The Boy Scouts of America (BSA), one of the largest private youth organizations in the United States, has policies which prohibit those who are not willing to subscribe to the BSA's Declaration of Religious Principle, which has been interpreted by some as banning atheists, and, until January 2014, prohibited all "known or avowed homosexuals", from membership in its Scouting program. The ban on adults who are "open or avowed homosexuals" from leadership positions was lifted in July 2015.

The BSA had contended that its policies were essential in its mission to instill in young people the values of the Scout Promise, or Oath, and Scout Law. The organization's legal right to have these policies was upheld by the United States Supreme Court. In Boy Scouts of America v. Dale (2000), the Supreme Court of the United States affirmed that as a private organization, the BSA can set its own membership standards. The BSA's policies have been legally challenged but have not been found to constitute discrimination because as a private organization in the United States, the BSA has the right to freedom of association, as determined in the court case. In recent years, the policy disputes have led to litigation over the terms under which the BSA can access governmental resources, including public lands. (Full article...)

Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is best remembered for his epigrams and plays, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and his criminal conviction for gross indecency for homosexual acts.

Wilde's parents were Anglo-Irish intellectuals in Dublin. In his youth, Wilde learned to speak fluent French and German. At university, he read Greats; he demonstrated himself to be an exceptional classicist, first at Trinity College Dublin, then at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became associated with the emerging philosophy of aestheticism, led by two of his tutors, Walter Pater and John Ruskin. After university, Wilde moved to London into fashionable cultural and social circles. (Full article...)

• October 5: Supreme court of Mauritius rules the colonial era law criminalizing homosexuality unconstitutional
• August 5: DaBaby Levitating remix losing US radio audiences after the rapper's comments on HIV/AIDS
• May 19: Taiwan's legislature first in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage
• February 1: Toronto serial killer Bruce McArthur pleads guilty to eight murders
• October 30: 22nd annual ILGA-Europe conference meets in Brussels: in pictures
• October 30: In pictures: thousands attend 16th annual Taiwan Pride

• ... what a Gay icon is?
• ... that when ABC's Birmingham, Alabama, affiliate WBMA-LP refused to air the Ellen coming out episode "The Puppy Episode", a local LGBT group sold out a 5,000-seat theatre so people could watch it via satellite?
• ...that Pullen Memorial Baptist Church is the first Baptist church in the Southern United States to have chosen an openly gay person as lead clergy?
• ...that Cheryl Dunye's 1996 film The Watermelon Woman was the first feature film to be directed by a black lesbian?
• ...that the very first news article on what became known as AIDS appeared in the New York Native, a now defunct gay newspaper in New York City?

• 1 – Charles Laughton (1899–1962), English-American actor, screenwriter, producer, and director
• 1 – Louis Joseph, Duke of Vendôme (1654–1712), French military commander
• 1 – Orlando Cruz (1981–), Puerto Rican professional boxer
• 2 – Daniel Kowalski (1975–), Australian freestyle swimmer
• 2 – Liane de Pougy (1869–1950), French cabaret artist/dancer and courtesan
• 2 – Johnny Weir (1984–), American figure skater, 2008 World Bronze Medalist
• 2 – Sylvia Rae Rivera (1951–2002), Civil Rights activist who advocated for Transgender rights
• 4 – Stephen Boyd (1931–1977), British actor
• 4 – Steven Cojocaru (1970–), Canadian fashion critic/TV personality
• 5 – Jean Cocteau (1889–1963), French poet, artist, and director
• 5 – Megan Rapinoe (1985–), American professional soccer midfielder
• 5 – Hein Vos (1903–1972), Dutch politician and economist, first gay member of Cabinet of the Netherlands
• 6 – Merv Griffin (1925–2007), American television host, musician, actor, and media mogul
• 6 – Frida Kahlo (1907–1954), Mexican artist
• 7 – George Cukor (1899–1983), American film director
• 7 – Kirsten Vangsness (1972–), American actress
• 8 – Silvia Modig (1976–), Finnish politician, radio and TV journalist
• 9 – David Hockney (1937–), English painter and photographer
• 9 – Kelly McGillis (1957–), American actress
• 9 – Vanessa Selbst (1984–), American hedge fund manager and professional poker player
• 10 – Marcel Proust (1871–1922), French novelist
• 10 – Fiona Shaw (1958–), Irish actress and theatre-opera director
• 10 – Zoe Dunning (1963–), American retired naval officer, and LGBTQ activist
• 10 – Alexandra Hedison (1969–), American photographer and actress
• 10 – Angel Haze (1991–), American rapper and singer
• 11 – Giorgio Armani (1934–), Italian fashion designer
• 11 – Leisha Hailey (1971–), American actress and musician
• 11 – Dorothy Wilde (1895–1941), Anglo-Irish socialite, niece of Oscar Wilde
• 12 – Van Cliburn (1934–2013), American pianist
• 12 – Michelle Rodriguez (1978–), American actress
• 12 – Kyrsten Sinema (1976–), American congresswoman (Arizona)
• 13 – Mary Emma Woolley (1863–1947), American educator, peace activist & women's suffragist
• 14 – Randy Boissonnault (1970–), Canadian politician
• 14 – Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1610–1670), Italian aristocrat
• 14 – Jane Lynch (1960–), American actress
• 15 – David Cicilline (1961–), American Democratic congressman (Rhode Island)
• 15 – Allison Brewer (1954–), Canadian social activist and politician
• 15 – Olly Alexander (1990–), British singer (Years & Years)
• 16 – Reinaldo Arenas (1943–1990), Cuban poet, novelist, and playwright
• 16 – Tony Kushner (1956–), American playwright and screenwriter
• 17 – Charles Lapointe (1944–), Canadian business executive and politician
• 18 – Elio Di Rupo (1951–), Prime Minister of Belgium
• 18 – Lillian Faderman (1940–), American scholar, historian and writer
• 19 – Joseph Hansen (1923–2004), American crime writer and poet
• 19 – Jaiyah Saelua (1988-), Samoan international football player
• 20 – Roberta Achtenberg (1950-), American federal politician & civil rights attorney
• 20 – Rokas Žilinskas (1972-2017), Lithuanian journalist and politician
• 21 – Rufus Wainwright (1973–), American/Canadian singer-songwriter
• 22 – Emily Saliers (1963–), American singer-songwriter and member of Indigo Girls
• 24 – Gus Van Sant (1952–), American director
• 24 – Anna Paquin (1982–), Canadian-New Zealander Actress
• 25 – Christine Quinn (1966–), American politician, former Speaker of the New York City Council
• 26 – Nikki Sinclaire (1968-), English politician, UK's first openly transgender parliamentarian
• 28 – Judy Grahn (1940–), American poet
• 28 – Imke Duplitzer (1975–), German épée fencer
• 29 – Dag Hammarskjöld (1905–1961), Swedish diplomat & 2nd Secretary-General of the U.N.
• 29 – Paul Taylor (1930–), American choreographer
• 30 – Sean Patrick Maloney (1966–), American Democratic congressman (New York)
• 30 – Pascal Smet (1967–), Belgian politician
• 31 – Susan Flannery (1939–), American actress
• 31 – Barbara Gittings (1932–2007), American gay rights activist

• Timeline of LGBT history
• List of LGBT events
• List of LGBT rights activists
• List of years in LGBT rights
• List of LGBT bookstores
• List of gay, lesbian or bisexual people
• Lists of bisexual people
• List of LGBT African Americans
• List of LGBT writers
• List of LGBT artists
• List of pansexual people
• List of drag queens