Today in LGBT History--July 15

July 15, 6:34 PMGrassroots Equality ExaminerBrandon Santo

Andrew Cunanan, inset, and his victim, the late great Gianni Versace. Resta in pace, Gianni.

1975: Santa Cruz County becomes the first county in the US to enact a law prohibiting discrimination against gays, lesbians, and bisexuals in employment.

1985: An obviously ill Rock Hudson appears on television with Doris Day to promote his new cable series. His publicist explained his appearance by saying he was just getting over the flu. Hudson later dies from AIDS.

1986: The Missouri Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of the state's sodomy law.

1990: "Behind the Mask" by Dave Pallone debuts at #15 on the New York Times Bestseller List. Pallone was a Major League Baseball umpire who was fired for being gay.

1991: Col. Margarethe Cammermeyer is informed by a U.S. military board that she was a great American, a great asset, a superb leader, that her many outstanding accomplishments have been admirable, that her 27 years of service had been of great value, and that she would also be discharged for being a lesbian. She became the highest ranking US military person to be discharged for homosexuality.

1991: In New Zealand, the Auckland Star newspaper attacks Auckland Gay and Lesbian Youth receiving lottery grant to visit schools. The Auckland Star folds soon after.

1997: Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace is murdered in front of his house in Miami by Andrew Cunanan.

1999: An 1897 letter written by gay British author Oscar Wilde to novelist Henrietta Stannard fetched 11,500 pounds (about US $18,745) at a Sotheby's auction.

2006: The seventh Gay Games opens in Chicago with some 12,000 athletes from more than 70 countries expected to compete in one of the largest athletic events in the world.

Today’s LGBT Birthday…

1956: Hans Cornelissen, Dutch actor, well known in Holland for a Dutch TV comedy series.

"Our feelings are our most genuine paths to knowledge."
--Audre Lorde