1980 in LGBTQ history

The Violet Quill (or the Violet Quill Club) was a group of seven gay male writers that met in 1980 and 1981 in New York City to read from their writings to each other and to critique them. This group and the writers epitomize the years between the Stonewall Riots and the beginning of the AIDS pandemic.

Gay Life is a documentary television programme broadcast by London Weekend Television (LWT) in 1980. It was produced by Michael Atwell at LWT's London Minorities Unit, and was the United Kingdom's first LGBTQ television series.

The Ramrod was a gay leather bar at 394–395 West Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, which earned unsought notoriety as the site of an infamous hate crime. The bar was shuttered and never reopened after an act of anti-gay gun violence in 1980. Ex-transit cop Ronald K. Crumpley fired a submachine gun at Ramrod bar patrons, killing two people and wounding three others during a shooting spree in Greenwich Village, then considered one of the epicenters of gay life in the United States.

Ronald K. Crumpley (January 26, 1942 – April 4, 2015) was a former officer with the NYC Transit Authority who went on a shooting spree in New York City's Greenwich Village neighborhood in November 1980, targeting gay men.

The Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth (BAGLY) is a non-profit organization located in Boston that works to protect, expand, and raise awareness for the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning youth (LGBTQ+). Founded by LGBTQ+ youth in 1980, it adopts a youth-led, adult-supported approach to better meet the varied needs of a wide demographic of LGBTQ+ youth in Greater Boston. BAGLY's stated goals are to create, sustain, and advocate for socially just and intersectional programs, policies, and services for the LGBTQ+ youth community, which they achieve through frequent community-based leadership development, health promotion, and social support programs.

Fricke v. Lynch, 491 F. Supp. 381 (D.R.I. 1980), was a decision in the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island that upheld the right of Aaron Fricke to bring a same-sex date to a high school dance. The Court ruled that existing free speech doctrine protected gay and lesbian students' rights to attend their proms with same-sex dates of their choice. The case was "one of the first successful victories in the courtroom for an LGBT issue involving young people, and is routinely cited each year in numerous cases surrounding the rights of students to bring same-sex dates to school functions."

The Great American Lesbian Art Show (GALAS) was an art exhibition at the Woman's Building (a feminist art center) in Los Angeles, California with associated events in other locations. It ran from 3–31 May 1980. The Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center also supported the exhibit.

The New York City Gay Men's Chorus is a choral organization in New York City that has been presenting an annual concert season for more than three decades.

Miss Continental is an annual drag queen pageantry system founded in 1980 by Jim Flint. The pageant itself takes place at the Baton Show Lounge in Chicago, Illinois, and is usually held over Labor Day weekends.

The History Project is a Boston-based community archives focused on telling and preserving the history of New England LGBTQ people. It is one of the largest independent LGBTQ archives in the United States. They continue to offer programs and collect materials related to the LGBTQ history of New England.