Stories

Some key moments in LGBTIQA* History

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Written by Dave Gott & Leea Pronovost, Rainbow Elders Steering Committee

Published: 08 October 2018

Leea Pronovost & Dave GottOctober 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

Learn more about the Rainbow Elders.