This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the year 1981.
Events
February
5 – Toronto police raid city bathhouses, arresting 286 people and charging 20 for operating a brothel (see Operation Soap). No sex work was uncovered.[1][2]
In France, the government of François Mitterrand repeals Mirguet Amendment. A reform of the sex offences law equalises the age of consent (effect August 4 the following year).[5]
14 – The
The Advocate
.
June
5 – The United States
acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), found in the gay communities of Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco.[6]
July
3 – The
New Democratic Party of Canada calls for amending the "bawdyhouse" section of the Canadian Criminal Code
, which is often used to raid gay bathhouses.
October
22 —
Dudgeon v. United Kingdom evaluates Northern Ireland's criminalisation of homosexual acts between consenting adults as contrary to the right to respect to private life.[7]
December
1 – The legislature of the Canadian province of Ontario defeats an amendment which would have added "sexual orientation" to the human rights code.
