May 22 Holidays

International Day for Biological Diversity was established by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, which opened for signature on May 22, 1992, at the Rio Earth Summit — the date now anchors the annual campaign around a biodiversity theme. Harvey Milk Day marks the May 22, 1930 birthday of Harvey Milk, the San Francisco supervisor who became the first openly gay person elected to public office in California — assassinated in 1978, he is a symbol of the LGBTQ+ rights movement. Bitcoin Pizza Day marks May 22, 2010, when programmer Laszlo Hanyecz paid 10,000 bitcoins for two Papa John’s pizzas — widely recognized as the first real-world commercial bitcoin transaction, those coins’ later value made it the most expensive pizza in history. World Goth Day was established in 2009 by BBC Radio 6 presenters to celebrate goth subculture, music, fashion, and the philosophical embrace of darkness as aesthetic. Biodiversity, a San Francisco ballot, 10,000 coins, and black eyeliner.