(TIME Warp) 31 Years Ago National Coming Out Day was Created!

NCOD was founded in 1988 by Robert Eichberg, a psychologist from New Mexico and founder of the personal growth workshop, The Experience, and Jean O'Leary, an openly-gay political leader from Los Angeles and then head of the National Gay Rights Advocates, The date of October 11 was chosen because it was the anniversary of the 1987 National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights.

The first headquarters was located in the West Hollywood, California offices of the National Gay Rights Advocates. 18 states participated in the first NCOD, which was covered in the national media. In its second year, the headquarters moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico and participation grew to 21 states. After a media push in 1990, NCOD was observed in all 50 states and seven other countries. Participation continued to grow and in 1990 NCOD merged their efforts with the Human Rights Campaign Fund.

(TIME-warp) When Matthew Shepard became a Poster child of Hate, 21 Years ago this week!

Matthew Wayne Shepard (December 1, 1976 – October 12, 1998) was a student at the University of Wyoming who was tortured and murdered near Laramie, Wyoming, U.S.A., in October 1998. He was attacked on the night of October 6–7, and died at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado, on October 12 from severe head injuries.

During a pre-trial hearing, a Laramie police officer testified that the violence against Shepard was due to how the attacker "[felt] about gays," per an interview of the attacker's girlfriend who said she received that explanation. Shepard's murder brought national and international attention to the contention of hate crime legislation at the state and federal levels.

(Time Warp) James Dean's Death was 63 years ago TODAY!

On September 30, 1955, actor James Dean was driving his new Porsche 550 Spyder to an auto rally in Salinas, California when he was involved in a head-on collision with a 1950 Ford Tutor. James Dean, only 24 years old, died in the crash. 

En route to Salinas, Dean was pulled over by police officers near Bakersfield for speeding around 3:30 p.m. After being stopped, Dean and Wuetherich continued on their way. Two hours later, around 5:30 p.m., they were driving westbound on Highway 466 (now called State Route 46), when a 1950 Ford Tutor pulled out in front of them. Twenty-three-year-old Donald Turnupseed, who was driving the Ford Tutor, has been traveling east on Highway 466 and was attempting to make a left turn onto Highway 41. Unfortunately, Turnupseed had already started to make his turn before he saw the roaring Porsche traveling quickly toward him. Without time to turn, the two cars smashed nearly head-on.

(TIME warp) After 34 Years, this show is still the Gold Standard!

The Golden Girls is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris, which originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992. Starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty, the show centers on four older women sharing a home in Miami, Florida. It was produced by Witt/Thomas/Harris Productions, in association with Touchstone Television, and Paul Junger Witt, Tony Thomas, and Harris served as the original executive producers.

The Golden Girls received critical acclaim throughout most of its run and won several awards, including the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series twice. It also won three Golden Globe Awards for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy. All four stars each received an Emmy Award throughout the series' run and had multiple nominations. The series also ranked among the top ten highest-rated programs for six out of its seven seasons.

Betty White is the last remaining Cast Member. Watch Reruns on Logo, Hallmark, Lifetime and TV Land! Wooo!

(Time-WARP) 9/11 SPECIAL: The Day when Time Stopped!

The September 11 attacks (also referred to as 9/11) were a series of four coordinated suicide attacks upon the United States in New York City and the Washington, D.C. areas on September 11, 2001 (18 Years ago). On that Tuesday morning, 19 terrorists from the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda hijacked four passenger jets. The hijackers intentionally flew two of those planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, into the North and South towers of the World Trade Center complex in New York City; both towers collapsed within two hours. The hijackers also intentionally crashed American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and intended to pilot the fourth hijacked jet, United Airlines Flight 93, into the United States Capitol Building[2] in Washington, D.C.; however, the plane crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after its passengers (Including Mark Bingham) attempted to take control of the jet from the hijackers. Nearly 3,000 people died in the attacks, including all 227 civilians and 19 hijackers aboard the four planes.

(TIME warp) The Day when the People Lost its Princess!

On August 31st was the 22st anniversary when Diana, Princess of Wales died as a result of injuries sustained in a car accident in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in Paris, France. Her companion, Dodi Fayed, and the driver of the Mercedes-Benz W140, Henri Paul, were pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. The bodyguard of Diana and Dodi, Trevor Rees-Jones, was the only survivor. Although at first the media pinned the blame on the paparazzi, the crash was ultimately found to be caused by the reckless actions of the chauffeur, who was the head of security at the Ritz and had earlier goaded the paparazzi waiting outside the hotel. An 18-month French judicial investigation concluded in 1999 that the crash was caused by Paul, who lost control of the car at high speed while drunk. His inebriation may have been made worse by the simultaneous presence of an anti-depressant and traces of a tranqulizing anti-psychotic in his body.

(TIME Warp) 'I have a Dream' was 56 years ago this week!

The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom or "The Great March on Washington", as styled in a sound recording released after the event, was one of the largest political rallies for human rights in United States history and called for civil and economic rights for African Americans. It took place in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, August 28, 1963. Martin Luther King, Jr., standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, delivered his historic "I Have a Dream" speech advocating racial harmony during the march.

The march was organized by a group of civil rights, labor, and religious organizations, under the theme "jobs, and freedom". Estimates of the number of participants varied from 200,000 to 300,000. Observers estimated that 75–80% of the marchers were black.

The march is widely credited with helping to pass the Civil Rights Act (1964) and the Voting Rights Act (1965), which the SCOTUS overturned this year.

(TIME-WARP) The Death of a King!

