From oppression to achieving the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, we are proud to present our selection of LGBTQ historic milestones, events and accomplishments. We did not aim to provide an encyclopedic overview but rather a scenic tour where we aim to convey the arc of LGBT progress with a lens on the West Village. The AIDS pandemic and club culture, two forces that continue to shape the LGBT experience, are also reflected.
WestView News invites you to send in additional milestones to expand our timeline so that it reflects the full lens of our rich LGBT heritage and foundation. You are also welcome to submit photos for our pages and video montage. We prefer photos that give you goosebumps or ones that grab your attention. Include photo credit and a brief caption. Send all LGBT Timeline and Milestone submissions to: kambiz.shekdar@rftca.org.
1665-1969
1665 New York colony laws make sodomy a capital offense
1867 Julius bar opens in the West Village
1867 Homosexuality is defended publicly before a government body for the first time
1895 Oscar Wilde is sentenced to prison
1919-1929 First large-scale black/urban LGBTQ enclave in the U.S. is established during the Harlem Renaissance
1924 Society for Human Rights is established as the first legally-recognized gay rights organization in the U.S.
1928 Well of Loneliness is published as a novel about lesbian love
1933 Nazi forces destroy Institute for Sexual Research
1933-1945 Homosexuals are prosecuted under Germany’s “Paragraph 175,” forced to wear a Pink Triangle and sent to concentration camps
1950 Mattachine Society is formed as one of the first LGBT organizations in the U.S.
1958 U.S. Supreme Court upholds the right to send LGBT-related literature in U.S. Mail
1966 First “Sip-In” at Julius bar is staged by Mattachine Society to challenge laws barring drink service to homosexuals
1967 Oscar Wilde Memorial bookshop opens in the West Village as first gay bookstore in the U.S.
1969 Patrons of the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village refuse to cooperate with arresting vice-squad officers, triggering a four-day riot
1970-1979
1970 Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) is formed
1970 Police raids at the Snake Pit bar in the West Village result in 167 arrested
1970 First Christopher Street Liberation Day march goes up 6th Ave. to Central Park
1970 Gay Liberation Front (GLF) is formed
1973 Lesbian Herstory Archives is formed
1975 American Psychiatric Association removes homosexuality from its list of mental disorders
1979 First National March on Washington for LGBT rights
1980-1989
1980 First year the Christopher Street Liberation Day marches up 5th Ave.
1980’s AIDS pandemic emerges
1980s Pink Triangle is adopted as a symbol by the gay community
1981 St. Vincent’s Hospital becomes the center for compassionate care of AIDS victims
1982 Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) is formed
1983 The LGBT Community Center opens
1984 Heritage of Pride is formed
1984 Outdoor annual drag festival Wigstock begins
1986 U.S. Supreme Court effectively renders gay sex as illegal by upholding sodomy laws
1987 ACT-UP is formed
1988 World AIDS Day is commemorated on December 1st for the first time
1990-1999
1990 Deborah Glick is elected as first openly gay NY state legislator
1991 The Red Ribbon is created to raise awareness for HIV/AIDS
1991 Henrietta Hudson bar opens
1993 President Bill Clinton signs “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” into law
1993 Drag cabaret begins at Bar d’O in the West Village
1995 Life-saving HIV/AIDS drug cocktail is developed
1996 Club kid Angel Melendez is murdered
1997 Palladium nightclub is purchased by NYU for use as student dormitories
1998 Tom Duane is elected as first openly gay and HIV-positive NY state senator
2000-2020
2001 Twilo nightclub closes under pressure from NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s Quality of Life campaign
2003 President George W. Bush implements the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to make life-saving AIDS medications available worldwide
2003 U.S. Supreme Court decriminalizes gay sex
2006 Christine Quinn is elected first openly gay NYC City Council Speaker
2007 The Limelight (a.k.a. Avalon) permanently closes
2007 First AIDS patient is reported cured of AIDS (“Berlin Patient”)
2010 U.S. Senate repeals “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
2011 President Barack Obama signs order to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
2012 Trudava / PrEP is introduced as an AIDS medication to help prevent HIV infection
2015 U.S. Supreme Court legalizes same-sex marriage
2016 The NYC AIDS Memorial opens across the former St. Vincent’s Hospital
2018 Corey Johnson is elected as the first openly gay and HIV-positive NYC City Council Speaker
2019 Second AIDS Patient is reported cured of AIDS (“London Patient”)
2020 Larry Kramer, playwright and co-founder of ACT-UP & GMHC dies
Future Milestones
Conversion therapy is outlawed worldwide
No one is bullied or killed for being LGBTQ
Immigration equality is achieved
LGBTQ rights are established worldwide
HIV/AIDS is eradicated for good using broadly-available vaccines and cures
Equal human rights for all are achieved
All people achieve life, liberty and happiness
The LGBTQ community wishes #BLACKLIVESMATTER equal success
Created by:
Victor Salvo, Co-Founder and Executive Director, The Legacy Project
Bruce Poli, Executive Director, Equal Rights Foundation
Kambiz Shekdar, Ph.D., President & Founder, Research Foundation to Cure AIDS
