( March 18-24 )
1996
U.S.: The Senate votes to overturn a month-old law that requires the mandatory discharge of members of the armed forces who test positive for the virus that causes AIDS. * The makers of the movie Philadelphia acknowledge that the film "was inspired in part by" the story of Geoffrey Bowers, a New York lawyer who was dismissed after his employer discovered he had AIDS. He died in 1987. The acknowledgment came in a statement announcing a settlement brought by the family of the lawyer, against Tristar Pictures in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. * Connecticut's highest court upholds a permanent ban on military recruiters at the University of Connecticut School of Law, ruling that the Pentagon's policy on gays violates the state's Gay Rights Law barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. * Perry J. Watkins, an openly gay Army sergeant who won the right to stay in the military from the Supreme Court in 1990, dies of AIDS at age 48. * In San Francisco, Michael Petrelis, a member of the non-partisan advocacy group Americans for Gay Rights is arrested for disrupting a speech by Patsy Fleming, President Bill Clinton's coordinator for AIDS policies, during the 8th Annual AIDS Update Conference. * Thirty-six people are arrested in New York City, when Irish lesbians and gays protest their exclusion from the annual St. Patrick's Day parade. * And This Too Shall Pass, by Lynn Harris, a book about being Black and gay, is No. 8 this week on The New York Times bestseller list. * Malaysia: In Kuala Lumpur, the Ministry of Education finds 13 secondary students are HIV-positive or suffer from full-blown AIDS. * India: In New Delhi, industrialists launch a nationwide campaign to educate workers about HIV and help prevent the spread of AIDS. * New Zealand: A Gay Tourism Association is formed.
1991
U.S.: In a column in the Catholic Transcript, Archbishop John F. Whealon says that discrimination against homosexuals "is always morally wrong," despite the church's teachings against homosexuality. * About 25 protesters march and chant for equal opportunity outside a Cracker Barrel, denouncing the anti-gay stance of the restaurant chain. The protesters are condemning the firing by Cracker Barrel of gay employee Jeffrey Sherill, who the company said had violated its policy on homosexuals.
1986
U.S.: After 15 years of intense emotion and highly charged debate, the New York City Council passes gay and lesbian rights legislation. By a 21-14 council vote, New York Mayor Ed Koch, who introduced the bill, vows to sign it into law. * William Hurt wins an Academy Award for best actor for his portrayal of an imprisoned South American hairdresser in Kiss of The Spider Woman. It is the first time an actor playing a gay character has received an Oscar. * Barbra Streisand's film production company, Barwood Films, buys the rights to Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart. Streisand is reported to have plans to both direct and act in the film version of the play, which deals with the early stages of the AIDS epidemic. [ It has yet to see the big screen. ]
1981
U.S.: Convicted mass murderer John Wayne Gacy makes an assessment of his murders of 33 young men. Gacy is quoted as saying: "The only thing I should have been convicted for was operating a funeral parlor without a license." * Norway: The Norwegian conservative Party renominates an open lesbian member of Parliament for another four-year term by a vote of 223-113. Wenche Lowzow was first elected to Parliament in September 1977. * Britain: Writer Robin Maugham, nephew of the late Somerset Maugham and author of several books with gay subjects, dies in a Brighton hospital after a long illness. He was 64.