1999
U.S.: Juanita Owens, 51, becomes the first lesbian elected to head a California School Board. * Terral Smith, 'a top aide' to Texas Gov. George Bush, says the Republican Gov. 'would sign legislation banning gays from adopting children or serving as foster parents.' * The Utah state Division of Child and Family Services board of directors approves a policy banning unmarried straight or lesbigay couples from adopting children fostered by the state. * When asked if she thought Janet Reno was a lesbian, comedienne Kate Clinton answers: 'I don't know, but her hair is.' * New York activists demand an official inquiry into the 'alleged' misconduct and brutality by 60 New York Police officers during a rally in October 1998 to protest the murder of Mathew Shepard. * Canada: Customs officials in Sarnia, Ontario, confiscate a shipment of the U.S. book Best Gay Erotica 1999, even though it is widely available in bookstores.
1994
U.S.: The North American Man-Boy Love Association is barred from attending the upcoming Stonewall 25 March On Washington. * After an earthquake strikes Southern California, televangelist Pat Robertson tells viewers of his TV show The 700 Club that it was caused by God's displeasure with gays and lesbians, pro-choice activists and perversity. * k.d.lang says in Time Warner's employee newsletter: 'It took me nine years in public life to come out. I don't consider my sexuality to be a political thing. I consider it sexual and spiritual.' * Blood, Bread and Roses: How Menstruation Created The World by Judy Grahn is in bookstores * Philippines: Over 1,000 people—one third of them in drag—pack into the Philippines International Convention Center to attend the 5th annual Miss Gay Philippines Beauty Pageant. * France: The conservative-dominated Senate votes to ban access to alternative insemination for lesbians.
1989
U.S.: Colorado Gov. Roy Romer issues an executive order that prohibits state agencies from discriminating against people with AIDS in hiring, and requires that violations of the order be reported to the state civil-rights commission. * The Club Swamp Annex on Long Island, New York, is ordered to pay $50,000 to Kenneth Henry, a waiter, who was fired after the club's management heard that he had AIDS. * Sharon Kowalski, a brain-damaged lesbian who has been barred by her family from seeing her lover, Karen Thompson, is moved under court order from a nursing home in Hibbing to a treatment center in Duluth.
1984
U.S.: Franny: The Queen Of Provincetown by John Preston, is on sale in bookstores. * Ten months before the presidential election, The Advocate endorses Walter Mondale. * The Wall Street Journal tells its staff writers they can now use the word 'gay' instead of 'homosexual' in their articles and headlines. * The film Making Love, about a husband who has an affair with another man, is aired on CBS. It stars Harry Hamlin, Michael Ontkean and Kate Jackson. * Gerry Studds, the only openly gay member of Congress, entertains 250 contributors with his witty and inspiring remarks at a Human Rights Campaign Fund fundraiser in San Francisco. * Popism: The Warhol '60s by Andy Warhol and Pat Hackett is in bookstores. * The U.S. Conference of Mayors passes a resolution calling for an end to all anti-gay bias. * People magazine tells readers that although Cher plays a lesbian in her new movie Silkwood, she is not one in real life. * Netherlands: Two hundred people attend the first European AIDS Conference in Amsterdam.