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Today in LGBT History--July 16
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Leonard Matlovich, after his extended legal battle had begun
1746: In the American colonies, Mary Hamilton disguises herself as a man in order to marry a woman. Within a few months her secret would be revealed. She was arrested, charged with fraud, publicly whipped, and imprisoned for six months.
1962: Randolfe Wicker of the Mattachine Society in New York and six other gay men appear on a 90 minute talk show on WBAI about what it is like to be homosexual. While it resulted in positive comments in several newspapers and magazines, a group of listeners contacted the FCC to challenge the station's license. The complaint was rejected.
1969: The backwash from the Stonewall riots continue as a second gay power meeting was held in Greenwich Village at an Episcopal Church. Those attending planned a protest in front of St Patrick's Cathedral.
1972: Gay Liberation Front (Gay Lib) in Wellington, New Zealand, is established. It is active until 1978 and goes into recess in 1980.
1976: The discharge of U.S. air force Sgt. Leonard Matlovich is upheld in a civilian court by Federal District Judge Gerhard Gesell. Matlovich came out to his supervisors in 1975. When a government attorney offered to permit Matlovich to return to Air Force duty provided he would sign a document pledging to "never practice homosexuality again," Matlovich declined.
1982: The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization policy of barring homosexuals from entering the country is ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge.
1984: U.S. News and World Report magazine announces that gays and lesbians make up the seventh-largest voting block in the US.
1986: Jeff Levi, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, announces plans for a Privacy Project to fight sodomy laws.
1992: Bill Clinton becomes the first candidate for US president to mention gays and lesbians in a speech accepting the Democratic nomination for president. But he winds up doing little for gays during his eight years in office. He promised to allow all citizens regardless of sexual orientation to serve openly in the military, but then passed a policy crafted by Colin Powell and maintained by both his successors thus far, federal law Pub.L. 103-160, more commonly known as “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.”
Today’s birthdays….
1943: Reinaldo Arenas, poet, novelist, and playwright, in Cuba. He was sent to prison in 1973 after being charged and convicted for "ideological deviation" and for publishing abroad without official consent. Released later from the Cuban prison, he moved to the US in 1980, was diagnosed with AIDS in 1987, and committed suicide in New York City in 1990.
“When I was in the military, they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one.”
--Inscription on the tombstone of Leonard Matlovich, which can be found in the Congressional Cemetery.
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