April 8-14
1996
U.S.: The Elton John AIDS Foundation signs an agreement with MBNA America Bank, N.A., that allows Elton John fans, supporters and admirers to apply for Visa credit cards that feature his photograph. * Barbara Streisand pulls out of adapting Larry Kramer's play The Normal Heart into a movie. * Andrew Sullivan, the out-gay editor of The New Republic, announces that he will step down from his post at the end of May. * The Kids in the Hall's movie Brain Candy is in movie theaters.
1991
U.S.: The Department of Justice, acting in accord with the federal Hate Crimes Statistics Act, announce the beginning of efforts to collect data on bias crimes, including those motivated by anti-gay prejudice. * In Macomb, Western Illinois University President Ralph H. Wagoner designates April 7-13 as Lesbian and Gay Awareness Week. The week of activities include programs in the residence halls, a display in the concourse of the University Union, and public discussions and educational forums. * A demonstration against rules barring gays and bisexuals from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln ROTC program ends when one student is arrested for allegedly assaulting another. * ABC's Howard Cosell writes in his new book, What's Wrong with Sports: "In the case of homosexuality, let's just say that I don't condone it and you won't find me marching in any gay rights parade. Sodomy is a disgusting subject for most of society and against the law in many states and the military." * Dionne Warwick's three-year-old AIDS education and advocacy group, the Warwick Foundation, reports that it is deep financial distress. Poor planning, mismanagement, and over-spending are blamed. * Camille Paglia tells Rolling Stone that "current feminism is a total disaster. Feminists have basically shut women up. Feminism has taken on the characteristics of the ideologies it set out to fight: It's dogmatic, preachy, totalitarian and sexually repressive." * Britain: The direct-action group Outrage! urge gay/lesbian couples to check the box "living together as a couple" on a national census form. But the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys say it will not tally the statistics on gay couples because "people may object ... and we have to go with what the majority wish."
1986
U.S.: Georgia bans bathhouses. * In Ithaca, N.Y., Gays, Bisexuals, and Lesbians of Color ( GBLOC ) at Cornell University host the first northeastern GBLOC conference on the campus. * In Hanover, Pa., the Old Village Shop agrees to remove an "I Don't Have AIDS" mug from their catalog. * Producers of the cable TV series, Brothers, which has a gay story line, say they are planning to syndicate the show for the commercial market by 1989.
1981
U.S.: One man is beaten to death and four others injured when six men in North Carolina wielding logs lay siege to a gay sunbathing area. * Calling it "the most difficult and painful decision in my life," U.S. Jon C. Hinson ( R-MS ) calls it quits with his resignation effective April 13. He had been in seclusion in a Washington hospital since his Feb. 4 restroom arrest in a House office building. * At the Mormons 151st Annual General Conference, Elder Hartman Rector Jr., says that homosexuality is 'an acquired addiction,' like drugs and alcohol, and would not be so pervasive if children had happy home lives. * Britain: Hypnotist Karl Santo, who gives performances in gay clubs, says gays are better subjects for hypnosis, because "gay people are very intellectual, they are more intelligent and so are receptive to hypnosis-;which is the ultimate concentration."
