HOW

IT ALL BEGAN . . .
1950 :: Founding of Ma=achine Society in California, the rst known gay organizaNon. 1952 :: Founding of One, Inc. organizaNon 1955 :: Founding of Daughters of BiliNs, also in California; rst known lesbian organizaNon.

Harry Hay (upper left) was the principal founder of the first ever homophile organization, known as the Mattachine Society.

An early Daughters of Bilitis gathering in San Francisco.

1969 :: The Stonewall Riots

In response to an unwarranted police raid of the Stonewall Inn bar (Greenwich Village, NYC) in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, gay men and women staged a series of spontaneous violent demonstraNons of protest and outrage. This rst- ever push back lead to the forming of the rst gay pride organizaNons in New York and Los Angeles.

1970 . .
The Boys In The Band
was released as a major moNon picture, depicNng a number of gay male friends, and one straight friend, a=ending an in-home birthday party in Geenwich Village, New York. As expected from lms of that era, the gay men were presented as sad, bi=er, regrecul and even suicidal, in order to jusNfy the public release of such subject ma=er. Hollywood was an ironic but willing parNcipant in painNng the negaNve public percepNon of gay people in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Early Years in Dallas

1965 Phil Johnson was one of the founders of the Circle of Friends with the goal of making life beBer for the Dallas gay and lesbian community. This was the beginning of recorded acEvism in Dallas. 1972 - Dallass rst (small) Gay Pride Parade was held.

The Leonard Matlovich Problem

1975 :: Texan Leonard Matlovich gained naNonal recogniNon when he openly resisted discharge from the US Air Force for being found out as gay. In D.C., ironically, he got support from Sen. John Tower (Republican) and was turned away by Rep. Barbara Jordan (Democrat).

1976 - 1977
1976 The Dallas Gay PoliEcal Caucus is formed. Name later changed to Dallas Gay Alliance (and, thereaRer, Dallas Gay and Lesbian Alliance). Many of the original members of the Circle of Friends are founding board members of the DGPC. DGPC was formed originally to idenEfy gay-friendly poliEcal candidates.

Originally called the Dallas Gay PoliNcal Caucus, the rst DGPC president was Chance West (the rst face of DGPC), followed by Steve Wilkins, in February 1977, who presented a business- like public image for the organizaNon.

president of DGPC, applying her sophisNcated organizaNonal skills and expanding its membership base.
Louise Young and Vivienne Armstrong

> Louise Young was elected third

> Fourth president: Don Baker, iniNated

a broadening of the organizaNons purpose beyond poliNcs & the change of its name to the Dallas Gay Alliance.

Don Baker

June 7, 1977
Dade County, Florida, voted to rescind a county ordinance that had prohibited discriminaNon against gay residents in housing and public employment. Anita Bryant was spokesperson for the anN-gay campaign. Gay Rights organizaNons expanded in major ciNes like Dallas in reacNon to the Dade County vote.

Fall 1977 ::

comes to TV

More psychologically impaccul at the Nme, perhaps, than can be fully appreciated today, this popular family comedy series was the rst to feature a principal character who was openly gay - - and clearly the only member of the family who was sane. Even gays were shocked that a network would allow a posiNve depicNon of a gay leading character in prime Nme television.

Billy Crystal played lead character Jodie Dallas

1978 A Year of Rising Consciousness The first first elected official to speak to the Dallas Gay Alliance was Dallas City Councilwoman

Miss Juanita Craft

Oh, people will grant you freedom easily enough but allowing for equality under law is harder for them, because theyre afraid itll cost them something. Your struggle, and mine, is for equality under the law.
{Spoken that night in response to a question from the audience of DGA}

June 10, 1978 - - In Dallas

DGA hosted Harvey Milk in Dallas, where he addressed a large gathering of emerging gay acNvists, urging them to Come out come out, wherever you are! He was assassinated in San Francisco ve months later.
Harvey Milk died: Nov. 27, 1978