Journalist Tony Scherman writes that by early 1977, "Elvis Presley had become a grotesque caricature of his sleek, energetic former self. Hugely overweight, his mind dulled by the pharmacopoeia he daily ingested, he was barely able to pull himself through his abbreviated concerts." In Alexandria, Louisiana, the singer was on stage for less than an hour and "was impossible to understand". Presley failed to appear in Baton Rouge; he was unable to get out of his hotel bed, and the rest of the tour was cancelled. Despite the accelerating deterioration of his health, he stuck to most touring commitments.

(TIME Warp) When a Governor Came OUT; 15 Years after the McGreevey Scandal!

On the afternoon of August 12, 2004, James McGreevey coupled the announcement of his decision to resign with a public declaration of his homosexuality and an admission to having had an extramarital affair with a man, Golan Cipel, an Israeli citizen and veteran of the Israeli Defense Forces, whom McGreevey appointed New Jersey homeland security adviser. Cipel, who had joined the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1994 as Chief Information Officer at the Consulate General of Israel in New York, subsequently left the United States and returned to Israel after their affair was revealed. McGreevey was the first and, to date, the only openly gay state governor in United States history. (ed...MK met McGreevey in 2006 and found him Happy to be an Out Gay man.)

 

Since leaving the governorship, McGreevey has attended the General Theological Seminary in New York City to obtain his Master of Divinity degree, a requirement to becoming an Episcopal priest. Reports in April 2011 indicate that McGreevey's bid to be ordained was rejected.

McGreevey's life after politics, his calling as a priest and his ministry to prison inmates is covered in a 2013 HBO documentary film, Fall to Grace, directed by Alexandra Pelosi.

In July 2013, McGreevey was appointed head of Jersey City's employment training commission

(TIME-WARP) Remembering Marilyn Monroe who died 57 Years ago today!

On August 5, 1962, at 4:25 am, LAPD sergeant Jack Clemmons received a call from Dr. Ralph Greenson, Monroe's psychiatrist, saying that Monroe was found dead at her home in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California. She was 36 years old. At the subsequent autopsy, eight milligram per cent of chloral hydrate and 4.5 milligram percent of Nembutal were found in her system, and Dr. Thomas Noguchi of the Los Angeles County Coroners office recorded cause of death as "acute barbiturate poisoning", resulting from a "probable suicide".

(TIME-warp) The Trail of the Versace Killer was 22 years ago this week!

One of the most gripping months ended on July 24, 1997 when former gay hustler turned serial killer,
Andrew Cunanan. Cunanan , who murdered at least five people, including fashion designer Gianni Versace and Chicago tycoon Lee Miglin, during a three-month period in mid-1997. On June 12, 1997, Cunanan became the 449th fugitive to be listed by the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.

In his final years, Cunanan had lived as a gay hustler, who befriended wealthy older men and spent their money (or used their credit cards) to impress acquaintances in the local gay community, such as talking about socialite events at clubs or often paying the bill at restaurants. One millionaire friend had dumped Cunanan in 1996, the prior year.

(Time-Warp) One GIANT Step happened 50 years ago This WEEKEND!

The United States' Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to land on the Moon, on July 20, 1969. There have been six manned U.S. landings (between 1969 and 1972) and numerous unmanned landings, with no soft landings happening from 1976 until 14 December 2013. To date, the United States is the only country to have successfully conducted manned missions to the Moon.

A total of twelve men have landed on the Moon. This was accomplished with two US pilot-astronauts flying a Lunar Module on each of six NASA missions across a 41-month time span starting on 20 July 1969 UTC, with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on Apollo 11, and ending on 14 December 1972 UTC with Gene Cernan and Jack Schmitt on Apollo 17. Cernan was the last to step off the lunar surface.

(TIME-Warp) This Week marks the 36th Anniversary of Congress' First Gay Scandal!

Gerry Studds, a Democratic Congressman from Massachusetts who served from 1973 until 1997. He was the first openly gay member of Congress in the U.S. In 1983 he was censured by the House of Representatives after he admitted to having had an affair with a 17-year-old page on July 11, 1983. 

(TIME-Warp) Remembering Paul Broussard's Brutal Murder, 28 years ago this Week!

Paul Broussard (1964–1991), a 27 year-old Houston-area banker and Texas A&M alumnus, was beaten and stabbed to death in a gay-bashing outside a Houston nightclub on July 4, 1991 by ten teenaged boys. The youths had driven from the northern Houston suburb of The Woodlands to the heavily gay area of Montrose solely to "beat up some queers," in the words of one of the convicted teens. 

All ten of Broussard's assailants were eventually convicted. Activist Ray Hill lobbied the prosecutor and District attorney for "meaningful sentences" for the Woodlands Ten.

(TIME-Warp) Honoring the 50th Anniversary of Stonewall!

The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, in the Greenwich Village neighbourhood of New York City. They are frequently cited as the first instance in American history when people in the homosexual community fought back against a government-sponsored system that persecuted sexual minorities, and they have become the defining event that marked the start of the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world.

One June 26, 2015, The Stonewall was finally registered as a Historical Landmark! 

(TIME-Warp) Honoring the 52nd Anniversary of Loving Day: The Landmark Supreme court decision that started it all!

Long before the fight for Gay marriage was the fight for  interracial Marriage. The similarities are astonishing.

In June of 1958, Richard Loving married Mildred Jeter in Washington D.C. This was no ordinary marriage because he was white and she was black. In that time, laws in their home state of Virginia forbade interracial marriage, thus the couple was forced to travel to another state to wed.

(CLASSIC MOMENTS): 30 Days of TONY #1 (Tie)!

One of the Best performances EVER!

(CLASSIC MOMENTS): 30 Days of TONY #2 (TIE)!

NPH shows off his Female side!

(CLASSIC MOMENTS): 30 Days of TONY #3 (TIE)!

Harvey Fierstein Does DISNEY with NEWSIES!

(CLASSIC MOMENTS): 30 Days of TONY #4!

Yes, We Believe!