This is a timeline of notable events in the history of non-heterosexual conforming people of African ancestry, who may identify as LGBTIQGNC (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, third gender, gender nonconforming), men who have sex with men, or related culturally specific identities. This timeline includes events both in Africa, the Americas and Europe and in the global African diaspora, as the histories are very deeply linked.
1600s
1672
The Life and Struggles of Our Mother Wälättä P̣eṭros (1672) is the first reference of homosexuality between nuns in Ethiopian literature.[1][2]
The Kabaka of Buganda, Mwanga II, assumes the throne of his country at age 16. He sets about to drive out Christianity, Islam and European influence from the kingdom, and executes several of his Christian-converted male pages who refuse his sexual advances.[3]
1920s
1924
December 24 – The Society for Human Rights, an advocacy organization for gay men, is chartered in Chicago; an African American clergyman named John T. Graves serves as the first and only president of the organization, and the organization publishes Friendship and Freedom, the first gay-interest publication in the United States. The Society collapses by the following summer.
At the behest of Asa Philip Randolph, Bayard Rustin co-organizes the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, despite SenatorStrom Thurmond railing against him as a "Communist, draft-dodger, and homosexual" and having his entire Pasadena arrest file entered in the record.[7] Despite his preference for behind-the-scenes work, Rustin becomes famous for his work. On September 6, 1963, a photograph of Rustin and Randolph appeared on the cover of Life magazine, identifying them as "the leaders" of the March.[8]
1969
Black and Latino queer people are among the majority of patrons at the Stonewall Inn who riot against a police raid, resulting in the beginning of the modern LGBT rights movement in the United States.
Johnson and Rivera establish the S.T.A.R. house, the first shelter for gay and trans street kids, and paid the rent for it with money they made themselves as sex workers.[10]
The Salsa Soul Sisters form from the Black Lesbian Caucus within the Gay Activists Alliance in New York, with the goal of supporting inclusion of lesbians of color, particularly Black and Latina lesbians. It is the oldest Black lesbian womanist organization in the United States.[11]
The newly formed Combahee River Collective, a Black feminist lesbian organization created in Boston, drafts the Combahee River Collective Statement[12] a key document in the history of contemporary Black feminism and the development of the concepts of identity and intersectionality as used among political organizers and social theorists.[13][14]
1976
Glenn Burke becomes the first (and only) openly gay Major League Baseball (MLB) player, coming out as gay to teammates and team owners during his professional career and later acknowledging it in public.[15][16]
1978
Sylvester releases his well-received disco album Step II.
Once the only gay bar in Brixton, South London and cornerstone of the 1970s Black LGBT community, bisexual Jamaican immigrant Pearl Alcock's shebeen closes.[22]
1987
The Black Gay and Lesbian Leadership Forum was founded in 1987 in Los Angeles, California by Phill Wilson and Ruth Waters.
1988
The first Black Pride event in the United States, called "At the Beach LA," occurs in Los Angeles, California, U.S.
4 March – South Africa passes the Immorality Amendment Act, 1988 imposes an age of consent of 19 for lesbian sex, which had previously been unregulated by the law. This was higher than the age of 16 applying to heterosexual sex.
1989
Kimberlé Crenshaw creates the term "intersectionality," to show how different aspects of one's identity, including race, sexuality, gender, etc., combine to affect their life.[23]
November 7 – NBA player Magic Johnson, who is straight, holds a press conference to reveal that he is HIV-positive and retiring from the NBA. His announcement and subsequent activism helps to dispel public perceptions of HIV/AIDS as a "gay" or "drug addict" disease.
The very first annual D.C. Black Pride event was held in Washington, D.C., inspiring other Black Pride celebrations around the country and around the world.
Burkina Faso's 1991 constitution bans same-sex marriage, although same-sex relationships are not criminalized.
Phill Wilson of the Black Gay and Lesbian Leadership Forum speaks at the 30th anniversary of the March on Washington on behalf of Black gay and lesbian people.
1994
Anti-discrimination legislation: South Africa (sexual orientation, interim constitution)
Deborah Batts became the first Black, openly lesbian federal judge in U.S. history, nominated by President Bill Clinton and later confirmed to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
1995
The Black Gay and Lesbian Leadership Forum organizes an historic Black gay contingent in the Million Man March.
1996
Burkina Faso equalizes age of consent.
1997
Sexual orientation-inclusive Anti-discrimination is added to the constitution of South Africa.
