Today in LGBT History

September 9, 6:15 PMGrassroots Equality ExaminerBrandon Santo

Havelock Ellis. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

1707: William Huggins of England is indicted for sodomy and would be found guilty.

1980: A federal judge orders the US Air Force to reinstate Leonard Matlovich. The Air Force offered a settlement of $160,000 to avoid reinstating him; he accepted in order to pay the legal bills accumulated during his five-year fight.

1980: Toronto's Metro Council, governing body of greater Toronto area, refuses to pass Metro Bill of Rights which includes rights based on sexual orientation.

1987: A San Francisco Superior Court jury awards palimony in the amount of $2.28 million to James B Short for the 19 years he lived with realtor Charles Gale. It was believed to be the first gay palimony case to be decided by a jury.

1994: In California, three white supremacists are arrested in the kidnapping and beating of Thomas Lee, who they believed was gay. Lee was threatened with a shotgun, beaten with a baseball bat, stripped, and tied to a tree.

1994: Jurists rule that Lynne Tucker of Salt Lake City Utah could not be declared an unfit parent solely on the basis of cohabitating with her lesbian lover.

1994: Oregon activists working for the defeat of Measure 9, which sought to ban gay rights laws, and staged news conferences in Portland, Eugene, and Bend.

1995: A federal judge in Omaha, Nebraska temporarily blocks the Air Force from discharging a gay Captain, Richard Richenberg.

1999: The Times of London publishes an article in which ex-government minister Michael Portillo is quoted as saying that he had 'homosexual experiences' in his youth.

2005: What would have been Great Britain's first gay TV channel, Faze TV, folds for financial reasons before even broadcasting its first show.

Today’s Birthdays…

1956: Arjan Ederveen, Dutch comedian and theatre and TV maker, born in Hilversum, Netherlands. Played Fagin in the Dutch version of the musical 'Oliver,' and appeared in Cheech & Chong’s Still Smokin' in 1983.

Today’s Quote…

It is only the great men who are truly obscene.  If they had not dared to be obscene, they could never have dared to be great."
--Havelock Ellis, British sexologist and social reformer.