1981 in LGBTQ rights

none December 2014 1981 LGBT rights This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the year 1981. Events February 5 – Toronto police raid city bathhouses, arresting 286 people and charging 20 for operating a brothel (see Operation Soap). No sex work was uncovered.https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/toronto-feature-bathhouse-raids Toronto Bathhouse Raids (1981) Bradburn Jamie February 3, 2013 The Canadian Encyclopedia March 5, 2021https://www.pridetoronto.com/2021/02/05/operation-soap-40th-anniversary/ Operation Soap - 40th Anniversary Primeau Alan February 5, 2021 Pride Toronto March 5, 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20220707103729/https://www.pridetoronto.com/2021/02/05/operation-soap-40th-anniversary/ 7 July 2022 dead 6 – About 3,000 protestors stage the largest-ever sit in protests in Toronto streets to decry city police raids on bath houses. This became seen as Toronto's version of the Stonewall Riots. 10 – In the United States, Christian advocacy group Moral Majority announces a $3 million fund to fight against homosexuality in San Francisco, California.http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1981/02/16/page/50/article/majority-rule Majority rule Chicago Tribune 16 February 1981 15 December 2014 20 – Protest crowds in Toronto swell to 4,000 in the fight to stop police crackdown on bathhouses.https://activehistory.ca/blog/2021/03/03/29902/ Canada's First Gay bathhouse raid: Windson, 1964 March 3, 2021 Active History August 20, 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20250620132522/https://activehistory.ca/blog/2021/03/03/29902/ June 20, 2025https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/social-sciences-and-humanities/toronto-police-raid-gay-bathhouses Toronto police raid gay bathhouses EBSCO August 20, 2025 March 1 – The Billy DeFrank Lesbian and Gay Community Center first opens its doors in a two-room store front in downtown San Jose, California.https://www.defrankcenter.org/about-menu/about-summary-menu About The Billy DeFrank LGBTQ Community Center Billy DeFrank LGBTQ Community Center March 5, 2021 April 28, 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20210428221134/https://www.defrankcenter.org/about-menu/about-summary-menu dead 6 – Toronto Gay Community Council holds first meeting. April 4 – First Gay Pride Parade takes place in Paris.B. Ruby Rich New Queer Cinema: The Director's Cut https://books.google.com/books?id=Vown1iVaUG8C&pg=PA219 26 March 2013 Duke University Press 978-0-8223-5428-4 219–220 May In France, the government of François Mitterrand repeals Mirguet Amendment. A reform of the sex offences law equalises the age of consent (effect August 4 the following year). 14 – The Reagan administration cancels the White House's subscription to The Advocate. June 5 – The United States Centers for Disease Control receives the first known reports of what would come to be known as acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), found in the gay communities of Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco.https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/wk/mm5021.pdf MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report June 1, 2001 50 21 U.S. Department of Health & Human Services March 5, 2021 July 3 – The New Democratic Party of Canada calls for amending the "bawdyhouse" section of the Canadian Criminal Code, which is often used to raid gay bathhouses. 3 - The New York Times prints the first story of what the CDC initially refers to as GRID (Gay Related Immune Deficiency).https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/stonewall-milestones-american-gay-rights-movement/ Milestones in the American Gay Rights Movement American Experience August 15, 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20250627200213/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/stonewall-milestones-american-gay-rights-movement/ June 27, 2025 October 22 — European Court of Human Rights judgment in Dudgeon v. United Kingdom evaluates Northern Ireland's criminalisation of homosexual acts between consenting adults as contrary to the right to respect to private life.https://www.hr-dp.org/contents/566 Dudgeon v the United Kingdom (1981) International Centre on Human Rights and Drug Policy March 5, 2021 December 1 – The legislature of the Canadian province of Ontario defeats an amendment which would have added "sexual orientation" to the human rights code. See also LGBTQ Timeline of LGBT history – timeline of events from 12,000 BCE to present LGBT rights by country or territory – current legal status around the world LGBT social movements References Category:1980s in LGBTQ rights Category:1981 in LGBTQ history