1998
U.S.: The 16th annual symposium of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association takes place in Chicago. More than 600 physicians and students attend. * Bette Midler releases her new album, Bathhouse Betty. * Pecker, John Waters' new movie, is in theaters. * Switzerland: Thomas Steiner and Stefan Zollinger, a gay couple, have their relationship blessed at a Swiss Methodist church in Stein am Rhein. * Nepal: Textile workers, Sita Malla and Rupa Shrestha, get married in the country's first lesbian marriage. * Zambia: Twenty people form an organization called LEGATRA— the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Persons Association—and attempt to gain official government registration. * Sweden: An art exhibit at the Lutheran Cathedral in Uppsala, depicting Jesus and his disciples in drag and as gay leathermen, is so controversial it requires police protection.
1993
U.S.: Twenty-nine gay-rights activists stage a silent demonstration during mass at St. James Cathedral in Brooklyn, New York, to protest a pastoral letter on homosexuality by Roman Catholic bishop Thomas V. Daily. In the letter, Daily reiterated his opposition to laws prohibiting anti-gay bias and called same-sex intercourse 'an intrinsic moral evil.' * Morgantown becomes the first city in West Virginia to approve a measure that bans the discrimination of public employees, based on sexual orientation. * Longtime New Orleans gay-rights attorney Jim Kellogg, announcing his retirement, says: 'I certainly don't intend staying home and watching I Love Lucy reruns.' * At a fundraiser in Santa Monica, Calif., for Voters for Choice, a donor network for pro-choice political candidates, comedian and rising star Rosie O'Donnell says to the predominantly lesbian crowd: 'The only person who has anything to say about what happens to my body is me and Michelle Pfeiffer.' * Georgia State Rep. Billy Mckinney is charged with battery for allegedly hitting gay-rights advocate Annie Archbold at an Atlanta city council hearing on a domestic-partnership ordinance. * Dorian Corey, one of the cross-dressers featured in the 1991 documentary Paris Is Burning, dies from AIDS at age 56.
1988
U.S.: Actor Leonard Frey, best known for his role of Harold in the stage and screen versions of The Boys In The Band, dies of AIDS at age 49. * Ninety people are arrested in New York City during a demonstration against anti-gay violence. * Randy Miller, former head of Jesse Jackson's national 'gay desk,' is appointed as Michael Dukakis' liaison to the gay community. * Lily Tomlin's The Search For Signs of Intelligent Life In The Universe is at the Shubert Theatre in Chicago. * Homophobe of the Week: Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Robert Huber, explaining his views on AIDS: 'I don't know whether it's the wrath of God, but if it isn't, it should be.' * Capote: A Biography by Gerald Clarke is in bookstores.
1983
U.S.: Bette Midler's No Frills is in record stores. * The Penguin Book Of Homosexual Verse, edited by Stephen Coote, is in bookstores. * Popular gay T-shirts: 'Everything that sucks is not necessarily bad.' 'You can't be first ... but you could be next.' 'Queen Mother - Muther of a Queen.' 'Prince Consort - husband of THE reigning Queen.' & 'Surrender Dorothy.' * In San Francisco, the Community United Against Violence, a group that monitors anti-gay violence and assists victims, reports a doubling in the number of attacks in July and August. * Coretta Scott King says: 'We believe that the rights of all people must be protected and guaranteed. We believe that the gay and lesbian community must be supported in their civil rights, as well as their right for their own sexual preference.'
