Male homosexuality was decriminalised in Scotland, by a Robin Cook amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill.

The Pride March ended in a riot and an impromptu march to Bow Street police station after the police had arrested a Brixton Faerie for wearing a plastic meat cleaver in his hat.

Heaven, the first all-week gay mega-club opened.

In September the European Commission ruled unanimously that the British government was guilty of breaching Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights by interfering with Jeff Dudgeon's private life by refusing to legalise consenting homosexual behaviour in Ulster.

The first black lesbian and gay groups were founded.

The Democratic National Convention becomes the first major political party in America to endorse a gay rights platform plank.

Homosexuality decriminalized in Scotland.

David McReynolds becomes the first openly GLBT individual to run for President of the United States, appearing on the Socialist Party U S A ticket.

Movie Cruising ignites angry gay protests.

Sapphistry: The Book of Lesbian Sexuality by Pat Califia.

Openly gay Socialist Workers Party candidate for president (David McReynolds).

Publication of Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality.

Broadway production of "Last Summer at Bluefish Cove".

April 26 CBS broadcast of "Gay Power, Gay Politics".

GAA-DC president, Mel Boozer, nominated for U.S. Vice President.

Black & White Men Together formed.

Aaron Fricke goes to court to take his male date to a Rhode Island high school prom.

Leonard Matlovich reinstated to Air Force.

The European Court of Human Rights found in favour of Northern Irish gays.

Ken Livingstone, the new leader of the Greater London Council (GLC), promised support to gays and the GLC gave the first gay grant to the London Gay Switchboard.

The last national lesbian conference in London broke up in arguments.

Moral Majority starts anti-gay crusade.

Norway becomes the first country in the world to enact a law to prevent discrimination against homosexuals

Capital Gay was founded.

Gay-Related Immune Deficiency (GRID) identified by CDC.

Gay Press Association forms.

Arrests of Cong. Hinson (MS) for homosexual behavior and resignation of Cong. Bauman (MD) for soliciting teenage male

Male homosexuallity was decriminalised in Northern Ireland with the passing of law reform in the House of Commons on 25th. October.

London Gay Switchboard held the first UK information meeting on a strange new disease, AIDS.

The Terrence Higgins Trust was launched and named after the man who was thought to have been the first to have died with AIDS in the UK on 4th. July.

Julian Meldrum started the first regular column on AIDS in Capital Gay .

The first Gay Games were held in San Francisco in August and September.

Homosexuality decriminalised in Northern Ireland.

The Ten Percent Society becomes the first gay rights organization in North Dakota.

Wisconsin becomes the first US state to ban anti-gay discrimination.

Publication of The Color Purple.

"Torch Song Trilogy" opens on Broadway.

Glenn Burke, first baseball player to come out.

Gay Men's Health Crisis established.

First Federal Judge to rule against state sodomy statutue (Texas).

Arrest of Michael Hardwick in Atlanta for sodomy.

Peter Tatchell , the Labour Party candidate, was defeated in a by-election in Bermondsey after a vicious anti-gay campaign by the tabloid newspapers and local Liberals. Simon Hughes of the Liberal Party was elected.

Gay News collapsed in April; sales had plummeted after free newspapers had become available.

Questions were asked in Parliament about 'pretty police' entrapment.

The first national lesbian and gay television series, One in Five was shown on Channel 4.

The BBC's Panarama broadcast the first television documentary on AIDS. The BBC's Horizon followed up with 'Killer in the Village'.

United States Congressman Gerry E. Stubbs came out publicly as gay on the floor of the House of Representatives.

HIV virus identified.

Massachusetts Representative Gerry Studds reveals he is a homosexual on the floor of the House, becoming the first openly Gay member of Congress.

The Eurythmics, Madonna.

Election of first openly gay politician to national office (Cong. Studds) and openly gay mayor in Key West.

"The Day After" tv movie and Nuclear Freeze Movement.

Coretta Scott King announces support for gay rights.

First genetic markers found.

Massachusetts voters reelect representative Gerry Studds, despite his admission the year before that he is gay.

New South Wales decriminlizes Homosexual Acts Between concenting adults.

"The Unitarian Universalists become the first modern Christian denomination to perform gay and lesbian union ceremonies."

Chris Smith, MP for Islington South, London, was the first MP to come out as gay while in office. The Terrence Higgins Trust held the first national AIDS conference.

GALOP , the first gay policing project, was founded.

Gay Times began publication in May.

Greg Louganis wins four gold medals in the Olympics

West Hollywood incorporates as a city

Born in the USA, The Judds, and What's Love Got to Do with It?

Berkeley becomes first city with domestic partner law

On our Backs begins publishing

The Greater London Council (GLC) published Changing The World, a charter of gay rights.

With support from the Greater London Council (GLC), the London Lesbian and Gay Centre opened at 69 Cowcross Street, Farringdon, London, EC1.

South Wales miners joined the Pride march in thanks for the gay support given to their strike.

Body Positive, the first HIV self-help group, was founded in London.

The Black Lesbian and Gay Centre was founded.

France prohibits discrimination based on lifestyle (moeurs) in employment and services.

First memorial to gay Holocaust victims is dedicated.

