In conjunction with the celebration of October as LGBT History Month, The Huffington Post will be providing you with "Know Your LGBT History" updates! Check back throughout the month for a brief overview of some of the landmark moments throughout the course of our journey as LGBT and queer-identifying individuals.
1987: The Human Rights Campaign began running ads in response to an amendment introduced by Senator Jesse Helms to the Federal AIDS Research, Information and Care Act. The amendment sought to limit funding for AIDS organizations that disseminated literature to the gay community in an effort to prevent the spread of the disease and was eventually passed by both the house and senate.
1990: The late Senator Jesse Helms infamously declared in a campaign speech that "homosexuals and lesbians [are] disgusting people marching in our streets demanding all sorts of things, including the right to marry each other."
1990: A high-end event at Carnegie Hall raised $1.5 million for the Gay Men's Health Crisis. It was reportedly a "three-hour international parade of singers and musicians [and] a demonstration that AIDS is a disease to be feared and resisted not just by several enclaves but by people of every sex, nationality and sexual persuasion."
2009: According to Quist, the first openly gay member of the German government, Guido Westerwelle, took office as Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister to Angela Merkel.
