1998
U.S.: TV's Eye on People cable show re-runs the CBS classic #33 The Homosexuals, the nation's first documentary on homosexuality, which first aired March 7, 1967. * k. d. lang is the guest star on Roseanne, the sitcom. * An international retreat for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered Muslims takes place in Boston. * South Africa: With very little fanfare, Judge Lourens Ackermann's declares South Africa's sodomy law unconstitutional. * Venezuela: The country's Supreme Court orders the Defense Ministry to provide antiviral drugs to soldiers with HIV. * Sweden: Pope John Paul II cancels a meeting with Swedish Lutheran Archbishop Karl Gustav Hammar because he is too pro-gay.
1993
U.S.: The 4th annual OutWrite gay and lesbian writers conference is held in Boston. * The CDC reports 339,250 cases of AIDS and 204,390 deaths. * Lesbian singer/songwriter Cris Williamson is interviewed in The Advocate about her new album Postcards From Paradise. * At The AFL-CIO labor union's biennial convention in San Francisco, delegates vote unanimously to actively oppose attempts to repeal gay-rights laws. * The 2nd annual Encuentro Nacional, the conference of the National Latino/a Lesbian and Gay Organization takes place in San Jose, Calif. * In Texas, the Austin City Council votes to extend spousal benefits to the partners of unmarried city employees, both gay and straight. * Very by the Pet Shop Boys is in record stores.
1988
U.S.: An estimated 220,000 people visit the NAMES Project Memorial Quilt in Washington D.C. In the past year the Quilt has grown from 1,920 panels to 8,288. * The 7th annual Convention of the Federation of Parents and Friends for Lesbians and Gays takes place at the Bismarck Hotel in Chicago. * Turnaround, a Tampa, Fla., cable TV religious program, hosted by 'ex-gay' Sy Rogers, wins an award for excellence from the National Federation of Local Cable Programmers. * Reviewing one of George Michael's concerts, the Los Angeles Herald Examiner says: 'George Michael dressed in tight-fitting black, stripping down, as the evening went on, to vest and pants, and (no surprise) finally baring his chest ... still, one (dance) routine with a male member of the band does nothing (despite bumps and grinds later on with a female backup singer) to support rumors that he might be heterosexual.' * About 100 gay couples exchange vows on the steps of the San Francisco city hall in a public appeal for legal recognition of their relationships.
1983
U.S.: The National Gay Task Force asks a New Jersey-based corporation to remove a television commercial for Old Spice deodorant products. The commercial portrays a variety of men, the first few of whom could be perceived as effeminate. The voice-over states that Old Spice 'is not for them.' When asked if Old Spice should be boycotted, NGTF executive director Virginia Apuzzo laughed, 'I don't think many guys in the gay movement use Old Spice, to tell you the truth. But I have called for them to remove the commercial.' * According to Dr. Bernard Turnock, acting commissioner of the Chicago Health Department, there are 34 known cases of AIDS in the city. Nineteen are dead. Thirty-two are male, two are female: 19 are Caucasian, 7 are non-Haitian Hispanic, 3 are Haitian, and one is Asian. Twenty-six of the 34 cases are homosexual or bisexual males, three are intravenous drug users, and two are hemophiliacs. * Over a hundred parents attend the 2nd annual convention of the Federation of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gay Men at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City.
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