30 November – South African gay rights and anti-apartheid activist Simon Nkoli dies of AIDS.
J-FLAG, a Jamaican LGBT rights organization, is formed.
Coretta Scott King announces her support for LGBT equality, saying "Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood. This sets the stage for further repression and violence that spread all too easily to victimize the next minority group."
1999
12 February – In the case of National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality v Minister of Home Affairs, three judges of the Cape Provincial Division of the High Court rule that it is unconstitutional for the government to provide immigration benefits to the foreign spouses of South Africans but not to the foreign same-sex partners of South Africans. The declaration of invalidity is suspended for one year to allow Parliament to correct the law.
2 December – The Constitutional Court unanimously confirms the judgment of the High Court in the second National Coalition case, but removes the suspension of the order and instead "reads in" words to the law to immediately extend immigration benefits to same-sex partners.
2000s
2000
South Africa passes PEPUDA, which prohibits discrimination, hate speech and harassment on numerous bases, including sexual orientation.
28 September – In the case of Du Toit v Minister of Welfare and Population Development, a judge of the Transvaal Provincial Division rules that same-sex partners must be allowed to jointly adopt children and to adopt each other's children, a right which was previously limited to married spouses.
August 23 – Mandy Carter, founder & former Executive Director of Southerners On New Ground, speaks at 40th Anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington. She is one of two LGBT activists to speak at the march and the only Black LGBT person to do so.
June 26 – African-American man Tyron Garner is a joint plaintiff with John Geddes Lawrence Jr. in Lawrence v. Texas, a landmark 5–4 decision by the United States Supreme Court which strikes down all remaining sodomy laws and makes same-sex sexual activity legal in every U.S. state and territory.
In an interview on New Dawn with Funmi, LGBT activist Bisi Alimi discloses his homosexuality, becoming the first person to voluntarily out themselves on Nigerian television.
Cape Verde amends their penal code and became the second African country to legalize same-sex sexual acts. At the time of decriminalization, the legal age of consent was 16 years old, the same age for consensual heterosexual acts.[32]
2005
11 March – The Chief Justice instructs that the Equality Project case will be heard by the Constitutional Court simultaneously with the Fourie case.
October 27 – WNBA player Sheryl Swoopes comes out as lesbian.
1 December – The Constitutional Court delivers its judgment in the Fourie and Equality Project cases (now known as Minister of Home Affairs v Fourie). The court rules that the common-law definition of marriage and the Marriage Act are unconstitutional because they do not allow same-sex couples to marry. The court suspends its order for one year to allow Parliament to rectify the discrimination.
2006
January 1 – Texas transgender activist Monica Roberts launches her blog TransGriot, which focuses on transgender women of color.
2008
California Proposition 8 passes a ban on same-sex marriages. The fallout from the ban includes criticism of African-American voters for voting for the ban.
Discrimination based on sexual orientation in the workplace is banned in Cape Verde by articles 45(2) and 406(3) of the Labour Code.
2009
In October 2009, LGBT activist Amy Andre[33] was appointed as executive director of the San Francisco Pride Celebration Committee, making her San Francisco Pride's first openly bisexual woman of color executive director.[34][35]
February 11 – Gordon Fox is elected as the first openly gay African-American man to hold the speakership of a U.S. state legislature.[37]
NBJC holds first "Out On The Hill" (OOTH) Conference.
2 November – A lawsuit by four Ugandan activists, including David Kato, Kasha Nabagesera, Nabirye Mariam and Pepe Julian Onziema, against the Ugandan tabloid newspaper Rolling Stone is granted by the High Court to force the paper to cease distribution of an article inciting violence against them and many others.
2011
A resolution submitted by South Africa requesting a study on discrimination and sexual orientation (A/HRC/17/L.9/Rev.1) passed, 23 to 19 with 3 abstentions, in the UN Human Rights Council on 17 June 2011.[38] This is the first time that any United Nations body approved a resolution affirming the rights of LGBT people.[39]
Rashad Taylor comes out as the first openly gay male to serve in the Georgia General Assembly and the second openly gay African American male state legislator in the United States.
June 5 – Minneapolis woman CeCe McDonald is arrested for the stabbing death of a man in purported self-defense after McDonald and her friends were assaulted outside a bar. Her case becomes a cause celebre for LGBT and African American civil rights activists.
Robin Roberts, ABC's Good Morning America news anchor, comes out as lesbian.
2014
February 9 – NFL prospect Michael Sam, defensive lineman for the University of Missouri and the 2013 SEC Defensive Player of the Year, comes out as gay.
