1975 in LGBTQ rights

none 1975 LGBT rights This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the year 1975. Events January 1 - California decriminalizes private consensual adult homosexual acts.George Painter The History of Sodomy Laws in the United States - California https://www.glapn.org/sodomylaws/sensibilities/california.htm 1 November 2023 www.glapn.org "After years of lobbying, and after the adoption of the explicit privacy language in the California Constitution, a consenting adults law was enacted in 1975."https://digital.sandiego.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2089&context=sdlr CALIFORNIA "CONSENTING ADULTS" LAW: THE SEX ACT IN PERSPECTIVE 440 San Diego Law Review 1976 13 439 Mary Lee Tayrien June 11, 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20200907133810/https://digital.sandiego.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2089&context=sdlr September 7, 2020 7 — A Maricopa County clerk issues a marriage license to a same-sex couple.Lahey, Kathleen A. and Kevin Alderson (2004). Same-sex Marriage: The Personal and the Political, p. 18. Insomniac Press. 1-894663-63-2 February The first gay-oriented television commercial airs on two Washington, D.C. stations. The Lambda Rising bookstore sponsored the ads on episodes of Phil Donahue and Marcus Welby, M.D.. Stations balked at airing the ads, but relented after getting approval from the Association of Broadcasters Standards office.https://www.metroweekly.com/2005/06/firmly-rooted/ Firmly Rooted Will O'Bryan June 8, 2005 Metro Weekly June 11, 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20150915083408/https://www.metroweekly.com/2005/06/firmly-rooted/ September 15, 2015Sue Levin, In the Pink: The Making of Successful Gay- and Lesbian-Owned Businesses, Haworth Press, 1999. 978-1560239413; Frank Muzzy, Gay and Lesbian Washington D.C., Arcadia Publishing, 2005. 0-7385-1753-4 6 - John Damien, a racing steward at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is fired from his job for being gay, sparking a legal battle that eventually leads to the inclusion of sexual orientation in the Ontario Human Rights Code in 1986.Robert Rothon, "The forgotten hero". Xtra Magazine, January 17, 2007. March 26 — Boulder County, Colorado clerk Clela Rorex begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Colo. Clerk Recalls Issuing Same-Sex-Marriage Licenses — In 1975 https://www.npr.org/2014/07/18/332344999/colo-clerk-recalls-issuing-same-sex-marriage-licenses-in-1975 NPR.org 2015-09-04 July 18, 2014 Colorado Attorney General J.D. MacFarlane later issues an opinion that the licenses are invalid and orders that no additional licenses be issued. April Milton Shapp, governor of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, issues the first state executive order banning sexual orientation employment discrimination by the government.Burton William 8 October 2018 The story of how Pennsylvania's governor became an unlikely LGBTQ hero https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2018/10/story-pennsylvanias-governor-became-unlikely-lgbtq-hero/ 1 November 2023 LGBTQ Nation July 1 — The U.S. state of Washington decriminalizes private consensual adult homosexual acts.https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/dispo.aspx?cite=9.79.100 Chapter 9.79.100 RCW Dispositions Sex Crimes Washington State Legislature June 11, 2025 3 — The United States Civil Service Commission ends its policy of automatically disqualifying gay and lesbian applicants.Johnson, David K. (2009). The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government, p 210. Chicago, The University of Chicago Press. 0226401960 Deaths February 10 — Lige Clarke, LGBT rights activist and journalist. Murdered in Vera Cruz, Mexico.Bullough, Vern L. (2002). Before Stonewall: Activists for Gay and Lesbian Rights in Historical Contextp. 239. Routledge. 1-56023-193-9 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:1970s in LGBTQ rights Category:1975 in LGBTQ history