Jan. 28-Feb.3
1996
U.S.: San Francisco's governing Board of Supervisors votes 10-0 for an ordinance authorizing the county clerk or a deputized representative to perform a civil ceremony with "marriage-like vows" for couples who register with the city as domestic partners. * Managers at the Radisson Arrowwood Resort in Alexandria, Minn., apologize to more than 175 people attending a conference of GLBT activists, after several food servers wore latex gloves while serving dinner. * The South Dakota House of Reps votes 49-18, with three abstentions, to pass House Bill 1143, which defines marriage as only between a man and a woman. * Three Black board members of the Gay Men's Health Crisis quit, saying the group was not attentive to the needs of minority community members. * Randall Terry announces on his Randall Terry Live radio program that he is going to Hawaii to demonstrate against the legalization of queer marriage. * Australia: A woman is ordered by a court to pay $113,000 maintenance to her former lesbian lover, who was left to bring up two children born after artificial insemination. *
1991
U.S.: In Seattle, a group trained by the Guardian Angels begin street patrols in the Capitol Hill neighborhood to protect gays from harassment and attacks. The Q-Patrol has seven trained members.
1986
U.S.: A Milwaukee lesbian is ordered reinstated to the U.S. Army Reserves. Federal Judge Terence T. Evans rules that the Army must reinstate Miriam Ben-Shalom by March 1. She had been discharged from Milwaukee's 84th Division in 1976. The ruling ends a 10-year court battle. A month later the Army wins a restraining order barring Ben-Shalom from returning. * Donald Babets and David Jean file a lawsuit in Massachusetts Superior Court against Gov. Michael Dukakis, and other administration officials, as part of their efforts to overturn a policy which bars gays from being foster parents. In 1985, two foster children were removed from the couple's care after a local newspaper reported that neighbors were outraged by two men being foster parents.
1981
U.S.: In Detroit, Mich., Administrative Rule 436-3 of the Michigan Liquor Control Commission is dropped. It is now legal for bars to sell alcohol to homosexuals. * A Roman Catholic gay support gathering in southwest Virginia is canceled following opposition from area residents, including telephone threats and a petition presented to local officials. * In Austin, Texas, former disco owners plead no contest to violating the city's public accommodations ordinance when they refused to let two gay couples dance together. The Driskill Cabaret pays $200 in fines and $85 in court costs. * Britain: It takes only four months for the popular London gay bar the Vauxhall Tavern to raise enough money to buy three eye-seeing dogs for the blind. * Costa Rica: A new gay group forms in San Jose called Movimiento de Liberacion Homosexual. * Turkey: A study at the Aegian University claims that disco music causes homosexuality in mice and may also do the same for men.