1995-1999

Gay culture hit the mainstream in the late 1990s when comedian Ellen DeGeneres came out, becoming the most famous gay person on the planet. Still, political setbacks and headline-making tragedies would ensure that there was much more work to be done.

• The Supreme Court of Canada rules that sexual orientation is a prohibited reason for discrimination
• Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story premieres on NBC
• Scott Amedure, a gay man, is killed by his straight neighbor Jonathan Schmitz after Amedure reveals a secret crush on Schmitz during a taping of the Jenny Jones talk show
• Greg Louganis reveals that he is HIV-positive during a television interview with Barbara Walters

• Obituaries of former congresswoman Barbara Jordan mention her longtime lesbian partner
• Candace Gingrich officiates at a lesbian wedding on the NBC sitcom Friends
• Bound and The Birdcage are released in theaters
• The Defense of Marriage Act is passed in Congress and signed into law by President Clinton
• The film The Celluloid Closet is released in theaters

• The U.K. extends immigration rights to same-sex couples akin to marriage
• Andrew Cunanan kills Gianni Versace in Miami Beach, Fla.
• Chasing Amy is released in theaters
• Ellen DeGeneres comes out as a lesbian
  > > Advocate Commentary — An Ellen for the Ages
  > > The Ellen DeGeneres Show

• College student Matthew Shepard is murdered
  > > Matthew Shepard Foundation
  > > The Laramie Project
• Will & Grace premieres on NBC
  > > Bidding a Gay Adieu to TV's Will & Grace
• Wisconsin representative Tammy Baldwin becomes the first openly gay non incumbent elected to Congress
• Gia premieres on HBO
• George Michael is arrested for "engaging in a lewd act"
Outside by George Michael
> > Faith music video

• California creates a domestic partnership registry
• France enacts civil union laws
• The Queer Youth Alliance is founded in the U.K.
• The original Queer as Folk premieres in the U.K.
• President Clinton proclaims June as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month
• Russell Henderson pleads guilty to Matthew Shepard's murder, and accomplice Aaron McKinney is convicted by a jury
• The Vermont supreme court orders the state legislature to create a law that would give same-sex couples the same rights as married couples

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