1979 :: A Year of Turning Points

>>> Texas Human Rights Foundation filed BAKER vs. WADE in Federal District Court in Dallas, attacking Texass Anti-Sodomy law 21.06. >>> DISD attempted to reprimand high school teacher and coach Bill Nelson for openly participating in a gay rally. He fought back (and became a leading activist). >>> 12 men were arrested for public lewdness in Village Station, and plead NOT GUILTY - - forcing prosecutors to bring their charges into court. All were found not guilty by the court. >>> DGA documented continuous police harassment in Dallas gay bars. >>> Several Dallas gay lawyers faced off with Dallas police chief and vice squad captain over police harassment targeting gay bars on Cedar Springs Blvd. >>> Many Dallas gays attended the National March On Washington >>> 2,000 Dallas activists rallied for gay rights in Lee Park, the first such rally in the citys history.

1981
is formed

The biggest city-wide gay party in Dallas history. The first Razzle Dazzle Dallas party was held in the summer of 1981 at the Hall of State building at Fair Park.

1981-1982
First reported cases of the gay plague are reported in York City among gay male populaEon. Gay and lesbian leaders in Dallas met to discuss this health problem and to speculate whether it will ever become a problem in Dallas. Howie Daire and Oak Lawn Community
Services agreed to take major laboring oar if and when the gay plague hits Dallas.

Baker vs. Wade :: A Decision Ahead of its Time

On August 17, 1982, Dallas federal judge Jerry Buchmeyer renders a lengthy wri=en opinion holding that Sec. 21.06 of the Texas Penal Code violates the United States ConsNtuNon by infringing on fundamental personal privacy and by denying equal protecNon of the laws to gay ciNzens of Texas.
The case was sponsored and funded by the Texas Human Rights Foundation. Judge Buchmeyers decision was soon overturned by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, but was later adopted by the Supreme Court of the United States in its famous Lawrence vs. Texas decision.

Dallas Joins the NaNonal Eort

In early 1982, John Thomas invited two of his close friends (Ray Kuchling and Mike Anglin) to meet a friend of his from San Francisco named Jim Foster, who was a=empNng to set up fund-raising black Ne dinners in various ciNes to help the newly organized Washington D.C.-based Human Rights Campaign Fund. That lead to a second meeNng the next night in the home of Dick Weaver where a larger group of volunteers agreed to form an organizaNon and move forward with a formal fund-raising dinner to support HRCF Jim Foster died at his home in San Francisco in 1990 of as well as Dallas gay organizaNons.
complications from AIDS.

 October 1982 :: The rst Black Tie Dinner was held at the Fairmont Hotel in downtown Dallas. 140 men and women aBended. The dinner raised $6,000 for the Human Rights Campaign, and $6,000 for local gay non-prot organizaEons. The principal founder of the Dallas Black Tie Dinner: John Thomas Becky Kidd :: First female member of
Black Tie Dinner board.

1983
Local gay and lesbian social organizaEons begin collecEng food and raising funds to help deal with GRID Gay Related Immune Deciency. First reported cases of GRID in Dallas. The name of the disease was later changed to AIDS when science discovered it was caused by a virus they termed HIV.

1983
The Dallas Gay Alliance applied for funding from the State Health Department to deal with the growing AIDS crisis. The State of Texas denied funding because the homosexual lifestyle was against the law in Texas (Penal Code 21.06).

1983
The Dallas Gay Alliance forms the FoundaEon for Human Understanding:
Tax-exempt non-prot organizaEon eligible for state funding. Its original mission was to promote an understanding of, and end discriminaEon on the basis of, sexual orientaEon, but was later expanded to encompass HIV/AIDS issues.

1983
Dallas Gay Alliance float in the Dallas Gay Pride Parade on Cedar Springs Rd. (circa 1983)

1984
The GRID virus (HIV) is discovered. A test is created to detect the HIV anEbody. The term Acquired Immune Deciency Syndrome (AIDS) is coined at a conference in Dallas. Dallas has 32 reported cases of AIDS.

1984
The Dallas Gay Alliance hands over the AIDS programs that they had started to FoundaEon for Human Understanding. The Dallas Voice, a newspaper for the Dallas GLBT community, is founded.

