Dec. 23-29
1996
U.S.: Jerry Marshall, a former ABC-TV casting director, and four other men are ordered to stand trial on charges that they sodomized an aspiring male actor. The actor claims that Marshall invited him to his home in August 1993 to meet some ABC executives. Once there, he said he was drugged, bound and gang-raped by Marshall and the others, who were not ABC employees. * In Modesto, Calif., the Board of Education vote to uphold use of a video prepared by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Teacher's Alliance as part of a development program for school faculty members. A group of evangelical Christians had opposed the use of the video, Teaching Respect for All, featuring GLSTN executive director Kevin Jennings, claiming the video is full of inaccuracies. * Marvin's Room, starring Diane Keaton, Meryl Streep, Leonardo DiCaprio and Gwen Verdon, is in movie theaters. It was written by Chicago gay playwright Scott McPherson, who died of AIDS complications.* In Seattle, a state appellate court tells a gay father that it's OK to show affection for his partner in the presence of his children. The ruling overturned a lower court requirement that restrained the father's conduct because of his sexual orientation. * Fire investigators say a blaze that destroyed an AIDS counseling center in Lafayette, Ind., on Christmas morning was deliberately set. * The Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center enter a float in the internationally televised 65th annual Hollywood Christmas Parade. The float features openly gay actor Dan Butler, a performer on the TV show Frasier.
1991
U.S.: The Top 5 Dance Singles for 1991 are: 1 ) Strike It Up by Black Box, 2 ) Rescue Me by Madonna, 3 ) Touch Me ( All Night Long ) by Cathy Dennis, 4 ) Got a Love For You by Jomanda, and 5 ) Keep Warm by Jinny. * Breach of Immunity by Molly Hite is in bookstores. * Washington Gov. Booth Gardner urges the legislature to pass a hate-crimes bill to crack down on gay bashing, cross burnings, and other acts of malicious harassment. * Donald Spoto, author of Laurence Olivier: A Biography, tells the Advocate that Olivier and actor Danny Kaye carried on a 10-year romance while Olivier was married to Vivien Leigh and Kaye was married to Sylvia Fine. * The San Francisco chapter of Queer Nation split up acrimoniously after members cannot agree on proposed internal guidelines prohibiting racist, sexist, anti-Semitic, and homophobic comments. The group of young radicals were not always popular, with one gay San Francisco resident writing to the Sentinel: "Take your offensive posters and stickers, clean up your spray paint, and go home."
1986
U.S.: Outspoken "family values" advocate and closeted gay, Terry Dolan, dies of AIDS at age 36. * Women's music in the stores for the holiday season include: A Step Away by Teresa Trull, Lucie Blue Tremblay's self-titled debut album, and City Down by Casselberry and Dupree. * Patience and Sarah, a novel based on the lives of the Misses Wilson and Bundidge of Connecticut, is adapted for the stage by its author, Isabel Miller, and runs in New York.
1981
U.S.: In Hyattsville, M.D., a group forms called Straight Partners and is aimed at non-gay people who are married to gay men or women. * Ireland: In a move to end job discrimination and get fair treatment for gay workers, gay activists sought to place ads promoting their cause in the newspapers of trade unions. The ads were accepted. * Italy: The Italian Department of Justice decides that transsexuals can change their official documents in accordance with their new gender. The ruling affects about 20,000 Italians who have changed from male to female.
