WHAT A DIFFERENCE A GAY MAKES
Feb. 2-8
1998
U.S.: A disciplinary committee of the Evangelical Lutheran Church votes to revoke the gay Rev. Steve Sabin's ministry in Ames, Iowa, for violating a church policy that prevents practicing homosexuals from being ordained. * Washington becomes the 27th state to ban same-sex marriage. * Variety reports that NBC has ordered a pilot for Will & Grace, a sitcom about a gay man and his straight female friend. * Britain: The London Tourist Board mails brochures to 50,000 U.S. gays promoting London as a gay travel destination. * Denmark: Danish Queen Margrethe invites a gay couple to her royal ball.
1993
U.S.: Colorado Gov. Roy Romer comes out in favor of President Clinton's plans to lift the ban on gays in the military. * Citizens in the small Colorado town of Telluride pass an anti-discrimination ordinance that protects gays, defying the recently suspended Amendment 2. * Mattel give the Ken doll a makeover, calling him Magic Earring Ken—he sports streaked hair, a mesh top, a purple leathery vest, and a necklace containing what looks like a cock ring. Gay Ken is born. Lisa McKendall, a spokesperson for Mattel, denies the gay connection: 'We're not in the business of putting cock rings into the hands of little girls.' * President Clinton nominates out-gay San Francisco Supervisor, Roberta Achtenberg, as assistant secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. * Netherlands: By an overwhelming margin of 142 to 8, the Dutch Parliament passes the world's broadest civil-rights law, protecting gays and lesbians from discrimination. * The Dutch parliament approves a 'right to die' law, that authorizes physicians to end the life of patients with cancer, AIDS, and other terminal diseases.
1988
U.S.: Twenty-three people are arrested when they sit on the sidewalk outside of St Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. They are protesting the anti-gay stance of the Catholic Church. * The FDA says there are 164 AIDS drugs in clinical trials around the country. * Gay poet Robert Duncan, 69, dies in his San Francisco home of congestive heart failure. * The Arizona House votes 46-14 to impeach Arizona Gov. Evan Mecham, as he becomes more and more an embarrassment to the State. Mecham became famous for his failure to recognize the federal holiday for Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and for his numerous statements against women, gays and others. * Britain: Clause 28, a law that bans public funds being used to 'promote' homosexuality, results in mass demonstrations and civil disobedience: Hanif Kuriesh, director of the movie My Beautiful Launderette, says the British Government, 'is shameless in its contempt for minorities of all kinds and (Clause 28) represents only the beginning of Margaret Thatcher's assault on non-conformity.'
1983
U.S.: In Esquire, Robert Mitchum says: 'I don't care what I play. I'll play Polish faggots, midgets, women, anything. Any role.' * Kissing To Be Clever, the debut album by Culture Club, is in stores. * Australia: More than 1,000 people march through Sydney to protest a January police raid on Club 80, a gay nightspot. Four men and a teenager are arrested, and the teenager claims he was bashed several times while in police custody.