Events

• Rhode Island bans gender identity discrimination in the private sector.
• Maryland bans sexual orientation discrimination in the private sector.
• Indiana Governor Frank O'Bannon, a Democrat, issues an executive order banning sexual orientation discrimination in the public sector.

February

• February 14 - Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) reintroduces the Permanent Partners Immigration Act (H.R 690) in the U.S. Congress.

April

• April 1
• Same-sex marriage in the Netherlands:
• Dutch legislation to allow same-sex couples to marry becomes active. The Netherlands are the first country to grant full marriage rights to same-sex couples.
• April 16
• Oscar-winning filmmaker Steven Spielberg steps down from an advisory board of the Boy Scouts of America, saying that he could no longer associate with a group that engages in "discrimination" - an apparent reference to scouting's exclusion of gays.
• April 17
• Philadelphia radio personality "Ed The Phone Guy" becomes the first local disc jockey to reveal his homosexuality on the air at WLCE, ALICE 104.5 FM
• April 20
• China declares homosexuality no longer an illness. The new Chinese Classification and Diagnostic Criteria of Mental Disorders removed homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses.

June

• June 30
• Football hooligans, clerics, ultranationalist youth and far right skinheads storm the first Pride march in Belgrade (at the time Yugoslavia, now Serbia), attacking and seriously injuring several participants and stopping the event from taking place. The police were too poorly equipped to suppress riots or protect the Pride marchers.

July

• July 23:
• Eight British Columbia same-sex couples begin to petition the Supreme Court of British Columbia that the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman is unconstitutional.

August

• August 1
• Germany: Civil Union Bill goes into effect.

September

• September 5 - The first couples sign the Greater London Authority's partnership register. The partnership register is a way of recognising the partnership status of couples, both same-sex and opposite-sex.

November

• November 13 - The city council of Fort Wayne, Indiana passes an ordinance written by Democrat councilman Tom Henry which adds "sexual orientation" status to its municipal anti-discrimination law.
• November 17 - Vancouver, British Columbia resident Aaron Webster is killed in what many believe to be a gay bashing attack. The Canadian court system is reluctant to prosecute the case as a hate crime, believing this would be too difficult to prove, and subsequently charges four youths with manslaughter.

References