( Feb. 24-March 3 )
1996
U.S.: After conservative politicians in South Dakota successfully pass an anti-gay marriage law, Jacques Soukup and Kirk Thomas, longtime partners, philanthropists, investment consultants, and internationally recognized balloonists, cancel their support of the Governor's Cup in protest of the law. The gay couple are major figures on the international sport aviation scene. * In Detroit, a judge orders the owners and producers of the Jenny Jones Show to stand trial in a $25-million lawsuit stemming from the murder of one of the TV talkshow's guests in 1995. Jonathan Schmitz is accused of murdering Scott Amedure, after he revealed a secret crush for him during a taping of the show. * In Richmond, Va., a judge stands by his earlier ruling that a mother's lesbian lifestyle makes her an unfit parent, and leaves the woman's 4 year old son in the custody of his grandmother. The judge also criticizes Sharon Bottoms and her partner for their involvement in a network television movie about the custody battle over Tyler Doustou. * Brazil: The newly created Forum of Gay Men, Lesbians and Transvestites in Politics present 15 pre-candidates for the October municipal elections.
1991
U.S.: Pulitzer prize-winning playwright Edward Albee, and feminist author Kate Millett, join Native American writer Paula Allen and John Rechy as keynote speakers at Out/Write '91, the 2nd National Lesbian and Gay Writers Conference in San Francisco. * Cameron Arnold, a safe-sex instructor at a Miami gay health club, is fired after being found having oral sex with his students, and not disclosing that he had AIDS. * In Santa Ana, Calif., Dr. Stephen Herman is charged with selling a home-made drug for AIDS. The main ingredient is geraniol, an alcohol commonly used in the manufacture of perfume and insect repellant. * Ogden Allied Security Services Corp. pay $2,000 to Kevin Fowler, a man who was called a "faggot" by one of its employees at Los Angeles Airport. Fowler donated the money to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
1986
U.S.: Laura Z. Hobson, author of several novels including Consenting Adult, which was about the relationship between a mother and her gay son, dies of cancer at 85. * Bill Sherwood's film Parting Glances is in movie theaters. * Of respondents to a New York Daily News poll, 54 percent said the city does not need a gay-rights bill while 39 percent said it does; 72 percent of Catholics and 76 percent of Jews polled said religious teachings should play no part in debate over the bill. * In Lansing, Mich., police videotape a public restroom on U.S. Route 127, arrest 42 men, and charge them with using a public area for indecent purposes. * South Africa: Tseko Simon Nkoli, a Black anti-apartheid activist and one of the organizers of the Gay Association of South Africa, is on trial for treason and murder as a result of anti-apartheid unrest occurring in Transvaal in 1984. His conviction could result in a death sentence. He died of AIDS in the late 1990s, a free man.
1981
U.S.: In Los Angeles, the first 24-hour fully professionally staffed counseling hotline serving the gay community is launched. * The University of California-Irvine Medical Center opens the first center in the country for the treatment of male rape victims. * Canada: Ottawa's Children's Aid Society says it will consider placing children with homosexual foster parents ... but only as a last resort. * Britain: Former Member of Parliament Maureen Colquhoun, who lost her seat in the last general election, publishes her memoirs, title A Woman in the House. It deals with her experience as an openly gay person in the House of Commons.
Future historians take note: The memory section in this column contains just that—memories-;and are only to be used as a starting point for your research. Send your stories to Sukie de la Croix at WCT. He also interviews over the phone or by e-mail sukiedelacroix@iname.com