Death of Rock Hudson due to AIDS.

Formation of Log Cabin Club.

"Kiss of the Spider Woman," "Room with a View," and a "Chorus Line" play in moviehouses.

Mikhail Gorbachev becomes General Secretary of Soviet Communist Party.

Normal Heart" and "Search for Intelligent Signs in the Universe" play on Broadway.

Homosexual Law Reform Act passed in New Zealand, legalizing sex between males over 16

"A fourteen page letter issued by Pope John Paul II calls gay people `intrinsically disordered' and states that homosexuality can never be reconciled with church doctrine."

AIDS was debated n the House of Commons, and a major national campaign was launched.

The London Borough of Haringey Lesbian and Gay Unit wrote to all school heads in the borough urging them to promote positive images of homosexuality to their pupils. A backlash was provoked.

Bowers vs. Hardwick decision (5-4)

Tonni Morrison's Beloved published

First openly lesbian couple granted legal joint adoption (Calif.)

Platoon, Blue Velvet, & The Color of Money play in theaters

"Desert Hearts" plays in movie theaters

Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, and Patti LaBelle

GLADD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance against Defamation, was established in New York.

The British Government delivered a leaflet on AIDS, with the London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard telephone number, to every household in the country. Telephones broke down.

Clause 28 (actually with an ever-changing sequence of numbers) of the Local Government Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 7th. December.

The last national lesbian and gay conference collapsed under factional in-fighting.

James Anderson, Chief Constable of Manchester, condemned gays as 'in a cesspit of their own making'.

The Pink Paper was founded.

ACT UP stages its first major demonstration, seventeen protesters are arrested.

U.S. Congressman Barney Frank comes out as gay.

Homomonument opened in Amsterdam, a memorial to persecuted gays and lesbians.

First public display of The Quilt

"The Last Temptation of Christ" and resignation of Jim Bakker from PTL

Black Monday on US stock market

Second march on Washington attracts 600,000 people

A disco party at Tracks, a gay nightclub in Washington, DC, celebrated the election of Mayor Marion Barry. It was designated an official inaugural event.

Life became art when the Episcopal bishop of Californi consecrated the former Eight and Howard Baths in San Francisco as a refuge for the homeless. The old steamrooms will be the chapel.

"Mary Elizabeth Clark takes vows of poverty, chastity and obedience at an Episcopal church in San Clemente, California, making her the first transsexual nun, though the religious community she founded, Sisters of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, remains unsanctioned by the bishop of the Episcopal Church. A man named Michael Clark until 1974, Sister Mary Elizabeth is also the only person to serve in the military as both a male and a female."

Section 28 passes in England and Wales; Scotland brings in almost identical legislation under Clause 2A - Canadian MP Svend Robinson comes out as gay.

Section 28 , preventing the 'promotion' of homosexuality by local authorities, passed came into force on 24th. May, with help from the Local Government minister Michael Howard. It has never been tested in court. 10000 protested in London, and 15000 in Manchester.

Lesbians abseiled in the House of Lords. Lesbians also got into BBC1's newsroom while Sue Lawley was reading the Six O'Clock News and she reported to viewers that 'we have been somewhat invaded'. Three lesbians swung from ropes from the visitors' gallery in the House to protest the passage of the Clause. The clause passed despite the protest by a vote of 202-122.

The Norwegian foreign minister protested about Section 28 to the British foreign minister. There were also protests in Amsterdam and New York.

The first British national conference for lesbians and gay men with disabilities was held.

The City College of San Francisco created the first gay and lesbian studies department at an American institution of higher education.

Sweden is first country to pass laws protecting gays and lesbians regarding social services, taxes, and inheritances.

Israel decriminalizes (de jure) sodomy and sexual acts between men (the relevant section in the old British-mandate law from 1936 was never enforced).

Public Health service mails Understanding AIDS to every home

First Annual Coming Out Day celebrated

National Black Gay and Lesbian conference

"Two-thirds of the sample of a survey of 101 gay Catholic priests estimated that 40 to 60 percent of the Catholic clergy are gay.", "A sample survey of 101 gay Catholic priests found that `Leading a celibate life' was reported by 63 percent as a frequent source of problems.", "36.6 percent of 101 gay Catholic priests surveyed had been occasionally sexually active with another person.", "82.2 percent of 101 gay Catholic priests surveyed said they would `probably' or `definitely' stay in the priesthood."

"Surrounded by controversy, Robert Williams is ordained as an openly gay Episcopalian priest. One month later he publicly comments that `monogamy is as unnatural as celibacy' followed by the remark that Mother Teresa would be better off `if she got laid'. In 1991, Williams resigned his priesthood."

ActUp (AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power) London was founded.

The Stonewall Group was set up in response to Section 28 .

In October,

Denmark was the first country in the world to give legal recognition to same-sex partnerships . Eigil and Axel Axgil were the first couple to register.

Tiananmen Square & Invasion of Panama

DOD studies conclude no reason to bar homosexuals from military service

First openly gay black elected to public office (Albany, NY)

Denmark first country to legalize same-sex marriage

Robert Mapplethorpe controversy

Janet Jackson, New Kids on the Block, Guns N' Roses