The gay liberation movement during the 1980s

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1980:

	Mel Boozer, an openly gay candidate for vice-president, gave a speech at the 1980 Democratic National Convention.
	Same-gender sexual behavior between male gays was decriminalized in Scotland.

1981:

	The World Health Organization removed homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses. This was six years after the American Psychological Association did the same thing. It was about three decades after researcher Evelyn Hooker conducted a study of gays and lesbians using standard psychological evaluation tests and proved that a homosexual orientation was not a mental illness.
	In July, the Centers for Disease Control reported that 26 cases of a very rare form of cancer, Kaposi's Sarcoma, was found in young gay men. This was later recognized as being due to the presence of AIDS.

1982:

	On JAN-28, The U.S. Department of Defense issued a policy stating that homosexuality is incompatible with military service.
	More than 1,300 athletes gathered in San Francisco during August and September, to participate in the first ever Gay Olympics. The U.S. Olympic Committee obtained an injunction prevented them from using the world "Olympics" in the name of their meeting.
	Wisconsin became the first state to prohibit anti-gay bias in housing, employment and public accommodations.
	Same-sex acts by male gays was decriminalized in Northern Ireland.

1983: Representative Gerry Studds (D-MA) became the first openly gay member of Congress. The following year, he was re-elected.

1984:

	Robert Bork led a panel of U.S. Court of Appeals in DC to rule that it is "impossible to conclude that a right to homosexual conduct is 'fundamental'."
	Two researchers -- one American and one French -- identified the HIV virus as the probable cause of AIDS.

1985:

	Rock Hudson died of AIDS. Suddenly, the disease became high-profile news.
	Hollywood released the Kiss of the Spider Woman, one of the first movies to portray a gay man in a positive light.
	The Department of Defense started to check all military personnel and recruits for HIV infection.

1986:

President Reagan called for a reduction in spending on AIDS research.

The Supreme Court, in a 5 to 4 decision, upheld the right of states to criminalize "sodomy" as defined in Georgia as oral or anal sex by anyone -- heterosexual or homosexual; married or not. They ruled that: "The Constitution does not confer a fundamental right upon homosexuals to engage in sodomy." ₁ About seventeen years later, during 2003, the same court overturned this ruling with an apology in Lawrence v. Texas.

Pope John Paul II approved a letter to the Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church as written by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. At the time, the Cardinal was the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He later became Pope Benedict XVI. The letter said, in part:

"Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder. ... It is only in the marital relationship that the use of the sexual faculty can be morally good. A person engaging in homosexual behaviour therefore acts immorally. ... All support should be withdrawn from any organizations which seek to undermine the teaching of the Church, which are ambiguous about it, or which neglect it entirely. Such support, or even the semblance of such support, can be gravely misinterpreted." ₂

The withdrawal of support hit chapters of Dignity support group particularly hard, because they had widely used church facilities to hold their meetings.

1987:

	A group of from 200,000 to 500,000 gays and lesbians participate in the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. This was the largest demonstration of its type in history up until that date.
	The head of the International Banana Association criticized PBS for a program that used a banana as a prop to demonstrate how a condom is applied.

1988:

	At about this time, the effort that had been poured into the gay and lesbian liberation movement began to be diverted into fighting the AIDS epidemic.
	The city of Baltimore, MD passed a civil rights bill that prohibits discrimination against gays and lesbians.
	The first gay and lesbian studies department at a U.S. college or university was founded at the City College of San Francisco.
	The United Church of Canada revised its membership rules to welcome gays and lesbians as members and as candidates for ordination. The resolution stated: "A) That all persons, regardless of their sexual orientation, who profess Jesus Christ and obedience to Him, are welcome to be or become full member of the Church. B) All members of the Church are eligible to be considered for the Ordered Ministry."

1989:

	An internal Department of Defense report revealed that gay recruits are "just as good or better" than heterosexuals. The government unsuccessfully tried to suppress the document.
	The Governor of Massachusetts signed into law a bill that protects gays and lesbians from discrimination.
	The District of Columbia passed a hate crimes bill, which increases penalties for crimes motivated by homophobia.
	In October, Denmark became the first country to recognize same-sex partnerships.

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References used:

"Bowers v. Hardwick," U.S. Supreme Court at: http://www.qrd.org/qrd/usa/legal/bowers-v-hardwick.txt
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, "Letter to the bishops of the Catholic Church on the pastoral care of homosexual persons," The Vatican, 1986-OCT-01, at: http://www.vatican.va

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