List of lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender firsts by year

See also: List of the first LGBT holders of political offices for a listing of office-holders by country.

Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir is the Prime Minister of Iceland and the first openly gay head of government in modern times.

This list of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) firsts by year denotes pioneers in various endeavors organized chronologically. Openly LGBT people remain a demographic minority in most cultures. In areas that historically are not known for having (or being friendly to) LGBT people who do not remain closeted, a "first" can make it easier for other openly LGBT persons to enter the field or for those who are closeted to come out. Openly LGBT people being visible in society affects societal attitudes toward homosexuality, bisexuality, and transgenderism on a wider level.^{[citation needed]}

One commonly cited example is Harvey Milk, the first openly gay person to be elected to political office in California, becoming the most visible LGBT politician in the world in the 1970s after decades of resistance to LGBT people by mainstream culture. Milk encouraged LGBT people to come out during his speeches. As a result of his work and assassination along with San Francisco mayor George Moscone, thousands of ordinary people did. In 2002, Milk was called "the most famous and most significantly open LGBT official ever elected in the United States".

pre-1970s

1897

• Scientific-Humanitarian Committee — first gay rights organization

1924

• Society for Human Rights — First gay rights organization in the United States. Published Friendship and Freedom, the first American gay publication.

1947

• Vice Versa — First lesbian-interest publication in the United States.

1955

• Daughters of Bilitis — first lesbian rights organization.

1961

• José Sarria — first openly gay person to run for public office in the United States (San Francisco city supervisor).

1967

• Craig Rodwell opens the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookstore, the first bookstore devoted to gay and lesbian authors.

1970s

1974

• Kathy Kozachenko — first openly gay or lesbian candidate to win public office in the United States (won a seat on the Ann Arbor, Michigan, city council)

1974

• Allan Spear - served almost thirty years in the Minnesota Senate, including nearly a decade as President of the Senate.

1975

• Elaine Noble — first openly gay or lesbian candidate elected to a state legislature in the United States (Massachusetts commonwealth legislature)

1978

Harvey Milk in 1978. Milk was the first openly gay elected politician in California

• Harvey Milk — first openly gay or lesbian candidate elected to political office in California; first openly gay man elected to public office in the United States
• San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Marching Band and Twirling Corp — world's first openly-gay musical group

1979

• Stephen Lachs — first openly gay judge appointed in the United States (Los Angeles County Superior Court)

1980s

1980

• David McReynolds — first openly gay man to run for president of the United States

1981

• Mary C. Morgan — first openly lesbian judge appointed in the United States (San Francisco Municipal Court)
• Ien Dales - first lesbian member of the cabinet of the Netherlands

1983

• Gerry Studds — first openly gay member of the United States House of Representatives. Admitted a past relationship with a page when confronted in Congress.

1984

• Chris Smith — first openly gay MP in the United Kingdom.

1987

• Barney Frank — first U.S. congressman to come out as gay of his own volition.

• David Norris — first openly gay elected senator in the Republic of Ireland.

1988

• Svend Robinson — first Canadian Member of Parliament to come out

1989

• Glen Murray — first out gay man elected to a City Council in Canada having not previously held office. Fort Rouge Ward Winnipeg, Canada
• Denmark — first country to legally recognize same-sex registered partnership.

1990s

1990

• Justin Fashanu — first professional Football (Soccer) player to identify himself publicly as gay.

1994

• Deborah Batts — first openly gay or lesbian United States federal judge (United States District Court for the Southern District of New York)

1995

• Georgina Beyer — world's first transgender mayor (Carterton District, New Zealand)
• Rachel Maddow — first openly gay or lesbian American to win an international Rhodes scholarship.
• Harvey Brownstone — first openly gay or lesbian judge appointed in Canada (Ontario Court of Justice)

1996

• Michael Kirby — first openly gay judge of the High Court of Australia (appointed February 1996; named his male partner in his 1999 entry in "Who's Who in Australia")
• Bob Brown — first openly gay member of the Parliament of Australia (elected March, his term started July)
• South Africa — first country to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in its constitution

1997

• Ellen DeGeneres — first openly gay star of a prime-time television series in the United States. DeGeneres was star of the situation comedy Ellen. In 1997, she came out as a lesbian on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Shortly afterwards, her TV series character Ellen Morgan also came out as gay in the fourth-season episode "The Puppy Episode".

