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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING OCTOBER AS LGBTQ+ HISTORY MONTH IN COOK COUNTY
WHEREAS, in July of 1961, Illinois became the first state to decriminalize homosexuality by repealing our sodomy laws; and
WHEREAS, in 1952, homosexuality was classified as a mental disorder in the first edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), and it wasn't until 2013 that such categorizations of homosexuality as a mental illness were removed; and
WHEREAS, on April 27, 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed an executive order that banned homosexuals from working for the federal government, sighting them as a security risk; and
WHEREAS, on September 11, 1961, the first US-televised documentary about homosexuality aired on a local station in California; and
WHEREAS, the Stonewall Riots occurred in New York City on June 28, 1969, as led by Marsha P. Johnson, Silvia Rivera, Storm? DeLarverie, and Miss Major, and marked the beginning of the modern LGBTQIA+ rights movement, although previous demonstrations and organizing efforts amongst the LGBTQIA+ community preceded; and
WHEREAS, on January 1, 1973, Maryland became the first state to statutorily ban same-sex marriage; and
WHEREAS, in 1974, Kathy Kozachenko became the first openly LGBTQ American elected to any public office when she won a seat on the Ann Arbor, Michigan City Council; and
WHEREAS, on October 14, 1979, the first National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights takes place, drawing an estimated 75,000 to 125,000 individuals marching for LGBTQ rights; and
WHEREAS, on September 24, 1982, the CDC uses the term "AIDS" (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) for the first time in a new MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report), and releases the first case definition for AIDS as "A disease at least moderately predictive of a defect in cell-mediated immunity, occurring in a person with no known cause for diminished resistance to that ...
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