by Evelyn Bailey
May 1
1976 - Christopher Street magazine debuts.
1982 - Scientific American publishes an ad from the Lesbian and Gay Associated Engineers and Scientists. Science News refuses to run the ad.
1984 - Advocate Men magazine debuts.
1986 - Lesbian Ann Bancroft becomes the first woman to reach the North Pole by dogsled. The trip, which started from Ellesmere Island, took her two months.
May 2
1972 - J. Edgar Hoover dies, and leaves the bulk of his estate to Clyde Tolson, his "companion" of over 40 years.
May 3
1976 - A Chorus Line wins the Pulitzer Prize for drama. (If you don't know why this belongs on the list - find it - see it.)
1989 - Christine Jorgenson, pioneering transsexual, dies of cancer at age sixty-two.
May 14
1974 - The first federal gay rights bill is introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Equality Act of 1974, would have amended the 1964 Civil Rights Act, by adding "sexual orientation, to the list of protected from discrimination.
1981 - The Reagan administration cancels the White House subscription to The Advocate.
May 20
1979 - The first Mr. International Leather contest is held. The winner is David Klos.
May 21
1970 - Bella Abzug becomes one of the first major U.S. politicians to openly court the gay vote as she addresses a meeting of the Gay Activists Alliance while running for Congress in New York City.
1975 - A Chorus Line opens on Broadway.
1976 - Candidate Jimmy Carter announces that if elected he will support and sign a federal civil rights bill outlawing discrimination against gays and lesbians.
1979 - Dan White is found guilty of lesser charges (voluntary manslaughter), but acquited on murder charges, stemming from his assassination of S. F. Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. Protests following the verdict turn into a riot.
1985 - The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules that Georgia's sodomy laws are unconstitutional. (Note - this ruling is later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.)
May 25
1895 - Oscar Wilde is sentenced to two years at hard labor after his conviction on sodomy charges.
1965 - First openly gay demonstration for gay rights at the White House.
1978 - The first "Gay Day" at Disneyland is held. More than 15,000 people attend and it's the largest private party ever held at Disneyland.
May 30
1431 - Joan of Arc burned at the stake for heresy. Over the years it has been suggested that her "crimes" included cross-dressing and inappropriate relationships with women. And in fact, the crime she was actually convited and burned alive for was the wearing of male clothes.
1977 - Columnist George Will applauds Anita Bryant and condemns gay rights ordinances as "part of the moral disarmament of society."
1980 - Aaron Fricke wins his Rhode Island court battle, and takes a male date, Paul Guilbert, to his senior prom.
1984 - The U.S. Supreme Court strikes down a New York state law that prohibits loitering in a public place for the purposes of soliciting for or engaging in "gay sex."
1986 - Fashion designer Perry Ellis dies of AIDS at the age of forty-six.
1987 - Congressman Barney Frank comes out to the Boston Globe.
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