Born gay

Introduction
Historical timeline
- 2900 BC–1810
  - 2900–146 BC: Same-sex relations practiced in ancient Greece
  - 529: Roman law orders execution for homosexual acts
  - 1225–1274: Aquinas says homosexuality is against natural law
  - 1533: First anti-homosexual law passed in England
  - 1610: First sodomy law passed in colonial America
  - 1655: New Haven mandates death sentence for sexual relations between women
  - July 1772: Sodomy trial in England stirs public debate about homosexuality
  - 1791–1810: France decriminalizes sodomy
- 1811–1919
  - 1857: Sodomy Linked to Mental Insanity
  - 1859: Darwin introduces natural selection theory
  - 1864–1879: Third-sex theory of homosexuality developed
  - May 6, 1868: Term “homosexual” first used
  - 1871: Anti-gay law established under Germany’s Second Reich
  - 1886: Krafft-Ebing defines homosexuality as a hereditary degeneration
  - 1887: Hammond documents homosexuality among Pueblo Indians
  - 1892: Early use of the term “homosexual” in the United States
  - 1896: Hirschfeld links bisexuality to embryonic development
  - 1897: Sexual Inversion argues that homosexuality may be an inborn abnormality
  - 1897: First gay rights organization formed in Berlin
  - 1900–1923: Karsch-Haack argues homosexuality is socially constructed
  - 1904: Hirschfeld finds 2.2 percent of population is homosexual
  - 1905: Freud says that bisexual tendencies are universal
  - 1914: Rockefeller family begins to support sex research in United States
  - 1917: Rat experiment links cause of homosexuality to glands
- 1920–1959
  - June 4, 1920: U.S. military criminalizes sodomy
  - 1933-1944: Nazis persecute homosexuals
  - 1935: Freud doubts that sexual conversion is possible
  - 1935: High concentration of estrogen found in homosexual men’s urine
  - 1936: Moll develops therapy to convert homosexuals to heterosexuals
  - 1940: Rado defines homosexuality as a phobia of the opposite sex
  - 1942: U.S. military creates policy for rejecting homosexual men
  - 1944: Homosexual to heterosexual conversions attempted at Buchenwald concentration camp
  - 1945: Homosexual Holocaust survivors excluded from restitution payments
  - Mar. 1, 1945: Study defines homosexuality as a “biological anomaly”
  - 1948: Kinsey Scale introduced
  - Late 1940s–1950: Lavender Scare in the United States
  - 1951: Widespread homosexuality found in nonhuman species and human societies
  - 1952: American Psychiatric Association classifies homosexuality as a mental illness
  - 1955: “Gender” defined as distinct from biological sex
  - 1957: Major study argues that homosexuality is not a pathology
  - Sep. 1, 1959: Female guinea pigs hormonally manipulated to act like males
- 1960–1989
  - 1961: Illinois becomes first state to repeal law banning sodomy
  - 1962: Study attributes homosexuality to detached father and domineering mother
  - 1967: CBS airs documentary on homosexuality
  - 1968: Homosexuality characterized as a sexual deviation
  - 1968: McIntosh says homosexuality is a socially constructed role
  - June 27, 1969: Stonewall rebellion marks new era of gay rights
  - May 1970: Manifesto argues that lesbianism is a social construction
  - 1972–1978: Gay rights leader, Harvey Milk, elected to office in San Francisco and assassinated
  - 1973: Book Links sexual behavior to social influences
  - 1973: American Psychiatric Association declassifies homosexuality as a mental disorder
  - 1976: Public health campaign to prevent homosexuality proposed
  - 1977: Anita Bryant popularizes homosexual recruitment theory
  - 1978: Edward Wilson says homosexuality may be a beneficial evolutionary trait
  - June 1978: Study finds parenting style has a limited effect on child’s sexual orientation
  - 1979: Masters and Johnson support conversion treatment for homosexuals
  - 1981: Kinsey study suggests homosexuality is biological in origin
  - Jan. 28, 1982: DoD bans homosexuals from military; U.S. Navy disproportionately affected
  - 1983: Study says that homosexual populations are similar around the world
  - Oct. 1, 1986: Roman Catholic church calls homosexuality an “objective disorder”
  - Aug. 1987: American Psychological Association removes ego dystonic homosexuality from DSM-III
