Celebrating Pride Month: First Los Angeles Pride Parade 1970

The first gay pride parade in Los Angeles was held June 28, 1970, the day after the first pride parade was held in Chicago.  The parades were started to commemorate the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots which occurred in New York City in 1969.

Soyuz T-9 launched 1983

Soyuz T-9 crew: Aleksandr Aleksandrov, Vladimir Lyakhov

Soyuz T-9, launched June 27, 1983, was the fourth expedition to the Salyut 7 space station.  Its crew consisted of Commander Vladimir Lyakhov and Aleksandr Aleksandrov.  The previous mission Soyuz T-8 and the next one, Soyuz T-10-1 both failed.

The crew returned to Earth in November.

Celebrating Pride Month: Lynn Riggs, openly gay Cherokee playwright

Lynn Riggs, born August 31, 1899 near Claremore, Oklahoma to a mother who was 1/8 Cherokee.  He started attending the University of Oklahoma in 1920 and taught English for a year, but developed tuberculosis and did not graduate.  After recuperating in Santa Fe, New Mexico he traveled to New York and began writing plays.

After receiving a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in 1928, he traveled to Europe and began writing his most famous play Green Grow the Lilacs, while in Paris.

The play went onto become the musical and movie Oklahoma!

Being gay, he was often a non-romantic escort in Hollywood for actresses such as Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.

He was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1943.

He passed away in NYC in June 1954 from stomach cancer.

Celebrating Pride Month: Ahmad Zahra, first openly gay Muslim to be elected to office in US

Ahmad Zahra, born and raised in Syria, is the first openly gay Muslim to be elected to office in the United States.  He was a tight race to win a seat on the Fullerton City Council, representing District 5 November 2018.  He ran on a platform of eliminating child poverty.  Other issues were environmental preservation and revitalizing Fullerton's economy.

He lives with Miguel, his partner of 15 years (probably 17 now)

Galileo convicted of heresy 1633

Galileo Galilei was convicted of heresy by the Catholic Church June 22, 1633, forcing one of the greatest scientists of all time to live his remaining years under house arrest.  The Inquisition charged Galileo with holding the opinion that the sun, not the Earth, is at the center of the universe (solar system), not the other way around as it had been declared by the Holy Scripture.  He was forced to "abjure, curse, and detest" his Copernican heliocentric views.

Galileo passed away in January 1642.

"Alien" released 1979

Ridley Scott's horror classic Alien was released into theatres June 22, 1979.  Its legacy is one of the most successful science fiction/horror franchises in history.  It starred Tom Skerritt (favorite), Sigourney Weaver (big favorite), and Veronica Cartwright (favorite). 

It won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.  It was nominated for Best Art Direction - Set Direction. Its soundtrack by Jerry Goldsmith was nominated for a Grammy and a Golden Globe.

Alien won Saturn Awards for Best Science Fiction Film, Best Direction for Ridley Scott and Best Supporting Actress for Veronica Cartwright.  Sigourney Weaver was nominated for Best Actress.

In 2002, it was selected by the Library of Cngress for preservation in the National Film Registry.  The American Film Institute named it as the 7th best science fiction film.

"Number 96", Aussie television drama, first to feature an openly gay regular character

Number 96, an Australian soap opera, was the first television series to feature an openly gay character as a regular.  The show ran from 1972 to 1977 and covered many controversial topics.  Actor Joe Hasham played Don Finlayson, a lawyer who had a partner Dudley Butterfield, played Chard Hayward.  It also featured the first transgender character portrayed by a transfender actress, Carlotta.  The show also featured an interracial romance.