May 13-19
1996
U.S.: The Food and Drug Administration approves the first home screening test for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. * A church court rules that Bishop Walter C. Righter, retired Episcopal Bishop of Iowa, did not violate the church's "core doctrines" when he ordained a gay man as a deacon. Righter, 73, had faced two formal charges: heresy, for signing a statement saying he supported the ordination of non-celibate homosexuals, and violation of his ordination vows, for having ordained the Rev. Barry Stopfel as a deacon in the Diocese of Newark in 1990. * After almost 200 offensive and threatening phone calls, the organizer of Michigan's first Gay Commitment Fair cancels the event. The 90 couples who registered for the fair in Holly miss out on exhibits by jewelers, florists and photographers. * The U.S. Supreme Court strikes down Colorado's Amendment 2, a requirement outlawing legal protections intended solely for gays. The court, by a 6-3 vote, declares that the 1992 measure denies gays and lesbians equal protection under the U.S. Constitution. * President Clinton signs into law a five-year extension of the Ryan White program, which provides federal grants to states, cities and civic organizations to care for people with AIDS. * In Philadelphia, activist lawyer Andrew S. Park is named executive director of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Law and Public Policy. * France: In Cannes, Elizabeth Taylor and Cher host Cinema Against AIDS 1996, a benefit for the American Foundation for AIDS Research ( AmFAR ) which raises a record $700,000. * South Africa: Parliament adopts a defense policy barring discrimination against women and lesbian and gay soldiers. * Belgium: Parading under the slogan "Out Together Now," 3,000 lesbians and gay men march through the center of Brussels.
1991
U.S.: In Minneapolis, Judge Isabel Gomez awards Donna Snetting and Jackie Fendler, her partner of 14 years, joint custody of Snetting's daughter Amy. * The President of PFLAG, Paulette Goodman, addresses the national meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in New Orleans. * Stephen A. Glassman, an openly gay architect, is appointed by Mayor Kurt Schmoke to a four-year term on the Baltimore Commission on Civic Design. * Gay Rights Advocates in San Francisco ceases operation, following a year of declining revenues. They were a major legal advocacy group who won a series of important cases in the areas of immigration, employment rights, domestic partners, and housing. * In San Diego, a group of women form an organization to support lesbians with chronic or life-threatening illness. HEAL, an acronym for Health, Empowerment, and Advocacy for Lesbians, is modeled after the gay community's response to AIDS...providing support, food, even laundry service.
1986
U.S.: Waking Up With The House on Fire by Culture Club is in record stores. * In Ohio, the University of Akron adds "sexual orientation" to the University's non-discrimination policy. * An estimated 6,000 New Yorkers turn out for "AIDS Walk New York."
1981
U.S.: The newly formed Twin Cities Men's Chorus present an evening of music entitled "From Bach to Broadway." * Anti-gay Anita Bryant announces that she is planning to move to Selma, Ala., to be nearer her "very rich" boyfriend, Larry Striplin. * Finland: During a Gay Lib demonstration in Helsinki, the police confiscate a placard that reads: "We Encourage Homosexuality." The placard is interpreted as a breach of the Finnish law ( Penal Code RL 20:9.e ) that prohibits public encouragement to lewd behavior between members of the same sex.
