1998
U.S.: Columbus, Ohio, becomes the first city in that state to offer domestic-partnership benefits to same- or opposite-sex partners of unmarried city employees. * Tyrone Garner and John Geddes Lawrence, arrested for consensual sex in a Houston apartment, begin their campaign to challenge the Texas sodomy law.
1993
U.S.: Mrs. Doubtfire, starring Robin Williams in matronly drag, is showing in movie theaters. * Brenda and Wanda Henson's dream of providing a safe retreat for women in rural Mississippi turns into a nightmare, when the local Christian Ministers Association begins a vicious campaign against them, and their Sister Spirit Camp. * When asked on the Tonight Show With Jay Leno if he'd ever get a tattoo, former U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater, 84, answers: 'I want a pair of ruby-red lips right on my ass.' * Tom Hanks is interviewed in The Advocate about his upcoming role in the movie Philadelphia, which will be released at selective theaters in Los Angeles, New York and Toronto Dec. 22, and nationwide Jan. 14, 1994. * The controversial Amendment 2 is struck down by Colorado District Court Judge Jeffrey Bayless on the grounds that it violates the U.S. Constitution. * Lesbian comic, Lea Delaria, tells Out magazine: 'I'd like to remake Rebel Without A Cause. Wow. I'd get to fuck Natalie Wood and I'd get to look totally cool while I did it.'
1988
U.S.: The movie Torch Song Trilogy opens in New York City. On the subject of his movie and the AIDS crisis, Harvey Fierstein tells Newsweek: 'Sex isn't the enemy. That's what I wish people would understand. The disease is the enemy. When people say now is not the right time for Torch Song, I say now is exactly the right time. Now is exactly when we need to see ourselves as loving human beings, as people in search of ourselves, as people in relationships.' * Gay disco singer Sylvester dies of AIDS at age 42. His hits included 'Dance (Disco Heat)' and 'You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)'. * The president of the Houston chapter of American Gay Atheists is arrested for stealing a Bible from a public monument. Donald R. Sanders allegedly broke open a glass display case and replaced the Bible with a gay erotic magazine. * In a tape-recorded message to his Buddhist community, sect leader Vajra Regent Osel Tendzen tells the 800 members of the Boulder, Colo., community that he has AIDS and may have exposed others to the virus. * Eight members of Boston's ACT UP are arrested while protesting the refusal of the John Hancock Mutual Life-Insurance Co. to pay for preventive treatment for pneumocystis carinii, the most common killer of people with AIDS.
1983
U.S.: Mel Brooks' To Be Or Not To Be becomes the first mainstream movie to acknowledge the Nazi persecution of homosexuals. * During an interview for Playboy magazine, Calvin Klein becomes 'furious' when journalist Glenn Plaskin asks the fashion designer if he is gay. * The second edition of Gayellow Pages Southern Edition is published, providing a wide range of resources for gays and lesbians in the Southern United States, plus a section on switchboards and hotlines for the entire U.S. and Canada. * Jordan: Jordan TV director general, Mohammad Kamal, decides not to air the American series Dynasty because it promotes homosexuality by focusing several episodes on a gay character, Steven Carrington. * South Africa: Writer Mary Renault dies in Cape Town at age 78.
