1998
U.S.: Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner and his lover, fashion designer Matt Nye, attend a state dinner at the White House for Colombian President Andres Pastrano, perhaps the first time an openly gay couple has been invited to such an event. * In New York a vigil to honor slain student Matthew Shepard turns ugly when dozens of protestors clash with police. Ninety-five people are arrested. * In a poll conducted by the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 55% of Hawaiians favor a ban on same-sex marriages. * A formal complaint is filed against Rev. Gregory R. Dell, a Chicago United Methodist pastor who conducted a service of Holy Union for a same-sex couple. Chicago Bishop Joseph Sprague is the complainant. * For the third time in a week, a vigil for Mathew Shepard in Bozeman, Mont., is interrupted by hecklers shouting anti-gay epithets. * Britain: While filming Eyes Wide Shut, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman sue the Express over an article that said their eight-year marriage was a cover for their homosexuality.
1993
U.S.: Titles of seminars at Leather World '93 include Humiliation Versus Degradation, Better Living Through Electricity, and the Eat and Beat Brunch. * After attending the March on Washington, actor Cybill Shepherd tells The Advocate: 'I had this really strong feeling as I was marching that Jesus would have been in Washington too.' * Singer B. Real of rap group Cypress Hill tells an audience at the Civic Auditorium in San Francisco: 'All homos and fags in San Francisco, fuck you.' * In Connecticut, Yale University announce plans to extend spousal health benefits to the domestic partners of its gay and lesbian faculty members, administrators, and managers. * Massachusetts state education officials say they will use $45,000 in funds raised from a new state cigarette tax to fund programs to stop anti-gay harassment in public schools. * Australia: Naval officials investigate charges that a male officer on the destroyer Derwent sexually assaulted three sailors while the ship was berthed in Hobart.
1988
U.S.: Phillip Shroyer, 30, and Todd Reed, 20, two gay prisoners seeking a marriage license, are rejected by Judge Jeff Boles in Danville, Ind., who asserts that the request contains 'weird and kinky contentions.' In addition, the judge fines the two inmates for wasting the court's time. * The American Family Association and Christian Leaders for Responsible Television join forces in a campaign to drive out a lesbian character from the ABC series Heartbeat. Actress Gail Strickland, who plays the character, says: 'I hope to create a subliminal tolerance (for gay men and lesbians) ... I hope to show an ordinariness about (the lesbian's) life. She's not abnormal. Her sexual preference is just an addendum to who she is.'
1983
U.S.: District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Sylvia Bacon rules that Georgetown University can refuse to grant licenses to gay groups because it is a private institution. This brings to an end a case that had been pending since April 1980, when gay and lesbian students at Georgetown sued the university for refusing to grant gay groups official recognition. * Tenants in a New York apartment building try to evict Dr. Joseph A. Sonnabend because he treats AIDS patients. * Britain: Dennis Nilsen, 37, a former police trainee, pleads not guilty to the murders of at least 15 men. Nilsen picked up men in gay bars in London, took them home, strangled them, then hacked up their bodies for disposal.
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