  - 1989: Isay questions idea that dominant mother causes homosexuality
- 1990–1999
  - 1990: American rabbis say homosexuality may be a choice, but heterosexuality is the only appropriate Jewish choice
  - 1990: David M. Halperin advocates social constructionist theory of homosexuality
  - 1991: Levay study finds a difference in the brains of homosexuals
  - 1991: Bailey and Pillard twin study suggests genetic component to homosexuality
  - May 1992: Women with congenital adrenal Hyperplasis (CAH) found more likely to be homosexual
  - Aug. 1992: Part of the brain found to be larger in homosexual men
  - Mar. 1993: Biological studies of homosexuality questioned
  - July 16, 1993: Hamer study finds that a region of the X chromosome is shared by many homosexuals
  - 1993: “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy created for military
  - June 1, 1994: Pentagon considers “gay bomb”
  - Jan. 1995: Study suggests link between sexual orientation and prenatal hormones
  - Jan. 1996: Fraternal birth order effect observed
  - Apr. 1996: “Exotic becomes erotic” theory proposed as cause of homosexuality
  - Sep. 21, 1996: Defense of Marriage Act introduced
  - Mar. 3, 1998: Auditory system of homosexual women is found to resemble men’s
  - Dec. 1998: American Psychiatric Association opposes conversion therapy
  - 1999: Biologist reports homosexual behavior in 450+ animal species
  - June 1999: Study finds that homosexuals have larger penises
- 2000–2010
  - 2000: Michigan Legislature debates sexual lifestyle classes offered at University of Michigan
  - Mar. 2000: Bailey questions his previous homosexual twin studies
  - Mar. 30, 2000: Study finds link between finger length and homosexuality
  - Spring 2000: Cochran and Ewald propose infection as cause of homosexuality
  - July 2000: Homosexuals found to have 39% greater odds of being non-right handed
  - Sep. 2001: Study confirms Levay’s brain size findings
  - Mar. 2002: Sociologists find a higher rate of same-sex attraction among opposite-sex twins
  - Oct. 1, 2002: Researcher programs homosexual behavior in fruit flies
  - June 26, 2003: Supreme Court strikes down Texas sodomy law
  - Oct. 2003: Spitzer study finds therapy can help people change sexual orientation
  - Oct. 2003: Homosexual women found to have masculine eyeblink startle responses
  - Feb. 2004: Difference found in the brains of homosexual Rams
  - Nov. 2004: Lesbians shown to be more prone to polycystic ovarian syndrome
  - May 2005: Homosexual men found to respond to pheromones in a similar manner to women
  - Aug. 2005: Study questions validity of kin selection theory
  - Aug. 14, 2005: Sexual differentiation disorder suggests role of prenatal hormones in attraction
  - Mar. 2, 2007: Rev. Mohler supports prenatal treatment to prevent homosexuality
  - June 2008: Study shows brain organization differs between heterosexuals and homosexuals
  - Feb. 2010: Study suggests link between childhood abuse and same-sex relations among men
  - Dec. 18, 2010: “Don’t ask, don’t tell” law repealed
  - Sep. 30, 2011: Study finds conversion to heterosexuality possible with religious mediation
  - Apr. 2012: Mayor of London pulls bus ads that claim to cure homosexuality
  - Apr. 25, 2012: Spitzer apologizes for study suggesting people could change sexual orientation
  - Sep. 30, 2012: California bans conversion therapy for minors
  - June 20, 2013: “Ex-gay”Ministry Exodus International ceases operations, apologizes to gay community
  - Aug. 19, 2013: New Jersey bans conversion therapy for minors
  - Apr. 8, 2015: White House calls for ban on conversion therapy for gay and transgender minors
  - Oct. 8, 2015: New study finds sexual orientation is linked to epigenetic marks between DNA
  - July 19, 2017: Rhode Island becomes 10th state to ban conversion therapy
  - Oct. 23, 2017: New study says having older brothers increases likelihood of men’s homosexuality
  - Feb. 26, 2018: Gay workers protected by Civil Rights Act, rules federal appeals court
  - Mar. 3, 2020: Virginia becomes first southern state to ban conversion therapy for minors
  - June 15, 2010: Federal law protects LGBTQ+ employees from discrimination, Supreme Court rules

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