1985
The AIDS epidemic ocially hits Dallas with over 250 reported cases. The FoundaEon for Human Understanding ocially opens its AIDS Resource Center, an organizaEon providing services to the Dallas HIV/AIDS community.

The AIDS Resource Center banner from Dallas gay pride parade, circa 1985

1985
William Waybourn places a cardboard box in the original Crossroads Market at Throckmorton and Cedar Springs with a sign asking for canned donaEons for people with AIDS, launching the rst full-edged program of the Center: the Food Pantry.

1985
Bill Nelson, a co-founder of the AIDS Resource Center, runs for City Council, in hopes of becoming rst openly gay elected ocial in Dallas, and comes in third.

1987 ::

In the fall of 1986, Don McCleary, Randolph Terrel and Larry Pease led an eort in Dallas to organize a group of people who would be willing to donate signicant amounts of money to the Human Rights Campaign Fund. The rst-ever Federal Club dinner for 70 parNcipants was held at the Crescent Hotel on Feb. 9, 1987.

1988
The Dallas Gay Alliance and ACLU sue Parkland Memorial Hospital for poor treatment of HIV/AIDS paEents. Parkland Hospital is ordered to dispense AZT and other medicaEons to anyone who requires them.

The potter s field of 700 crosses used to highlight the fact that the City of Dallas had spent $500,000 filling it while having spent only $55,000 on AIDS that same year, 1988.

1989
Mica England applies for a job as a police ocer and is rejected. The police department claims that, as a lesbian, England is presumed to be violaEng Texas's "Homosexual Conduct" law and is therefore a criminal and unt to serve as a police ocer. England successfully sues the City of Dallas, overturning the policy prohibiEng gays from serving openly on the police force as a result.

1989
The Nelson-Tebedo AIDS Research Clinic opens.

1989
That same day, at 6:30 AM, an arsonist set a re that destroyed the storefront oces of the AIDS Resource Center. By 11 a.m., the Center was back in operaEon in a new locaEon, one block away from the burned building. The clinic completed its rst six HIV tests that day.

A doctor draws blood from a client at the NelsonTebedo clinic.

Bill Nelson and Terry Tebedo

Nelson served as president of the Dallas Gay Alliance from 1984 to 1987, and was on numerous other boards. He was the rst openly gay candidate for a Dallas City Council seat in 1985 and 1987, and, with Tebedo, founded AIDS Resource Center. Tebedo worked behind the scenes on fundraising, conferences and special events for the community, including Razzle Dazzle Dallas, which raised hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years for a variety of GLBT groups. He set up the rst nancial assistance fund for people living with HIV/AIDS. Anglin Tebedo Nelson

Razzle Dazzle Dallas, Dallas gay pride parade, circa 1988

1990
The FoundaEon buys an old church building in Oaklawn and founds Gay & Lesbian Community Center, in honor of the community who has done so much to help deal with the AIDS crisis.

1992
The Phil Johnson Historic Archives and Research Library is established in the Gay and Lesbian Community Center as an outshoot of its educaEonal services.

1993
A large group of Dallas gay rights acEvists represent Texas in the naEonal March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and LiberaEon.

1998
The FoundaEon for Human Understanding ocially changes its name to the Resource Center of Dallas.

John Thomas

John Thomas
John Thomas served as the rst paid ExecuEve Director of the AIDS Resource Center from 1988-1995. A prolic poliEcal acEvist, Thomas founded and/or worked with almost twenty organizaEons helping the GLBT and HIV/ AIDS community. In 1998, the Resource Center renamed its Reagan St. building the John Thomas Gay and Lesbian Community Center in his honor.

1998
Texas AIDS Rides, a charity bike ride beneEng the Texas HIV/AIDS community, begins.

2001
Texas AIDS Rides becomes the Lone Star Ride FighEng AIDS.

2004
The Dallas GLBT community rejoices as MassachuseBs becomes the rst state to legalize gay marriage Several states follow suit over the next few years, but Texas is not among them.

2009
The Resource Center of Dallas changes its name to Resource Center Dallas, and unveils a new logo.

The AIDS Resource Food Pantry moves to a new locaEon on Denton Drive.