1998

• Dana International — first transsexual to win the Eurovision Song Contest.
• Glen Murray — first out gay man to be elected mayor of a major city in the world. Winnipeg 700,000 people capital of Manitoba.

1999

• Tammy Baldwin — first U.S. congressperson of either gender to be openly gay or lesbian when first elected to office
• Georgina Beyer — first transsexual Member of Parliament (elected in 27 November New Zealand general election; representing the Wairarapa electorate)
• Stephen Brady and his partner Peter Stephens – world's first openly gay ambassadorial couple; accompanied by Stephens, Brady presented his credentials as Australian Ambassador to Denmark, to Queen Margrethe II on 15 February 1999
• James Hormel — first openly gay United States ambassador (sworn in June 1999)

2000s

2001

Pim Fortuyn

• Libby Davies — first female Canadian Member of Parliament to come out as a member of the LGBT community
• Klaus Wowereit — first elected mayor of Berlin as an openly gay German
• Bertrand Delanoë — first openly gay person to be elected mayor of Paris
• Netherlands — first country to legally recognize same-sex marriage.

2002

• Pim Fortuyn — the first openly gay candidate for Prime Minister of the Netherlands, assassinated nine days before election day.

2003

• Ang Ladlad — the first lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) political party
• David Cicilline — first openly gay mayor of a U.S. state capital (Providence, Rhode Island)
• Gene Robinson — first openly gay person to be ordained bishop in a major Christian denomination

2004

• Bill Siksay — first openly gay Canadian elected to a first term as Member of Parliament
• Felipe "Alejandra" González Pino — First transgender councilman in Chile (Lampa commune)^{[citation needed]}
• Oras Tynkkynen — first openly gay member of parliament in Finland. Initially appointed as a replacement for an MP who stepped down, was elected to his seat in 2007.

2005

• Bonnie Bleskachek — first openly lesbian fire chief of a major metropolitan area in the United States (Minneapolis)

2007

• Jenny Bailey — the first transgender mayor in the United Kingdom.
• Theresa Sparks — first transgender police commissioner (San Francisco).

2008

Rachel Maddow in August 2008

• Rachel Maddow — first openly gay or lesbian anchor of a major prime-time news program in the United States, hosting The Rachel Maddow Show on U.S. cable network MSNBC.

2009

• Lesbian and Gay Band Association — first LGBT-represented contingent marching in a U.S. presidential inaugural parade. The parade on January 20 was in celebration of Barack Obama's incoming administration.
• Jared Polis — first male U.S. congressperson to be openly gay when first elected to office
• Stu Rasmussen — first openly transgender elected mayor in the United States (Silverton, Oregon)
• Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir — Prime Minister of Iceland, and the first openly gay head of government in modern times
• Carol Ann Duffy — first openly gay Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom
• Alejandro Freyre and José María di Bello — first gay marriage in Latin America.
• Gareth Thomas — first openly gay professional rugby player still playing the game.

2010s

2010

• Annise Parker — first openly gay mayor of a major (population over 1 million) U.S. city (Houston)
• Sharon Lubinski — first openly gay United States Marshal
• Steven Davies - first openly gay international cricketer

2011

• Dominic Hannigan and John Lyons — first openly gay members of Dáil Éireann.
• Anna Grodzka - first transgender member of Polish Parliament and European history.
• Ruth Davidson - first openly gay leader of a major British political party
• Elio Di Rupo - first openly gay Prime Minister of Belgium, second openly gay head of government in Europe (besides Jóhanna_Sigurðardóttir, the prime minister of Iceland)

Bibliography

• Tobin, Kay and Wicker, Randy. The Gay Crusaders. New York: Paperback Library, 1972; Arno, 1975 ISBN 0405073747

See also

• Timeline of LGBT history
• List of the first LGBT holders of political offices
• List of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender sportspeople
• List of gay, lesbian or bisexual people
• List of transgender people
• List of LGBT rights activists