- Written by Dave Gott & Leea Pronovost, Rainbow Elders Steering Committee
- Published: 08 October 2018
October is LGBTIQA History (or Herstory) Month. Here is a quick overview of many thousands of years!
10,000 B.C.: Mesolithic art depicts homosexual acts.
7,000 B.C.: Neolithic drawings depict a third sex with breasts and male genitals.
2,000 B.C.: In Eastern Europe, males are buried in female garments.
700 B.C.: Greeks accept civil unions of males and honor Sappho Lesbians.
300 A.D.: Constantine outlaws homosexuality.
1200 A.D.: Christianity declares homosexuality sinful.
Over the next 700 years, most laws are oppressive to LGBTIQA people.
Early 1900s: Police in USA raid gay bathhouses.
1920: Lili Elbe has the first transsexual operation.
1950s: Mattachine Foundation and Daughters of Bilitis organize to support civil rights.
1952: Christine Jorgensen is the first US citizen to have gender surgery.
1969: Riots break out after police raid the Stonewall Inn in NYC, a drag queen being among the first to take action.
1970: First USA Pride March takes place.
1973: American Psychological Association (APA) removes “homosexuality” from its manual of mental disorders, replacing it with “sexual orientation disturbance” before removing it completely in 1987.
1974: Kathy Kozachenko is the first openly LGBTIQA person to be elected to public office in the USA.
1977: Harvey Milk is elected to office in San Francisco but assassinated in 1978.
1990: World Health Organization no longer considers homosexuality a medical disorder.
2004: Massachusetts legalizes same gender marriage.
2012: APA replaces “gender disorder” with “gender dysphoria” in its manual.
2015: Same gender marriage passes the USA Supreme Court.
2016: Transgender public accommodations protections pass in Massachusetts.
2017: Signatures are obtained to bring onto the 2018 ballot a repeal of this bill.
2018: Please vote YES on Question 3 on November 6 to preserve full access to public accommodations for transgender individuals in Massachusetts!
*L=Lesbian, G=Gay, B=Bisexual, T=Transgender, I=Intersex, Q=Questioning & Queer, A=Asexual, Aromantic, Agender & Allies