Zakhele Mbhele became the first openly gay person to serve in South Africa's parliament, which also makes him the first openly gay black member of parliament in any African nation.[53]
May – Michael Sam is drafted to the St. Louis Rams, becoming the first openly gay player to be drafted.
In August 2017, the first West Africa LGBT-Inclusive religious gathering occurred. Over 30 participants indigenous to ten West African countries, including Benin, Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia, The Gambia, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, and Togo participated in an interfaith diversity event hosted by Interfaith Diversity Network of West Africa with the theme of "Building Bridges, Sharing Stories, Creating Hope"[66]
September – the Botswana High Court rules that the refusal of the Registrar of National Registration to change a transgender man's gender marker was "unreasonable and violated his constitutional rights to dignity, privacy, freedom of expression, equal protection of the law, freedom from discrimination and freedom from inhumane and degrading treatment".[67][68]
December – Tshepo Ricki Kgositau, 30, wins Botswana court case to legally recognise her gender change as a trans woman and receive a new identity card marking her as female before 2018.[69]
18 January – A court case is filed by the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission of Kenya to challenge the constitutionality of Kenya's sodomy law as contained in sections 162, 163 and 165 of the Penal Code.
21 September – The High Court of Kenya rules that the film Rafiki be allowed to screen in Kenyan theaters for one week in order to be eligible as Kenya's entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, temporarily lifting the ban imposed on it by the Kenya Film Classification Board for same-sex content. This results in Rafiki becoming one of the highest-grossing films ever screened in Kenyan theaters.
23 January – Decriminalisation of homosexuality: Angola[70]
11 June – Decriminalisation of homosexuality: Botswana[71]
Nigeria’s first lesbian-focused documentary film premiered; it is called Under the Rainbow, and largely focuses on the life of Pamela Adie, an out Nigerian lesbian.[72]
Sudan abolished the death penalty and flogging for homosexuality.
In Angola a new criminal code has gone into effect after the parliament passed it in January 2019 and president signed it into law in November 2020. The new penal code no longer criminalizes Homosexuality and it contains full anti-discrimination protections on the basis of sexuality and gender identity.[73][74]
L Morgan Lee became the first openly transgender person nominated for a Tony Award in an acting category; she was nominated for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for playing Thought 1 in A Strange Loop.
Ariana DeBose became the first queer woman of color and the first Afro-Latina to win an Oscar for acting, which she won for her role as Anita in the 2021 remake of West Side Story directed by Stephen Spielberg.
Ellia Green became the first Olympian to come out as a trans man.
Erick Russell becomes the first gay Black person elected to statewide executive office in Connecticut and the United States.
Davante Lewis becomes the first gay or LGBT person elected to state office in Louisiana, United States.
2023
The Parliament of Uganda passes a more stringent law against homosexuality, which includes making "aggravated homosexuality" a capital offense. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni sends the bill back to parliament demanding inclusion of mandated conversion therapy into the bill.
The Judiciary of Jamaica rules against a constitutional challenge to Jamaica's 1861 buggery law, stating that a "savings clause" in the constitution prevents legal challenges to colonial laws in force at the time of Jamaica's independence in 1962 and makes its repeal a question solely for Parliament.[75]
The Supreme Court of Namibia rules that the same-sex marriages made in countries where it is legal must be recognized as equal to heterosexual marriages by the government, although same-sex marriage remain illegal in Namibia.[76]
The Parliament of Seychelles passes a hate crime law that includes protections for LGBTI people and people living with HIV.
The Parliament of Lesotho passes an updated Labour Act that prohibits employment discrimination against LGBT people and people living with HIV, and requires equal pay for equal work for men and women.
The military juntas in Burkina Faso and Mali propose new penal codes which criminalize homosexuality.
^Crenshaw, Kimberle (2013). "Toward a Field of Intersectionality Studies: Theory, Applications, and Praxis". University of Chicago Press. 38: 784–810 – via JSTOR.
^Eaklor, Vicki L. (2008). Queer America: A GLBT History of the 20th Century. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. p. 212. ISBN978-0-313-33749-9. Retrieved 2010-10-20. The nineties also saw the first openly transgender person in a state office, Althea Garrison, elected in 1992 but serving only one term in Massachusetts' House.
^Epprecht, Marc (April 2012). "Sexual minorities, human rights and public health strategies in Africa". African Affairs. 111 (443): 223–243. doi:10.1093/afraf/ads019. PMID22826897.
