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
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?
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
The first Gay Pride March in Asia took place in this country in 1994.
What is the Philippines?
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
The 1987 March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights was the site of the first public display of this 1,300,000 square foot 54 ton memorial.
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
This professional sports league was the first to have an openly nonbinary athlete.
What is the WNBA?
Layshia Clarendon (who came out as nonbinary in 2020) played in the WNBA from 2013 to 2024.
300
Similar to the Red Scare, where red represented 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
This 1993 film, starring Tom Hanks, was one of the first major Hollywood movies that addressed the AIDS epidemic.
What is Philadelphia?
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
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?
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
Despite being the chief organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, this Black civil rights activist and advisor to Martin Luther King Jr. was routinely forced into the background due to his identity as an openly gay man.
Who is Baynard Rustin?
400
Although a top performing cadet at the United States Military Academy, this gay DC Superhero was forced to leave due to the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy.
Who is Batwoman?
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?
