This timeline was very difficult to put together. There are very few references that list examples of immorality. It's unfortunate that most Christians organization fails to document a history of the immorality that transpires around them. If they were to keep list of events, they'd noticed an ominous downward trend. Because we're rapidly running out of perversions that have not been exploited, eventually the immorality timeline will stop or slow to a crawl.
1931
Nevada legalized most forms of gambling in the state. The Nevada legislature was motivated to build on the tourism boom that was expected in the wake of the completion of Hoover Dam.
1946
The Motion Picture Association of America withdraws its seal of approval for Howard Hughes's movie "The Outlaw" after he refuses to submit film ads to the MPAA for approval.
1948
U.S. Supreme Court ruling, McCollum v. Board of Education:
The court found religious instruction in public schools to be a violation of the establishment clause and therefore unconstitutional.
1951
The Motion Pictures Production Code specifically prohibits films dealing with abortion or narcotics.
1952
Ruling that motion pictures are protected by the 1st Amendment to the Constitution, the Supreme Court overturns a New York court's ban on the showing of The Miracle, which was accused of being sacrilegious.
1953
Playboy magazine first emerged on the scene. The original pictures in Playboy were tame by today's standards. The magazine's founder Hugh Hefner has been an active spokesman for the new morality.
1955
The nine story Riviera Hotel in Los Vegas became the first high rise casino on the strip.
1955
United Artists withdraws from the Motion Picture Association refuses to issue a Production Code seal to the company's film The Man With the Golden Arm, which deals with drug addiction.
1955
The American Law Institute's model penal code omitted sodomy laws for the first time - without fanfare.
1956
The film industry permits references to abortion, drugs, kidnapping, and prostitution under certain circumstances.
1961
The Illinois legislature revised their criminal code without prohibiting sodomy. The law went into effect the following year.
1962
Any kind of prayer, composed by public school districts, even nondenominational prayer, is unconstitutional government sponsorship of religion, so says the Supreme Court.
1964
New Hampshire was the first state to sponsor a lottery, New York followed threeyears later.
1965
"The Pawnbroker" becomes the first major Hollywood film to feature frontal nudity.
1966
"Georgie Girl" becomes the first film to carry the label "recommended for mature audiences."
1968
The film industry announced a rating system: "G" for general audiences; "M" for mature audiences; "R," no one under 16 admitted without an adult guardian; and "X," no one under 16 admitted.
1968
U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Epperson v. Arkansas:
State statue banning teaching of evolution is unconstitutional. A state cannot alter any element in a course of study in order to promote a religious point of view. A state's attempt to hide behind a nonreligious motivation will not be given credence unless that state can show a secular reason as the foundation for its actions.
1968
Park Theater in Los Angeles became the first theater to commercially show films with male nudity and gay themes.
1969
Midnight Cowboy becomes the first major X-rated film.
1969
Anton Szandor LaVey, called "the black pope" by many of his followers, publishes the Satanic Bible. Over the years the book has been translated into every major language, and it has been an inspiration for many well-known criminals.
1971
New Jersey launched the first financially successful modern lottery. The New Jersey lottery was successful because it stressed frequent action at low cost, and it returned a higher percentage of lottery revenues as prizes.
1974
In an effort to promote a chain of strip clubs, Larry Flynt started the Hustler Club newsletter as an inexpensive way to promote the club's various dancers. Its popularity grew, and in 1974 he published the first issue of the magazine -Hustler. Flynt's sleazy publication set many new lows in the field of porn.
1977
First published in February, Gambling Times became America's first gambling magazine.
1977
After winning the post of supervisor for the City of San Francisco, Harvey Milk became the nation's first open gay elected official. Two years later he became a martyr when he was shot to death by a fellow city supervisor.
1980
U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Stone v. Graham:
The Court said posting of the Ten Commandments in the nation's schools was unconstitutional.
1982
After years of appeals, the Supreme Court ruled, in Board of Education vs. Pico, that "local school boards may not remove books from school library shelves simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books and seek by their removal to prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion or other matters of opinion." The case was brought by students opposing a directive made by the Island Trees School District in Levittown, N.Y. ordering the removal of books considered "anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, and just plain filthy" from school libraries.
