April 4, 2005—United Kingdom’s Gender Recognition Act Legalizes Transsexual Marriage.
April 7, 1966—The first gay community center opened in the United States located in San Francisco, CA.
April 8, 1974—The American Psychiatric Association removes its sickness definition of homosexuality.
April 11- 13, 2014—World music icon and Miami’s own Gloria Estefan serves as Miami Beach Gay Pride Grand Marshal.
April 14, 1997—Time Magazine hits the shelves with Ellen DeGeneres on the cover: “Yep, I’m gay.”
April 15, 2015— The Florida Senate passed the bill on a 27–11 vote which repealed the 1977 ban on homosexual adoption. It passed the Florida House of Representatives on a 68–50 vote on March 11. On April 15 Republican Governor Rick Scott signed the bill into law on June 11, and it went into effect on July 1, 2015.
April 20, 2001—Chinese Psychiatric Association removes homosexuality from list of mental disorder.
April 22, 1980—Human Rights Campaigned Fund is founded.
April 22, 2022—Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed into law a bill revoking the Walt Disney Company’s special district status in the state, punish the Disney company for condemning law banning school discussion of LGBTQ issues.
April 23, 1990—The Hate Crime Statistic Act is signed into law by President George Bush. It is the first US bill to use the phrase sexual orientation.
April 24, 1993—The first Dyke March is held in Washington DC. This event was planned by the Lesbian Avengers; over 20,000 women marched.
April 25, 1993—The 3rd March on Washington has an estimated attendance of more than one million people.
April 27, 1953—Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an executive order that bans gay & lesbian from working for the federal government, saying they are a security risk.
April 27, 1992—Canadian government anti-government anti-gay campaign is revealed.
April 27, 2009—Same-sex marriage in Iowa became legal following a decision in the Iowa Supreme Court on April 3, 2009. Marriage licenses became available to same-sex couples on April 27th.
April 28, 1997—Florida Governor Reubin Askew asks Miami voters to rescind a recently passed ray rights ordinance saying, “I would not want unknown homosexual teaching my children.”
April 28, 2015—The US Supreme Court hears oral arguments on the question of the freedom to marry in Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, and Michigan. On June 26 the Supreme Court rules that states cannot ban same-sex marriage.
April 30, 1987—ABC aired Ellen’s “The Puppy Episode” when lead character Ellen Morgan realized she is a lesbian and comes out.
April 30, 2002—Transgender rights were added to New York City law.
April 1955-1970—Daughters of Bilitis is founded in San Francisco by del Martin and Phyllis Lyon as the first national lesbian group in the United States.
April 1987—Old Lesbians Organizing for Change was founded. This collection includes extensive documentation of all OLOC gatherings since 1987, including photographs of activities, and videotapes of panel discussions and keynote speeches.
April 2023—Florida LGBT advocacy group Equality Florida issued a travel advisory for LGBT people to avoid visiting or moving to the state. The following May, the Human Rights Campaign signed on to the travel advisory, citing legislation recently signed by Governor DeSantis, while stopping short of calling for a boycott of the state.
Sources: CNN, Library of Congress, Historic Calendar Project, Wikipedia.
