This Day in Queer History

On this day, Walt Whitman registered Leaves of Grass with the U.S. Copyright agency. The collection's expressions of homosexuality would spark controversy and inspire generations.

On this day in 1924, Tamara Rees was born. A WWII combat veteran, she made headlines in the 1950s for her gender-affirming surgery, becoming a trans icon who knew her truth from the very start.

On this day in 1969, the House of Commons voted to decriminalize private same-sex acts between consenting adults, a watershed moment in the long fight for LGBTQ+ legal equality.

On this day in 1990, model Stella Maxwell was born. The Victoria's Secret Angel and Max Factor face brought queer visibility to high fashion through her public relationship with actress Kristen Stewart.

On this day in 1996, an Episcopal Church court ruled there was no core doctrine against ordaining a gay man as a deacon, marking a significant step toward LGBTQ+ inclusion in mainline Christianity.

On this day in 2008, the California Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. Over 18,000 couples wed before Prop 8 reversed the victory that November.

On this day, Greenland held its first LGBT Pride parade, drawing over 2% of the country's population and becoming the second largest public gathering in the nation's history.

On this day in 2013, Dr. Saul Levin became the first openly gay chief executive of the American Psychiatric Association, leading the very organization that once classified homosexuality as a mental disorder.