1973 in LGBT rights

This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the year 1973.

January
The Metropolitan Community Church's headquarters in Los Angeles is burned to the ground by an unknown assailant. No persons are inside of the building at the time of the fire.

June

 * 24 – The UpStairs Lounge arson attack in the French Quarter of New Orleans kills 32 members of a Metropolitan Community Church congregation meeting.

October

 * 10 – The Toronto city council passes a resolution banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in civic hiring.

November

 * 5 – The Supreme Court of the United States in Wainwright v. Stone finds that the sodomy law of Florida is not unconstitutionally vague, reversing a Fifth Circuit ruling.
 * 9 — The Kentucky Court of Appeals rules in Jones v. Callahan that two women were properly denied a marriage license despite the gender neutrality of the state's marriage statute.

December

 * 13 – Washington, D.C.'s Title 34 makes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation illegal.
 * 15 – The board of the American Psychiatric Association votes 13–0 to remove homosexuality from its official list of psychiatric disorders, the DSM-II. The resolution also urges an end to private and public discrimination and the repeal of laws discriminating against homosexuals.
 * 20 – The city council of New York City rejects a gay rights ordinance.
 * 21 – A United States federal judge issues a bulletin stating that the federal civil service may not terminate an employee based on sexual orientation alone.