Sept. 16-22
1996
U.S.: In Mason, N.H., school teacher Penny Culliton, who was dismissed for distributing books containing gay characters to her high school English classes, is reinstated after an appeal. * Cary Alan Johnson is named executive director of Gay Men of African Descent, a 10-year-old advocacy, support and AIDS services organization. * In Denver, the City Council votes 11-1 to extend health benefits to the partners and families of gay city employees. * International Business Machines Corp. announce it will extend health benefits to the domestic partners of gay and lesbian employees, making it the largest U.S. company to date to adopt such a policy. * In the dead of night, President Clinton signs legislation into law that gives states the right not to recognize same-sex marriages. A handful of gay activists stage a demonstration outside the Foundry United Methodist Church, President Bill Clinton's church. * Saudi Arabia: Twenty-four Filipino workers receive the first 50 lashes of their 200-lash sentence for alleged "homosexual behavior." Despite protests from Amnesty International, the government goes ahead with the sentence and later deports the workers.
1991
U.S.: The Democratic National Committee adopts resolutions urging Congress to pass a gay civil-rights bill and approve $3 billion funding for AIDS programs each year. * Key West plays host to over 500 lesbians during its 5th annual "Women in Paradise" celebration. Events include a street fair and performances by lesbian comic Marga Gomez and Boston musician Patty Larkin.
1986
U.S.: NOW President Eleanor Smeal breaks new ground for solidarity between lesbians and heterosexual feminists in speaking for nearly two hours at the Sisterspace Lesbian Feminist Weekend in the Poconos near Philadelphia. * In Honolulu, the managing editor of the mainstream newspaper Star-Bulletin, resigns from his post because he has AIDS. In a signed editorial, G. William Cox, 37, writes: "As a journalist, I have spent my career trying to shed light in dark corners. AIDS is surely one of our darkest corners. It can use some light."
1981
U.S.: Mommie Dearest, with Faye Dunaway playing the part of Joan Crawford, is in movie theaters. * In Tallahassee, Fla., a Circuit Court Judge rules that a state budget amendment cutting funds from schools that charter any student group that "recommends or advocates sexual relations between persons not married to each other" is constitutional. State Rep. Tom Bush, who backed the amendment, says that it was aimed specifically at homosexuals. * Approximately 100 people march under the banners of the National Organization of Lesbians and Gays and the National Coalition of Black Gays at the Solidarity Day march in Washington, D.C. The march is organized by the AFL-CIO to protest the economic policies, environmental policies, and anti-ERA stance of the Reagan Administration. * Ronald Crumpley, who was found "not responsible by reason of a mental defect" for killing two gay men in a shooting spree in Greenwich Village, is committed to the Mid-Hudon Psychiatric Center for at least six months. * In Fullerton, Calif., when Andrew Ross Exler, a gay activist running for board membership in the upcoming elections, urges that more books on homosexuality be placed in schools. Trustee Franklin J. Sullivan of the Fullerton Union High School district, along with several members of the audience, storm out of the meeting. * Rev. Jerry Falwell writes in his Newsweek column that: "While homosexuals should be free to live together if they wish, we oppose any law that would grant to homosexual couples the status of 'family' or qualify them as a legitimate minority."
