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This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the year 1980.

• New York (in People v. Onofre)^[1] and Pennsylvania (in Commonwealth v. Bonadio)^[2] become the first U.S. states to hold same-sex sodomy laws unconstitutional. No other state's highest court will do so again until the Kentucky Supreme Court issues its holding in Kentucky v. Wasson in 1992.^[3]

• 3 — Voters in San Jose and Santa Clara County, California, vote to repeal the city and county gay rights ordinances.^[4]

• 5 — The Liberal Party of Canada adopts an official resolution to include sexual orientation in the Canadian Human Rights Act.^[5]
• 31 — The Toronto Board of Education (since merged into the Toronto District School Board) votes to consider whether to establish a permanent liaison committee with the gay community.

• Mel Boozer is nominated by petition for the vice presidency of the United States at the 1980 Democratic National Convention.^[6] After addressing the convention, Boozer withdraws himself from consideration.^[7] Boozer was separately nominated for the office by the Socialist Party USA.^[8]

• 9 — The former municipality of Metropolitan Toronto passes a declaration about being an equal opportunity employer, but refuses to pass a stronger Metro Bill of Rights which explicitly includes sexual orientation.
• 15 — At its first meeting, the subcommittee established by the Toronto Board of Education to explore the possibility of establishing a liaison with the gay community votes to disband.
• 18 — The Toronto Board of Education adopts a policy banning discrimination based on sexual orientation while adding a clause forbidding "proselytizing of homosexuality in the schools".^[9]

• Timeline of LGBT history — timeline of events from 12,000 BCE to present
• LGBT rights by country or territory — current legal status around the world
• LGBT social movements

• Sears, Thomas James (2001). Rebels, Rubyfruit, and Rhinestones: Queering Space in the Stonewall South. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 0-8135-2964-6.
• Shilts, Randy (1987). And the Band Played on: Politics, People, And the AIDS Epidemic. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-00994-1.
• Smith, Raymond A. and Donald P. Haider-Markel (2003). Gay and Lesbian Americans and Political Participation: A Reference Handbook. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 1-57607-256-8.