Gay Fun Facts

Thom’s Fun Facts – Courtesy of Thom from Men’s Social Network

• “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was officially repealed throughout the United States on September 20, 2011 and gays and lesbians may openly serve in the military.
• 1948 Alfred Kinsey publishes “Sexual Behavior in the Human Male”, revealing to the public that homosexuality is far more widespread than was commonly believed.
• 1958 Joe Cino, an Italian-American theater producer, opens Caffe Cino.  Caffe Cino is credited with starting the Off-Off-Broadway theater movement.  Six years after Caffe Cino opens, it hosts the first gay plays, “The Madness of Lady Bright, by Lanford Wilson, and The Haunted Host, by Robert Patrick.
• 1978 Harvey Milk sponsors a civil rights bill that outlaws sexual orientation discrimination.  Only one supervisor votes against it and Mayor Moscone signs it into law.  
• 1978 John Briggs drops out of the California governor’s race, but receives support for Proposition 6, also known as the Briggs Initiative, a proposal to fire any teacher or school employee who publicly supports gay rights.  Harvey Milk campaigns against the bill and attends every event hosted by Briggs.  In the summer, attendance greatly increases at Gay Pride marches in San Francisco and Los Angeles, partly in response to Briggs.  President Jimmy Carter, former Governor Ronald Reagan, and Governor Jerry Brown speak out against the proposition.  On November 7, voters reject the proposition by more than a million votes.
• 1979 About 75,000 people participated in the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in Washington, D.C., in October.  It was the largest political gathering in support of LGBT rights to date.  
• 1980 At the 1980 Democratic National Convention held at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, Democrats took a stance supporting gay rights, adding the following to their plank:  “All groups must be protected from discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, language, age, sex or sexual orientation.”
• 1984 The city of Berkeley, California, becomes the first city to offer its employees domestic-partnership benefits.

Fun Facts About Gay Rights

• Tucson was among one of the first U.S. Cities to pass an anti-discrimination ordinance protecting gay, lesbian, bisexual and queer people in Tucson
• In 1999 the Tucson City Council banned discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations based on gender identity.
• The first Gay Rights Organization was the Society for Human Rights, started in 1924 by Henry Gerber in Chicago
• The first Lesbian Rights Organization was the Daughters of Bilitis, stared in 1955 in San Francisco.
• Illinois became the first state to decriminalize homosexuality by repealing sodomy laws in 1961
• Police raided the Stonewall Inn in 1969, prompting a massive series of demonstrations that became the modern gay rights movement.
• Later in 1969, The Advocate adopted its current name and began publication as the oldest continuing LGBTQ publication in the world.
• The American Psychiatric Association finally removes homosexuality from it’s list of mental disorders in 1973 in a heavily contested vote.
• Wisconsin became the first state to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation in 1982.
• In 1993, Clinton signs the disastrous “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that only allows “closeted” homosexuals in the military.
• Then in 1996, Clinton triangulates with Republicans to pass the Defense of Marriage, which is subsequently struck down many years later.
• Ellen DeGeneres came out in Time Magazine and made the world a little better in 1997.
• The first legal same-sex marriages are carried out in Massachusetts in 2004.
• California voters approve Proposition 8, which provides legality to same-sex marriages.
• The Defense of Marriage Act was struck down in 2013 by the Supreme Court
• The Matthew Shepard Act, which outlaws hate crimes based on gender or sexual orientation, was passed in 2009
• Congress passed the 2007 Employment Nondiscrimination Act to prohibit workplace discrimination of sexual orientation, but notably not gender identity.

Hey!  Have a gay fun fact we can put on this page?  Send it to tonyray@gaytucson.com and let us know if you want your name acknowledged with the fun fact. Thanks, you’re the greatest!

Gay Fun Facts Everything you ever wanted to know about the Rainbow Flag Did you ever wonder how the rainbow flag came to be the international flag of equality for All LGBT people?Well, I will tell you. Just as Betsy Ross, sewed the first American flag, to represent freedom from British oppression,Gilbert Baker, (yes another Baker) first designed the flag in 1978 for the San Francisco Pride event called the Gay Freedom Celebration. The design was to represent gay and lesbian diversity around the world. But, don’t think he just wanted to make something pretty like rainbows and unicorns. The colors are symbolic as follows: Red Stands for life Orange stands for healing Yellow Stands for the sun Green Stands for nature Blue stands for harmony Purple stands for the soul The Purple stripe is sometimes replace with a black stripe for masculinity or leather pride. Originally the flag had an aqua and a pink stripe but has been simplified to the flag commonly used today. Now you know!   Subaru is a well known sponsor for the Human Rights Campaign. New York is the city known for the first gay riots in the 1960’s The lesbian magazine called ‘The Ladder’ was started by the daughters of Bilitis The first openly gay federal district court judge in the United States was Deborah Batts ACT UP (Aids Coalition to Unleash Power) is the national coalition formed to lobby government and corporations for support in the fight against AIDS The national support group, PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) was formed in 1982 Logo, the gay TV channel was launched in 2005 The largest women’s summer music festival is held in Michigan The NCBLG (National Coalition for Black Lesbians and Gays) was founded in 1979 The Advocate (a gay magazine) was started in1967 LAMBDA (The Legal Defense & Education Fund) was started in 1973 The first Gay Olympic Games were held at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco, CA

Ancient Facts

Submitted by Joshua J. Marks, June 2021

1. Celts regarded same-sex relationships as normal and natural until the rise of Christianity.
2. The Romans, like the Greeks and others, regularly pursued same-sex relationships. Criticism of these had nothing to do with the relationship itself but focused on one’s passivity in sexual intercourse. 
3. In Japan during the Pre-Meiji Period (800-1868 CE), same-sex relations among men were considered “an honored way of life among the country’s religious and military leaders so that its acceptance paralleled, and in some respects even surpassed, ancient Athens“
4. The Kinnar (also known as Hijra) are a recognized third gender on the Indian subcontinent in the present day and are alluded to in texts like these going back over 2,000 years.
5. The Native American peoples of North, Central, and South America recognized a third gender, known in the present day as a Two-Spirit, both male and female (though this is a modern term, the original having been lost).