1983
On June 15 te Supreme Court struck down city ordinances requiring that all second-trimester abortions be performed in a hospital; a woman seeking an abortion delay at least twenty-four hours after giving written consent and receiving biased information from the attending physician; women under age fifteen must obtain the "informed" written consent of one parent twenty-fours hour prior to an abortion; and fetal remains must be disposed of in a "humane and sanitary" manner.
1984
The Motion Picture Association of America and the National Association of Theater Owners creates the rating PG-13. The new rating would indicate: some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
1985
California passed a law which fined physicians up to $10,000 plus a year in prison if they violated confidentiality in regards to a patient testing positive for HIV. This meant, for example, that no doctor could alert any of his staff about a patient's HIV status prior to surgery or treatment without breaking the law.
1985
U.S. Supreme Court ruling: Wallace v. Jaffree
State's moment of silence at public school statute is unconstitutional where legislative record reveals that motivation for statute was the encouragement of prayer. Court majority silent on whether "pure" moment of silence scheme, with no bias in favor of prayer or any other mental process, would be constitutional.
1986
U.S. Supreme Court ruling: Bowers v. Hardwick
In this case the Court actually voted against immorality. In a 5-4 decision the justices found that nothing in the Constitution "extend a fundamental right to homosexuals to engage in acts of consensual sodomy." The unfavorable decision proved be a blessing for gay rights groups. within a few shorts years, nearly all sodomy laws were struck down.
1987
Televangelists Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart became the centers of two major sex scandals. Bakker had an affair with a church secretary and Swaggart was found to be a frequent visitor of prostitutes.
1990
The movie rating standard NC-17 (No Children 17 or under) is introduced.
1991
The "Jerry Springer Show," a daily, one hour talk show, which premiered on September 30. Springer helped pioneer what is commonly called trash talk TV. This is where guests of the show are encouraged to get into loud arguments orpublicly display some immoral behavior.
1992
U.S. Supreme Court ruling: Lee v. Weisman
Unconstitutional for a school district to provide any clergy to perform nondenominational prayer at elementary or secondary school graduation. It involves government sponsorship of worship. Court majority was particularly concerned about psychological coercion to which children, as opposed to adults, would be subjected, by having prayers that may violate their beliefs recited at their graduation ceremonies.
1991
Viewers first saw condom ads on TV, when Fox Television became the first major network to accept them.
1996
The cartoon program South Park begins airing on Comedy Central. The show quickly established itself as a tend setter for filth and blasphemy.
1995
Anticipating the role the internet would play in the future of gaming, Gambling Times establishes the industry's first online gambling portal.
1997
On November 8, Oregon voters approved Measure 16, the "Death with Dignity Act".Since passage of the law, few Oregonians have actually utilized it.
1997
President Clinton became the first sitting president to address a homosexual rights group when he spoke at a sold-out dinner speech to the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest homosexual and lesbian group.
2000
In a 5-4 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Nebraska ban on "partial-birth abortion," finding it an unconstitutional violation of Roe v. Wade.
2000
The successful derailment of the Dr. Laura Schlessinger TV show marks one of the first times a gay led boycott was able to muster enough influence to force an alteration to network programming.
2001
On its June 20 episode, animated characters on Comedy Central's South Park used the s-word a staggering 162 times - more than seven times a minute.
2001
In Aug the four major broadcast networks ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX agreed to lower their standards on sex, violent, and language to complete with the already lowered standards set by cable TV networks.
2001
In Dec broadcaster NBC declared it would end a ban on distilled-liquor ads. The first ads were seen on the comedy program "Saturday Night Live."
2002
Years of sexual abuse to minors by priests finally catches up with the Roman Catholic Church. The scandal was made all the worse by revelations of coverups and hush money.
2003
The US Supreme Court strikes down state sodomy laws. The 6 to 3 vote was an abrupt reversal of the Supreme Court’s long history of upholding laws that regulate homosexual behavior.
