected Minnesota’s first non-binary lawmaker. Alicia’s parents are Mexican and Ojibwe and Alicia identifies as both non-binary and two-spirit.
2022
Born in 1890, this man pioneered the use of the X-Ray for tuberculosis diagnosis and was one of the first transgender men in US history to receive what some might refer to as "top surgery."
Alan Hart
Located in "The Grove" neighborhood of this city, grows the Transgender Memorial Garden- the world’s first garden to memorialize victims of anti-trans violence and to celebrate transgender lives.
St. Louis, Missouri
“I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.” -American political activist, professor, and author who was an active member in the Communist Party and Black Panther Party:
This seven-point scale was developed in 1948 to demonstrate that human sexuality is subject to change over time and that it cannot be captured by a homo/heterosexual binary. The responses vary from exclusively heterosexual to exclusively homosexual and the 7th point was added as an addendum to capture the asexual experience.
The Kinsey Scale