May 4-10
1998
U.S.: Don't Get Me Started by Kate Clinton is in bookstores. * George Michael is fined $810 after pleading no contest to lewd conduct charges for an act he performed in a men's washroom. * Ellen DeGeneres appears on the cover of Entertainment Weekly. * Voters in Ypsilanti, Mich., turn out in 'unprecedented' numbers and turn back an attempt to repeal the gay-rights ordinance. * South Africa: Johannesburg's High Court strikes down several laws that ban gay sex. * Britain: Israeli trans singer Dana International wins the European Song Contest.
1993
U.S.: In an interview with the San Francisco Examiner, Sgt. Jose M. Zuniga, who 'came out' on the eve of the 1993 March on Washington, says he will not fight the Army's efforts to oust him. * Hawaii's State Supreme Court rules that a ban on gay marriages may violate the State's Constitution's prohibition against sex discrimination. Justice Steven H. Levinson writes that 'marriage is a basic civil right,' and that Hawaii law 'denies same-sex couples access to the marital status and commitment rights and benefits.' * The Texas Supreme Court clears the way for homosexuals to serve in the Dallas Police Dept. The court rules in favor of Mica England, a lesbian who sued after being denied a job. * The mostly gay Metropolitan Community Church declares it has 32,000 members in 16 countries. * During hearings on allowing gays to serve in the military, Sen. Strom Thurmond shouts, 'Heterosexuals don't practice sodomy.' The comment brings laughter from the audience. * Japan: Airman Apprentice Terrence M. Helvey admits to the beating death of shipmate Allen Schindler.
1988
U.S.: The U.S. CDC reports 59,000 cases of AIDS and 33,000 deaths . * Dr. Barry Gingell of the New York Gay Men's Health Crisis: 'It used to be that when you saw guys going out to Fire Island with a little cooler, it meant they had a six pack of beer; now it usually means they have AL721.' * California police, with riot helmets, rubber gloves and nightsticks, arrest 41 activists, charging them with obstructing the lobby of Gov. George Deukmejian's office. * Britain: Ian McKellan, considered to be one of the world's greatest Shakespearian actors, comes out of the closet to protest the passing of Clause 28, the country's most homophobic law.
1983
U.S.: At the Midwestern Psychological Convention in Chicago, Dr. Paul Cameron, who heads the Institute for the Scientific Investigation of Sexuality in Lincoln, Neb., claims that homosexuals are 20 times more likely to commit mass murder than heterosexuals. Dr Robert D'Appley, a Chicago psychologist, called Cameron's assertions 'ludicrous,' 'pathetic' and 'evil,' and says Cameron is 'manipulating the statistics.' * Two women in Dallas lose their memberships to a health club after showering together. * Coulter 'Colt' Thomas, a Texan with a 'total leather image' is voted International Mr. Leather by seven judges in Chicago. * In Mount Rainier, Md., a conference of Sisters in Gay Ministry Associated, a support organization of approximately 100 Catholic women (mostly nuns) ministering to the lesbian and gay