January 4, 2010 New Jersey plans massive rally to convince lawmakers to legalize same-sex marriage in the state. (Good!) It doesn’t quite work out. (Bad!)
- January 4, 2010 Judge Nyakwawa UsiwaUsiwa jails Steven Monjeza (26) and Tiwonge Chimbalanga (20) while they await trial for the crime of (Gasp!) being the first Malawian citizens to enter a same-sex marriage. The judge claims that they will be safer in custody since the majority of the country wants to kill them. The two face 14 years in jail, and while they will eventually be freed and have their convictions overturned, let the record show that it is pretty effed up that the party who got married are the guilty party here, and not the people TRYING TO KILL THEM.
- January 4, 2001 GLAAD throws a tantrum after Eminem’s Marshal Mathers LP is nominated for Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards. Remember, this was before Elton John joined Slim Shady for a performance at the awards ceremony in question. Things were certainly more black and white back when he kept calling people fags and threatening to kill his wife in records. I think we all scratch our heads now that he is BFF’s with Elton, dueting with Rihanna, and has come out saying he supports gay marriage.
- January 4, 1983 Bruce Voeller of the National Gay Task Force calls out American public health services for preventing gay men from donating blood, claiming “You’ll stigmatize, at the time of a major civil rights movement, a whole group, only a tiny fraction of whom qualify as the problem we are here to address.” Gay men continue to be prevented from donating blood to this day.
