men, the disease was initially labeled gay-related im-
mune deficiency (GRID). Public scrutiny fell onto
the group most traumatized by the disease, and
much of the attention came in the form of oppro-
brium and condemnation. While Rock Hudson’s
1985 death from AIDS increased sympathy for the
disease’s sufferers, plenty of anti-gay politicking still
surrounded the issue.
Since sexual transmission was identified early in
the disease’s residency in North America, one im-
portant factor in containing the outbreak involved
sex education. In the early 1980’s, gay men were
flocking to New York, San Francisco, Toronto, and
other large cities. For many of these men, increased
sexual contact was part of the point of the gay revolu-
tion. Rather than being closeted and secretive, they
were at last fully free to explore their sexuality. Many
had numerous anonymous lovers, sometimes sev-
eral over the course of one evening. Bathhouses de-
signed to facilitate such contact flourished in the
early part of the decade. These same bathhouses be-
came the targets of public officials attempting toThe Eighties in America Homosexuality and gay rights 483
1986
Ruling inBowers v. Hardwick, the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the state of Georgia’s power to
criminalize private, consensual, adult sexual relations between men.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ends clinical trials of and releases the experimental
drug AZT so it can be prescribed to people with AIDS.
California voters reject Proposition 64, a measure supported by Lyndon LaRouche, which would
have allowed health officials to quarantine people with AIDS.1987
ACT UP, a radical and confrontational street-action group demanding public and governmental at-
tention to the AIDS-HIV epidemic, is founded in New York City.
Old Lesbians Organizing for Change (OWL) is created to address the invisibility of older lesbians
within society in general and within the women’s and lesbian rights movements in particular.
Barney Frank, a Democrat representing Massachusetts, is the second member of the House of Repre-
sentatives to come out—and the first to do so willingly.
The Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights brings more than 500,000
marchers and protesters to the nation’s capital.1988
The Canadian parliament amends a section of the criminal code to decriminalize sodomy and anal
intercourse between consenting adults age eighteen or older.
The Presidential Commission on the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Epidemic releases a report
recommending how the United States should address HIV-AIDS. President Ronald Reagan, however,
rejects most of the recommendations.
Oregon voters repeal a 1987 executive order by Governor Neil Goldschmidt that banned discrimina-
tion on the basis of sexual orientation.
The first World AIDS Day is commemorated on December 1.1989
The U.S. Supreme Court, ruling inPrice Waterhouse v. Hopkins, affirms that the prohibition in Title VII
of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 against discrimination because of sex or gender extends to discrimination
based on gender-role stereotypes. Some legal scholars and others maintain the ruling widens the rights
of lesbians and gays because sexuality and sexual expression are kinds of gender-role stereotypes.
A federal court of appeals orders the reinstatement of U.S. Army sergeant Perry Watkins, who had
been dismissed from the military because he was gay.