Resource Guide
California Events
National Events
1941: Navy takes over Treasure Island for military personnel.
1942: Japanese Americans forced to relocation camps at Manzanar and Tule Lake.
1945: United Nations Conference begins in San Francisco.
1941: Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor; US enters WWII December 6. Executive Order 9066, 112,000 Japanese Americans forced to relocation camps.
1945: US drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; Japan surrenders, WWII ends.
1945: Jackie Robinson became first black major-league baseball player.
1950: Mattachine Society, first national gay organization, founded in Los Angeles.
1957: Allen Ginsberg arrested for his poem "Howl" celebrating homosexuality.
1953: US committee on Un-American Activities opens hearings.
1955: Daughters of Bilitis (DOB), first national lesbian organization, founded.
1957: First federal civil rights bill for African Americans approved.
1957: Distribution of The Wolfenden Report on homosexuality and prostitution.
1958: ONE INC. vs. US POSTMASTER reached the Supreme Court; guaranteed gay organizations the right to use public mail without fear of censorship for circulating "lewd" documents.
1960: Gayola scandal: SF gay bars harassed by the vice squad; Alcohol & Beverage licenses revoked for serving homosexuals.
1962: The Council on Religion and the Homosexual founded.
1965: The Council on Religion and the Homosexual New Year's Mardi Gras Ball; raid and arrests of all people by SF police.
1969: Occupation of Alcatraz Island by Native Americans.
1962: Illinois first US state to decriminalize homosexuality.
1963: Landmark employment discrimination suit against the Civil Service Commission, stating that homosexuals need civil rights protection.
1964: Civil Rights Act passed; protection given for gender and race but denied for homosexuality.
1969: Riots at New York's Stonewall Bar sparked national gay rights movement.
1973: American Psychiatric Association removes homosexuality from list of psychiatric illnesses.
1977: Harvey Milk elected to the SF Board of Superivsors.
1978: Senator John Briggs placed initiative on the California ballot to ban gay teachers from the classroom. Bill defeated.
1978: Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone assassinated on November 27.
1979: "White Night" March protesting Milk's murder turned violent by public and police.
1977: Orange Tuesday; Dade County, Florida repealed gay rights law by a two-to-one margin.
1977: Anita Bryant founded the anti-gay organization Save Our Children.
1980: First person with AIDS diagnosed at the Centers for Disease Control.
1981: SF General Hospital opens its first AIDS ward.
1981: SF federal judge rules that the Immigration and Naturalization Service may not bar entry to foreigners based solely on sexual orientation. First National March for Gay and Lesbian Rights in San Francisco on June 15.
1986: Proposition 64 to quarantine people with AIDS defeated.
1985: GLAAD, Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, founded in NY.
1987: Gay rights march on Washington drew 600,000 people.
1990: Lavender Sweep; SF elected 11 gays and 2 lesbians to public office.
1991: First domestic partners registration in SF at City Hall on February 14.
1991: Governor Pete Wilson vetoed the gay rights bill.
1995: The Gay and Lesbian Center in the new SF Main Public Library opened; first permanent research center in a public institution.
1990: Hate Crimes Act passed; first pro-gay legislation ever passed at a federal level.
1991: Federal Court ruled that the Navy could discriminate against homosexuals in order to prevent the spread of AIDS.
1993: Gay and lesbian "Don't ask, don't tell" policy in the military approved.
1993: Roberta Achtenberg, former SF Supervisor, appointed Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity; highest-ranking post held by lesbian in federal government.