1999 Tranniversary: Zan, Rhodes
Bisexual Pride Flag
LGBTQ: Many advances were made this year as anti-discriminatory legislation based on sexual orientation was passed in several states including: California, Iowa, Nevada and Ohio. The government of the Canadian province of Ontario gave same-sex couples the same rights as married couples. The first Celebrate Bisexuality Day was organized by Michael Page, Gigi Raven Wilbur, and Wendy Curry. Civil Union/Registered Partnership laws went into effect in the State of California in France. Chile decriminalized homosexuality. The Fourth Court of Appeals in San Antonio, Texas, ruled in Littleton v. Prange, that a post-operative transgender woman remained legally male and therefore her marriage to a biological male was invalid.
Tragically, 1999 marked the year that two key persons were murdered. Transwoman of color, Rita Hester, was killed in November. Rita's life and identity were not covered respectfully by local papers and her death inspired the "Remembering Our Dead" web project and the Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR). The Transgender Day of Remembrance was founded by Gwendolyn Ann Smith, a trans woman. Since its inception, TDoR has been held annually on 20 November, and it has slowly evolved from the web-based project started by Smith into an international day of action.
In Wyoming, Matthew Shepard’s murder brought national and international attention to hate crime legislation at both the state and federal level. In October 2009, the United States Congress passed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act (commonly the "Matthew Shepard Act" or "Shepard/Byrd Act" for short), and on October 28, 2009, President Barack Obama signed the legislation into law.
The US Senate opened the impeachment trial of President Clinton. The Senate acquitted Clinton and rejected the censure move. John William King, 24, a white supremacist, was convicted of murder and sentenced to death for his role in dragging and killing, James Byrd, Jr. Students, Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, stormed the Columbine High School in Littleton , CO, killing twelve other students and a teacher, then themselves. John F. Kennedy Jr., wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and her sister Lauren G. Bessette were lost at sea when a plane he was piloting disappeared near Martha's Vineyard, off Mass. coast.
The Denver Broncos defeated the Atlanta Falcons to win the 1999 NFL Super Bowl. Basketball great, Michael Jordan, announced his retirement. Jordan announced his first retirement in October 1993 only to come back in March 1995. He came back from his second retirement in 2001 and played two seasons for the Washington Wizards. Tennis great, Serena Williams, won the US Open for her first grand slam title defeating the then world no.1 Martina Hingis in straight sets. She has since been the most dominant player on the women's tennis tour winning 21 titles and is showing no signs of slowing down. The now disgraced Lance Armstrong, came back after a three year battle with cancer to win the Tour de France event. Soccer great David Beckham got married to Spice Girls singer Victoria Beckham on July 4th.
Top grossing movies included “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace”, “The Sixth Sense”, “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me”, and “The Matrix”. Italian actor, Roberto Benigni, won the Best Actor Oscar for his role in the movie, “Life Is Beautiful”. Gwenyth Paltrow won the Best Actress award for her role in “Shakespeare in Love”. Best picture went to “Shakespeare in Love”. Other best picture nominees included “Saving Private Ryan”, “Life is Beautiful”, “Elizabeth” and “The Thin Red Line”. Julia Roberts, Bruce Willis and Robin Williams were the top grossing actors.
Cher had the fabulous number one hit, “Believe”, in 1999. It featured a pioneering use of the audio processing software Auto-Tune to distort Cher's vocals, which was widely imitated and became known as the "Cher effect". Other top songs were “No Scrubs” by TLC, and “Angel of Mine” by Monica, and “Baby One More Time”, by Britney Spears.