1975 in LGBT rights

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This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the year 1975.

Events

The first gay-oriented television commercial airs on two Washington, D.C. stations. The Lambda Rising bookstore sponsored the ads on episodes of Phil Donahue and Marcus Welby, M.D.. Stations balked at airing the ads, but relented after getting approval from the Association of Broadcasters Standards office.^{[citation needed]}

26 — Boulder County, Colorado clerk Clela Rorex begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.^[2] Colorado Attorney General J.D. MacFarlane later issues an opinion that the licenses are invalid and orders that no additional licenses be issued.^[1]

Milton Shapp, governor of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, issues the first state executive order banning sexual orientation employment discrimination by the government.^[3]

1 — The U.S. states of California and Washington decriminalize private consensual adult homosexual acts.^[4]^[5]^{[citation needed]}
3 — The United States Civil Service Commission ends its policy of automatically disqualifying gay and lesbian applicants.^[6]

February 10 — Lige Clarke, LGBT rights activist and journalist. Murdered in Vera Cruz, Mexico.^[7]

^ ^a ^b Lahey, Kathleen A. and Kevin Alderson (2004). Same-sex Marriage: The Personal and the Political, p. 18. Insomniac Press. ISBN 1-894663-63-2
^ "Colo. Clerk Recalls Issuing Same-Sex-Marriage Licenses — In 1975". NPR.org. July 18, 2014. Retrieved 2015-09-04.
^ Burton, William (8 October 2018). "The story of how Pennsylvania's governor became an unlikely LGBTQ hero". LGBTQ Nation. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
^ Painter, George. "The History of Sodomy Laws in the United States - California". www.glapn.org. Retrieved 1 November 2023. After years of lobbying, and after the adoption of the explicit privacy language in the California Constitution, a consenting adults law was enacted in 1975.
^ Painter, George. "The History of Sodomy Laws in the United States - Washington". www.glapn.org. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
^ Johnson, David K. (2009). The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government, p 210. Chicago, The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226401960
^ Bullough, Vern L. (2002). Before Stonewall: Activists for Gay and Lesbian Rights in Historical Contextp. 239. Routledge. ISBN 1-56023-193-9