1995_in_LGBT_rights References

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This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the year 1995.

Events

A new penal code is introduced in Portugal, which lowers the age of consent for heterosexual acts to 14; however it retains an age of consent of 16 for homosexual acts.
Sweden legalizes registered partnerships, with all of the rights of marriage—except for marriage in a church and adoption.
US state of Rhode Island bans sexual orientation discrimination in the private sector.^[1]

1 – Sweden begins registering same-sex domestic partners. Same-sex couples receive most of the rights of mixed-sex marriages but do not receive the right to a church wedding, the right to adopt children or the right to artificial insemination.^[2]
19 – The District of Columbia Court of Appeals rules in Dean v. District of Columbia that the district's human rights ordinance barring discrimination based on sexual orientation does not guarantee a right to same-sex marriage.^[3]

2 – A judge in Tennessee rules that the state's sodomy law violates the state constitution.^[4]
17 – The Canadian province of British Columbia announces new regulations allowing gay and lesbian people to adopt children.^[5]

9 – Scott Amedure, a gay man, is shot to death by Jonathan Schmitz, a heterosexual man, after Amedure revealed a secret crush on Schmitz during an episode of The Jenny Jones Show titled " Revealing Same Sex Secret Crush". Schmitz is later convicted of second-degree murder with a sentence of 30 to 50 years.
30 – In Abel v. United States of America, the first challenge to " don't ask, don't tell", district judge Eugene Nickerson rules that the provision of the 1993 law barring LGBT military personnel from saying they are LGBT infringes on their First Amendment and Fifth Amendment rights.^[6]

17 – Hillsborough County, Florida commissioners repeal the county's gay rights law.^[7]
25 – In Egan v. Canada the Supreme Court of Canada rules that sexual orientation is a prohibited ground of discrimination under section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, a part of the constitution. Section 15 does not explicitly list sexual orientation, but is designed to permit the addition of new grounds by the courts. The ruling will have a wide impact since section 15 applies to all laws, including human rights laws that prohibit discrimination by all employers, landlords, service providers and governments.

13 – The Broward County Commission passes a gay rights bill covering employment, housing and public accommodation.^[8]
19 – In Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Group of Boston the United States Supreme Court rules that private citizens organizing a public demonstration may legally exclude groups who impart a message that the private citizen does not wish to promote. The ruling allows the organizers of the city's annual St. Patrick's Day parade to exclude LGBT contingents.^[9]
24 – Inauguration of the Memorial to gay and lesbian victims of National Socialism in Cologne, Germany

2 – U.S. President Bill Clinton signs Executive Order 12968, which bans discrimination based on "sexual orientation" as it establishes uniform policies for allowing government employees access to classified information.^[10]

10 – The United States Supreme Court hears oral arguments in Romer v. Evans, the case that would eventually overturn Colorado's Amendment 2, which banned gay rights laws in the state.