Florida

Chronology of LGBT historical events:

• 1528 - Spanish explorer Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca writes about finding effeminate Indians in La Florida.
• 1566 - Guillermo, a French Lutheran interpreter and "sodomite" is executed by the Spanish at their colony that would later become Florida.
• 1613 - Francisco de Pareja, a Spanish missionary in La Florida, records in his writing "Confessionario", the likelihood of sodomy among natives. It is believed that homosexuality was common in the culture of the area and probably helped fuel the opinion that natives were savages and less human than the European travelers.
• 1788 - Fray Cyril de Barcelona arrives in Florida to investigate the religious and moral life of the province. To please him, Gov. Vicente Manuel de Zispedes y Velasco cracks down on several people, including homosexuals. Offenders are sent before "auditor de guerra" in Havana for trial.
• 1965 - John Sorenson of Miami, Baptist church deacon and former head of Miami vice squad, stated "I would rather see any of my children dead than homosexual… and for that reason I feel there is no cure and because of the complete degenerecy of these people. They appear on the surface to be respectable, but they're the lowest forms of people."
• 1977 - Fundamentalist Anita Bryant leads a campaign to repeal Gay Rights laws in Dade County. Her influence is given national attention.
• 1986 - May - Leslie wan is beaten to death.
• 1987 - Feb 6 - Jane Golden aka James Boyd is killed in St. Petersburg.
• 1988 - Ruby Bota is killed in Gibsonton.
• 1993 - Feb 14 - James Flaherty, age 52, is stabbed and strangled.
• 1993 - Aug 17 - Donnie O. Osby is shot to death.
• 1994 - March - Craig Duncan is stabbed to death.
• 1994 - Sept 17 - Lazaro Comesana is strangled to death in Miami.
• 1994 - Nov 20 - Walter Jammell Hinton, 43, is murdered.
• 1997 - July 15 - Gianni Virsace, 50, a famous clothing designer, is shot in front of his home in Miami by Andrew Phillip Cunanan, who later committed suicide.
• 1997 - July 25 - Irving Sicherer is killed in Aventura.
• 1997 - July 25 - Anthony Martilotto is killed in Fort Lauderdale.
• 1997 - Dec - KKK sympathizers attack a gay bar patron in Holiday.
• 1998 - Feb 14 - Tasha Dunn is beaten to death in Tampa
• 1998 - April 27 - Steven Godereis is beaten to death in West Palm Beach.
• 1998 - June 18 - Televangelist Pat Robertson warns that Orlando will be punished by God with hurricanes, earthquakes, terrorist bombing and a possible meteor for allowing gay pride flags to fly in the city. Of course, his predictions never come true.
• 1999 - July - John C. Lloys, 69, is stabbed 29 times in Gainesville.
• 1999 - Oct 13 - Allison Decratel, 17, is purposely hit by a car in Iverness during a gay pride festival.
• 2000 - April - Deja Johnson aka Dondre, 28, is shot to death in Miami.
• 2000 - June 8 - James L. Brown aka Jamie, 57, is stabbed in Longboat Key.
• 2000 - Aug 19 - Mark Blum, 48, is killed with a 30 lb. dumbell in North Miami Beach.
• 2000 - Aug 27 - Keith F. Jackson, 32, is killed from blunt force trauma to the head in Miami.
• 2000 - Oct 18 - Joe-Hal Faughn is killed in Orlando.
• 2001 - Nov - Tomas Morales, 70, is killed in Orlando.
• 2001 - Aug 20 - In Miami a federal judge rules that the state law banning homosexuals from adopting children is valid, saying the state has a legitimate interest in only allowing married couples to adopt.
• 2001 - Dec 12 - Terrianne Summers is killed in Jacksonville
• 2005 - Jan 28 - Ronnie Parks Jr. is beaten to death in Tampa by his father.
• 2005 - May 16 - Julio Argueta is stabbed 12 times in Miami, Florida.
• 2007 - July 29 - Oscar Mosqueda is shot in Daytona Beach.
• 2008 - Simmie Williams Jr., a 17 year old student, was shot in Fort Lauderdale.
• 2008 - Apr 16 - Lloyd Nixon, 45, is beaten to death in West Palm Beach.