National
In the United States, few attempts were made to create advocacy groups supporting gay and lesbian relationships until after World War II, although prewar gay life flourished in urban centers such as Greenwich Village and Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. The disruption of World War II allowed formerly isolated gay men and women to meet as soldiers, war workers, and other volunteers uprooted from small towns and posted worldwide. Greater awareness, coupled with Senator Joseph McCarthy's investigation of homosexuals holding government jobs during the early 1950s, led to the first American-based political demands for fair treatment in mental health, public policy, and employment.
Lesbian doctor Marie Equi, age 48, begins her prison term at San Quentin. She serves ten months after President Wilson commuted her sentence to one year. FBI director J Edgar Hoover prevents Equi from receiving a parole or pardon. She is released after ten months.
State equality and discrimination bills
National
The first known use of the term “gay” to refer to homosexuals occurs in the publication Underground.
National
Lynn Riggs produced his first play titled “Cuckoo” about college fraternities.
United States LGBT History for 1920
President Woodrow Wilson
Washington D.C.
American women win the right to vote with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution.
Washington D.C.
Congress approves modifications to the Articles of War. Article 93 is changed to make the act of sodomy a crime in itself, separate from the offense of assault with intent to commit sodomy.
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