Oct. 7-13
1996
U.S.: Academy Award-winner Kevin Kline ( A Fish Called Wanda ) stars in In and Out as a popular high-school teacher whose sexuality is called into question on the eve of his wedding. The film is currently shooting in New York under director Frank Oz from a script by Paul Rudnick. * At a National Coming Out Day rally, Cher talks for the first time about her daughter Chastity being a lesbian. "I think I had a particularly difficult time. I was very un-Cher-like in my acceptance of my daughter's choice." * Actress Elizabeth Taylor, writer Maya Angelou, spiritual leader Ram Dass and singer Patti Smith are among the 2,000 people who read the names of people lost to AIDS when the entire AIDS Memorial Quilt is displayed in Washington. * More than 300 AIDS activists take part in a demonstration at the White House to protest President Clinton's AIDS policies and to voice such demands as guaranteed access to anti-AIDS treatments, increased AIDS research, and federally funded needle-exchange programs. * In Elizabethtown, more than 250 middle and high school students defy warnings from school officials and march out of classes to protest their school board's new "pro-family" resolution. The resolution, passed Sept. 17, says "pro-homosexual concepts on sex and family will never be tolerated or accepted in this school." Students also objected to the description of the two-parent family as "the norm." * Argentina: Buenes Aires enacts legislation banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and repeals laws that allowed police to arrest lesbians and gay men and hold them without charge for 24 hours. * Taiwan: More than 500 guests, including officials of the Taipei city government, attend Taiwan's first public gay wedding, between Hsu You-sheng, a Taiwanese author, and Gray Harriman, his longtime American companion.
1991
U.S.: A Pentagon study, leaked to the office of Rep. Gerry Studds ( D-Mass ) and released by the congressman, concludes that gays and lesbians are not a security risk and that "sexual orientation is unrelated to moral character." * My Own Private Idaho starring River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves is in movie theaters. * In Sacramento, 7,000 gay and lesbian demonstrators stop traffic and nearly surround the California state capitol building to protest Gov. Pete Wilson's recent veto of AB101, the state's gay-rights bill.
1986
U.S.: In Hutchinson, Kan., the Reno County Commission upholds the firing of nurse Margaret Durr after she refused to visit the home of a man treated for AIDS, claiming she feared for her life. * The 3rd National Conference of Emergence:Gay People in Christian Science takes place in Houston. The theme is, "Emerge Gently." * In Minnesota, the Rev. Bill Dorn, a Catholic priest at Newman Center at St. Cloud State University, is fired from his job after writing an article criticizing the Church's attitudes towards gays and lesbians. The article was published as an opinion piece in The Cloud Visitor. * Belgium: The 2nd International Whores Convention calls for worldwide AIDS education programs that encourage the use of condoms. Meeting for three days in Brussells, more than 120 prostitutes from 16 countries endorsed safe-sex measures to halt the spread of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.
1981
U.S.: San Francisco's Bulldog Baths celebrates its 3rd anniversary with a "Biggest Cock in S.F." contest. * In Garland, Texas, students and administrators of North Garland High School agree that male students may now wear earrings, but not hoops dangling, only studs. * Newsweek magazine reports that Billie Jean King is still feeling the financial repercussions of her former relationship with Marilyn Barnett. King hasn't had a single new offer for an endorsement since the story of her affair was publicized.