May 7
On This Day In LGBTQ+ History:
1909: The Kentucky Court of Appeals rules that the "crime against nature" outlaws anal sex only.
1954: The Florida Supreme Court upheld a sodomy conviction by a vote of 5-2 in the case of McElveen et al. v. State.
1970: GLF-LA protest at California Federal Building psychology lecture (13 participants).
1972: GAA-NY demonstrations at home of district attorney (75-100 participants).
1972: Gay-In at Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C.
1973: Gay Raiders zap of The Mike Douglas Show in Philadelphia (1 participant).
1974: Gay Awareness Women’s Kollective and GLF-Ann Arbor protest at American Psychiatric Association convention panel on homosexuality in Detroit (100-200 participants).
1977: Ten groups attend the first Manitoba Gay Conference in Winnipeg and form the Manitoba Gay Coalition.
1978: The Austin Texas Human Rights Commission sponsored a Human Rights Festival at Municipal Auditorium to protest an appearance by Anita Bryant in Austin. Over 1,000 people attended.
1982: Toronto Morality Squad officers appeared at The Body Politic office with search warrant, but leave empty-handed after a brief search.
1986: A former Soviet deputy health minister tells readers of Literaturnaya Gazeta, a popular weekly newspaper, that AIDS is not a concern in the USSR because homosexuality and drug use are both illegal.
1987: Stewart McKinney, a Republican from Connecticut, becomes the first U.S. congressman to die of AIDS.
1988: In New York City, some 500 ACT Up activists protest the nation’s lethargic response to the AIDS crisis by blocking traffic in the financial district.
1988: In Sacramento, California, 8,000 activists mark the National Day of Protest with the largest gay and lesbian rights rally in the state’s history.
1990: Premier of the first Washington D.C. area gay and lesbian television program called Gay Fairfax.
1993: The Hawaii Supreme Court rules that the state must prove a "compelling interest" for denying same-sex partners a marriage license.
1996: The Boulder Colorado city council voted unanimously to approve a domestic partner registry.
1999: A jury finds The Jenny Jones Show and Warner Bros. liable in the shooting death of Scott Amedure, after the show purposely deceived Jonathan Schmitz to appear on a secret same-sex crush episode. Schmitz later killed Amedure and the jury awarded Amedure's family US $25 million.
2001: Leslie Cheung, a Hong Kong-born Canadian singer and actor, credited as the parent of modern Cantonese and Mandarin pop music, comes out as bisexual in Time Magazine.
2009: Civil Union law is approved by the city council of Rio Cuarto, Cordoba, Argentina.
Born On This Day:
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (May 7, 1840 – November 6, 1893)
Archibald Philip Primrose (May 7, 1847 – May 21, 1929)
Gail Laughlin (May 7, 1868 – March 13, 1952)
Dirk Vanden (May 7, 1933 – October 21, 2014)
Ray McDonald (May 7, 1944 – May 4, 1993)
Philip Gillies (May 7, 1954 – )
Nicholas Hytner (May 7, 1956 – )
Mark H. Levine (born May 7, 1966 – )
Johan Kenkhuis (May 7, 1980 – )
Daria Kasatkina (May 7, 1997 – )
Died On This Day:
Giovanni di Giovanni (c. 1350 – May 7, 1365)
Mary Austin Sperry (August 4, 1863 – May 7, 1919)
Stewart McKinney (January 30, 1931 – May 7, 1987)
Ramón Arroyo (November 15, 1954 – May 7, 2010)
Doric Wilson (February 24, 1939 – May 7, 2011)
Credit to Dr. Ronni Sanlo, OutHistory, the White Crane Institute and The Lavender Effect for their "On This Day" resources.
This is an ongoing project. If you notice any mistakes or issues, or know of any events, birthdays or deaths I've left off, please don't hesitate to reach out.
