On October 1, 1989, the Registered Partnership Act went into effect in Denmark. It was the first law in the world that allowed civil unions between homosexual couples. Read a report on the world's first civil unions from the New York Times.

On October 1, 1924, William Rehnquist, late Chief Justice of the United States, was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Read remarks by President Ronald Reagan at the swearing-in ceremony for Chief Justice Rehnquist (joined by new Associate Justice Antonin Scalia).