This Day in Queer History

On this day, Joseph Israel Lobdell died. Assigned female at birth, he lived as a man for sixty years, married a woman, and survived institutionalization, making his one of America's earliest documented transgender lives.

On this day, Anders als die Andern premiered in Berlin, co-produced by sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld. One of the earliest films to portray homosexuality sympathetically, it was later destroyed by the Nazis.

On this day in 1960, the first U.S. public gathering of lesbians took place at the Daughters of Bilitis national convention in San Francisco, a bold step for women who had long been invisible even within the gay rights movement.

On this day in 1987, Barney Frank became the first openly gay U.S. Congressperson. In 2012, he married partner James Ready, becoming the first sitting member of Congress in a same-sex marriage.

On this day in 1989, Tony DeBlase debuted the Leather Pride flag at the International Mister Leather event in Chicago, giving the leather community a bold, lasting symbol of identity and pride.

On this day in 1990, the Estonian Academy of Sciences hosted the first international conference on homosexuality and sexual minorities in the USSR, a groundbreaking moment for queer visibility behind the Iron Curtain.

On this day in 1997, Ma Vie en Rose was released, telling the tender story of a transgender child. The film won a Golden Globe but received a controversial R rating in the U.S., widely seen as driven by transphobia.

On this day in 1999, Yahoo acquired GeoCities from openly gay developer David Bohnett. He went on to launch PlanetOut and donate computers to university LGBT centers across the country.