May 17th in Queer History

Events this day in Queer History

1992 – World Health Organisation removes homosexuality from the International Classification of Diseases
2004 – Same-sex marriage licences issued in Massachusetts, USA
2007 – Ohio state governor issues executive order banning discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in the public sector
2008 – gays.com launched
2010 – Same-sex marriage legalised in Portugal

Born this day

LGBT people born 17th May:
1863 – Charles Robert Ashbee – UK Designer / Entrepreneur – Died 23rd May 1942
1931 – Marshall Herff Applewhite – US Cult Leader – Died 26th March 1997
1950 – Howard Ashman – US Playwright / Songwriter / Director / Producer – Died 14th March 1991
1951 – Simon Hughes – UK Politician
1956 – Annise Parker – US Politician
1960 – Mark de Solla Price – US Author / Journalist / Activist
1969 – Thom Filicia – US Presenter
1981 – R.J. Helton – US Singer / Reality TV [American Idol]
1989 – Tully Satre – US Author / Activist

Died this day

1999 – James Broughton – US Poet / Director – Born 10th November 1913
2003 – C.A. Tripp – US Psychologist / Author / Activist – Born 4th October 1919
2006 – John Marsden – Australian Lawyer / Activist – Born 3rd January 1942
2009 – Octavia St Laurent – US Entertainer – Born 1st May 1970

Sodomy in history, May 17th 

1820 — Michigan passes a new criminal code. The sodomy provision lowers the penalty to a maximum of three years at solitary and hard labor and a fine up to $300.
1884 — Congress passes a law extending all laws of Oregon to the Alaska Territory, including Oregon’s sodomy law. For the preceding 22 years, Alaska had no criminal laws whatsoever.
1963 — Minnesota passes a new criminal code, but does not deal with the sexual offenses section, claiming that it is too controversial to handle.
1967 — Minnesota enacts a new sex offenses law, keeping all consenting adult laws, but reducing their penalty from felony to misdemeanor.
1976 — Maryland passes a new sexual offenses law, but fails to repeal its felony sodomy law. The repeal passed the Senate, but could not get through the conservative House Judiciary Committee. All other consenting adult laws are repealed.
1978 — The Iowa Supreme Court rules that the state’s repealed sodomy law would have been constitutional as applied to consensual same-sex acts.
1979 — Nevada prohibits solicitation of a minor for the crime against nature.

Sources:

Wikipedia

glbtq emcyclopedia

On this gay day

Calendar of Sodomy, May