Gay History Month: October 6

October 6, 1928-The New York Times reported that George Bernard Shaw and H.G. Wells had protested the seizure of the lesbian novel “The Well of Loneliness” by English customs agents. The novel had been published in France and was being imported into England.

October 6, 1968 - 12 people in Los Angeles gathered for the first service of Metropolitan Community Church. Rev. Troy Perry founded the church with a primary outreach to the glbt community.

October 6, 1981 - The Supreme Court of Canada refuses to hear appeal of The Body Politic. Last resort of appeal exhausted; TBP back to retrial.

October 6, 1989 - The NAMES Project Quilt was displayed in Washington DC, with 10,848 panels.

October 6, 1989 - In reaction to a small, peaceful protest against federal neglect of people with AIDS, about 200 San Francisco police officers rioted in the Castro neighborhood, beating protestersand passersby, sweeping seven city blocks of all pedestrians, and placing thousands in homes and business under house arrest for the duration.

October 6, 1993 - A lesbian in Bentonville Arkansas announced she would appeal a court decision to give custody to her ex-husband because of her sexual orientation.

October 6, 1993 - Martina Navratilova withdrew from the suit challenging the constitutionality of Colorado’s Amendment 2, which had been approved by voters and would have banned gay rights laws in Colorado. She said it was due to tennis commitments.

October 6, 1997 - The US Supreme Court refused to hear a case filed by Sandy Nelson, a reporter who was demoted because she refused to stop her off-duty campaigning in support of a gay rights initiative in Washington. The Washington Supreme Court had ruled that a law barring discrimination in employment for political views did not apply to newspapers.

October 6, 1998 - Twenty-one year old gay college student Matthew Shepard of Wyoming was pistol whipped and tied to a fence in a field. He would die of his injuries at a hospital in Ft Collins, Colorado.

October 6, 1998 - The Ford Foundation gave a $100,000 grant to the United Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches for its programs targeting at-risk gay and lesbian youth.

October 6, 1999 - Donna Brazile, an out lesbian, became Al Gore’s campaign manager. She was also the first African-American woman to managea presidential run.

October 6-7 1973 - In Quebec City the first pan-Canadian conference of gay organizations is hosted by Centre humanitaire d’aide de libération