Looking Back at Gay History: 1974

 

 

Jan 6, 1974 - Front Runners, a newly formed gay running group, holds its first "fun run" in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.

Jan 24, 1974 - Gay novelist Truman Capote is roasted on Dean Martin's Celebrity Roast, which aired on NBC.

Feb 20, 1974 - Cher files for separation from Sonny Bono.

April 21, 1974 – Tommy Tune wins the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for Seesaw.  It is the first of nine Tonys he’d win in his career (encompassing acting, choreography and directing).

 

 

June 7, 1974 – The first performance of Beach Blanket Babylon takes place at the Savoy Tivoli restaurant in San Francisco.

Aug 8, 1974 - Two years before it was picked up by the San Francisco Chronicle Armistead Maupin's serial, Tales of the City, was first published today in the Bay Area by The Pacific Sun.

Oct 4, 1974 - John Waters' follow-up to Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, opens in theaters.

 

 

Oct 8, 1974 - Marcus Welby, MD airs a controversial episode about a high school boy who is raped by one of his teachers. 

Oct 15, 1974 - An arson fire destroys the Firehouse, New York's first gay community center (and headquarters for the Gay Activist Alliance).  It was located in SoHo.

Oct 26, 1974 - Never Can Say Goodbye by Gloria Gaynor is the first #1 song on Billboard's new Dance Chart.

 

 

Nov 5, 1974 - Lesbian Elaine Noble wins election to Massachusetts' House of Representative, the first openly gay person to be elected to a statewide office. 

Nov 11, 1974 - The New Yorker publishes its first gay-themed short story, "Minor Heroism", by Allan Gurganus.

Dec 14, 1974 - New York's first gay disco, Flamingo, opens its doors. 

 

(To read about gay milestones from other years double click here.)