stitched together as one community . The colours also have each a meaning : pink for sexuality , red for life , orange for healing , yellow for sunlight , green for nature , turquoise for magic , indigo for serenity , violet for spirit - pink and turquoise have later been removed for technical reasons ( pink couldn ’ t be properly rendered ) and balance reasons ( a pair numer seemed better ). The flag becomes extremely popular after the murder of Harvey Milk in November 1978 . As the decade closes , the first case of AIDS appears in the US , yet not registered as such .
WEST
Europe is a more complicated subject because it is a patchwork of countries and cultures . While some of them , like France , tend to be seen as very open minded , very soon , others like England have a more puritan reputation . But the cradle of the “ Swinging Sixties ” deserves a more nuanced portrait .
From a political point of view , for example , things actually happen to contradict these assumptions entirely . Since 1942 , France condemns homosexual relationships under the basis of protecting m i n o r s , b u t w h e n h e t e r o s e x u a l relationships are forbidden with a minor under 13 , the legal age for homosexual relationships is 21 - which is the age of majority at the time . This limitation is lowered in 1974 when the age of majority becomes 18 years old . On another note , starting 1960 , indecent assault is punished twice as harshly if it ’ s of homosexual nature . In England , the decade opens with the case of April Ashley , model and restaurant hostess , who is outed as a trans woman in 1961 and loses her job . She is the first known case of reassignment surgery . Meanwhile , homosexuality stops being criminalized in both England and Wales in 1967 . In Germany , the political situation is complicated by the aftermath of the war . The law condemning homosexual acts , called paragraph 175 , is a remnant of the german empire that had been enforced by the nazis , and it is kept by the newfound Democratic Republic of Germany until 1968 , and by West Germany in 1969 . In both cases , there is also a difference of legal age between homosexual relationships ( 21 ) and heterosexulal ones ( 14 ). In Italy , homosexuals acts have been allowed since the unification of the country in 1860 , but Mussolini ’ s regime still persecuted homosexual men , with public admonitions and confinement . As for A u s t r i a , t h e d e c r i m i n a l i z ation o f homosexual acts happens as late as 1970 .
Activism happens late . Communist movements from all countries tend to be supportive of LGBT rights , but even leftist groups are tainted with homophobia , and the first LGBT organizations only start appearing at the end of the decade : in 1969 it ’ s the Committee for Homosexual Equality in Manchester who becomes one of the first british organizations fighting for
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