First national lesbian conference sponsored by the Daughters of Bilitis.

Decriminalization in Czechoslovakia and Hungary.

Illinois was the first state in the US to decriminalise homosexuality. Every state had had a sodomy law proscribing oral or anal sex between homosexuals and, in most cases, between heterosexuals.

Release of the film Victim , starring Dirk Bogarde , the most important British film on a gay theme, pleading for tolerance for homosexuals, and the end to blackmail.

In November, drag entertainer Jose Sarria ran for the Board of Supervisors (city council) in San Francisco. Jose Sarria was the first openly gay candidate for elective office in the history of the United States. He was not elected but he received nearly 6000 votes.

Erection of the Berlin Wall.

llinois becomes first U.S. state to remove sodomy law from its criminal code.

Tavern Guild formed in San Francisco.

James Baldwin's Another Country.

Israel decriminalizes de-facto sodomy and sexual acts between men by judicial decision against the enforcement of the relevant section in the old British-mandate law from 1936 (which in fact was never enforced).

The first gay rights demonstration in the USA took place on 19th. September at the Whitehall Induction Center in New York City, protesting against discrimination in the military.

John Rechy's City of Night.

Kennedy Assassination.

First gay rights pickets.

Pop Art and Andy Warhol.

Formation of the East Coast Homophile Organizations (ECHO).

"Ballad of the Sad Cafe" plays on Broadway.

"The Council on Religion and the Homosexual is founded in San Francisco by the Reverend Ted McIlvenna and other clergy members `to promote continuing dialogue between the church and the homosexual.'"

Founding of the Society for Individual Rights (SIR) & publication of Vector magazine.

Desert of the Heart written by Jane Rule.

Two , Canada's first gay magazine published.

First openly gay person to appear on national television (Randy Wicker)had to march past a picket line of uniformed police, some of whome took the celebrants' pictures for future ID.

Homosexuals picket the White House and Pentagon.

San Francisco's first gay drag ball.

Malcolm X assassinated.

"Killing of Sister George" plays on Broadway.

Founding of first state-chartered gay organization in the South (Atheneum Society).

First gay community center opens in San Francisco.

Walker Percy's The Last Gentleman.

China's Cultural Revolution.

The Transsexaul Phenomena written by Harry Benjamin.

First national meeting of the North American Conference of Homophile Organizations (NACHO).

The book "Homosexual Behavior Among Males" by Wainwright Churchill breaks ground as a scientific study approaching homosexuality as a fact of life rather than as a sin, crime or disease.

Oscar Wilde Bookshop, the world's first gay and lesbian bookstore, opens in New York City.

"The Glide Methodist Church and the Glide Foundation of San Francisco launches one of the first economic boycotts on behalf of gay rights by not only stating that they will not buy goods and services from companies that discriminate against homosexuals, but encouraging others to follow their lead."

CBS Special "The Homosexual" reported by Mike Wallace.

First issue of The Advocate.

The Sexual Offences Act came into force in England and Wales, and decriminalised homosexual acts between two men over 21 years of age and in private.

"Hair" on Broadway with the Sodomy song.

Britain legalizes consensual adult homosexual activity.

Opening of the first gay bookstore in the U.S.-- Oscar Wilde in NYC.

First gay campus group formed (NYC Columbia College).

Paragraph 175 is eased in East Germany. Canada repeals all anti-sodomy laws and Bulgaria decriminalize adult homosexual relations.

"Rev. Troy Perry, a gay Pentecostal minister, conducts a service for twelve people gathered at a house in Huntington park, California. This was the first meeting of what was to become the United Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, a nondenominational church for the gay community. Only two years later, MCC had over five hundred members."

Metropolitan Community Church founded in Los Angeles by Troy Perry.

Assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy.

Publication of Boys in the Band.

Foundation in France of the earliest documented European gay student group, the Comite Pederastique de la Sorbonne, which met a few times during the student uprising in the Spring of 1968. The name of the group translates to "Sorbonne Homosexual Committee". (See the dictionary .)

Stonewall riots - Paragraph 175 is eased in West Germany - Homosexual behavior legalized in Canada.

FREE, first gay student group formed in the United States.

"The Church of Christ's Council on Christian Social Action adopts one of the first position statements on homosexuality, in which it calls for the decriminalization of homosexual activities between consenting adults.", "The first denominational religious organization for homosexuals begins as a rap group for gay and lesbian Catholics in San Diego. After moving to Los Angeles, the first chapter of Dignity is founded in 1970."

The Scottish Minorities Group (SMG) first met in January, and then were officially founded on 9th. May.

The Stonewall Rebellion started on the night of 27/28th. June. the day of Judy Garland's funeral.

The Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was set up in New York.

The Gay Activists Alliance was set up in New York in December.

The Committee For Homosexual Equality (CHE) was formed in Britain. (It changed its name to the Campaign for Homosexual Equality in 1971.)

Adrienne Rich's "Necessities of Life".

Pentagon Papers.

Gay , the first weekly gay magazine, is issued with two Southerners as the editors.