The gay Guinness ad that wasn't

In 1995, Guinness pretended that a gay themed ad didn't exist after the UK tabloid press got wind of it and reported it as 'wrong' and 'scandalous'. It was never shown.

Thanks to Gay Star News, you can now see this shocking piece of filth here:
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/banned-1995-gay-guinness-advert-goes-viral131112

New Hampshire makes electoral history

Another historical result in the US elections was rather overshadowed by the votes for marriage equality and the election of the first out gay Senator.

New Hampshire voted in its first openly transgender lawmaker. Stacie Laughton (photo above) won one of three seats in the State House of Representatives.
http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/982833-469/with-state-representive-win-laughton-states-first.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/06/stacie-laughton-first-tra_n_1575227.html

Her candidate biography is here:
http://nashua.patch.com/articles/candidate-bio-stacie-laughton-democrat-for-state-rep

UPDATED 28 November 2012
I'm saddened to have to report that Stacie Laughton has now resigned following revelations that she had a criminal past, which included serving time in prison for fraud.
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/history-making-transgender-politician-resigns281112

UPDATED 2 January 2013
Sadly, following a time of uncertainty, Stacie finally decided not totry again to gain this seat and will wait for the legal issues mentioned in this article to resolve themselves.
http://www.washingtonblade.com/2013/01/02/transgender-n-h-state-representative-candidate-ends-campaign/

Additionally, I found out that Stu Rasmussen, the first openly transgender mayor in the US, was re-elected to fifth term.
http://lexiecannes.wordpress.com/2012/11/08/first-openly-transgender-mayor-in-the-u-s-stu-rasmussen-re-elected-to-fifth-term/
http://www.sturasmussen.com/realityCheck.htm

UPDATED 9th November 2012

I found another relevant electoral first. California's Mark Takano is first openly gay person of colour to be elected to US Congress.
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/californias-mark-takano-first-openly-gay-person-color-be-elected-us-congress081112

Blogpost on Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin's openly gay Sentaor:
http://lgbthistoryproject.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/first-openly-lgbt-person-to-be-elected.html

First openly LGBT person to be elected to the US Senate

Tammy Baldwin's official Congressional portrait

Last night (6 November 2012), Tammy Baldwin became the first openly LGBT person to be elected to the US Senate, representing Wisconsin. She is also Wisconsin's first woman Senator.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tammy_Baldwin
http://www.tammybaldwin.com/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/07/wisconsin-senate-results-tammy-baldwin

You can see her victory speech here:
http://www.towleroad.com/2012/11/tammyspeech.html
 
UPDATED 3 January 2013
Tammy Baldwin was sworn in to the Senate, becoming the  first openly gay US Senator
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/03/tammy-baldwin-senate_n_2404459.html

Interestingly, her successor in the Wisconsin State Congress, Mark Pocan is also openly gay. Another first, apparently.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Pocan
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/openly-gay-candidate-mark-pocan-wins-tammy-baldwins-us-house-seat071112

Love letters

Published at the end of the 1990s, My Dear Boy is an anthology of gay love letters documenting the heartbreak and joy of love between men for almost 2000 years. The correspondents range from kings and aristocrats, musicians and artists, military men and monks, to farm labourers and herring merchants, political activists and aesthetes, black poets and Japanese actors, drag queens and hustlers.

The letters come from various sources. Some are from books published by their writers, while some were published in newspapers and pamphlets as part of political or religious attacks. Others come from court records (from the Inquisition to the Old Bailey) or were discovered in a cardboard box after a house clearance; many have narrowly escaped censorship and suppression.
http://rictornorton.co.uk/dearboy.htm

The author, Rictor Norton, is an American historian based in the UK, who specialises in literary and cultural history and, more particularly, gay history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rictor_Norton
http://rictornorton.co.uk/index.htm