OUT: The Gay Rights Movement

1960's | 1970's | 1980's | 1990's | 2000's

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June 28, 1969 - In New York City, police again raiding the gay bar called Stonewall Inn are met with resistance from gays, lesbians and transvestites; the 4-day "Stonewall riots" are now viewed as the start of the gay and lesbian liberation movement

1969 - Gay Liberation Front forms in July

1969 - Gay Activists Alliance forms in December

1970 - In New York City, the first Gay and Lesbian Pride March is held to commemorate the Stonewall riots; annual freedom parades and pride parades nationwide continue to this day

1972 - East Lansing, Michigan, becomes the first city in the U.S. to ban anti-gay bias in city hiring

1972 - Reverend William Johnson becomes the firstopenly gay person ordained in any Christian organization: the United Church of Christ.

1972 - The Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Netherlands rules that lesbians and gays could serve as pastors, becoming the first European Christian denomination to do so. Many other protestant churches would issue similar rulings in the following decades.

1973 - The American Psychiatric Association affirms that homosexuality can no longer be classified as a mental disorder

1974 - Nation’s first openly lesbian is elected to Ann Arbor City Council

1974 - House Resolution 14752, first gay civil rights bill, introduced in Congress

1975 - Assembly Bill (AB) 489 passes, decriminalizing sodomy in California

1975 - Santa Cruz County becomes first U.S. county to ban discrimination against gays and lesbians

1976 - San Francisco hires country’s first openly gay law enforcement officer

1977 - In San Francisco, first openly gay City Supervisor, Harvey Milk, is elected

1978 - In San Francisco, only one year later, Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone are assassinated by Dan White

1978 - In San Francisco, Rainbow Flag is designed by Gilbert Baker

1978 - California voters defeat the Briggs initiative, which would have barred gays and lesbians from teaching in public schools

1979 - First attempt to add sexual orientation to protected categories under Fair Employment and Housing Act, introduced as AB 1 by Art Agnos

1980 - US Navy assigns 68 women to serve on the USS Norton Sound. Of that 68, 28 are investigated for Lesbianism.

1981 - First cases of AIDS are reported; in 1983 researchers identify HIV as cause

1982 - Wisconsin becomes the first state to enact gay civil rights legislation

1982 - Parents & Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) is founded

1984 - Berkeley becomes the first city in the U.S. to extend domestic partnership benefits to gay and lesbian city employees

1984 - AB 1, first bill to ban discrimination against gays and lesbians, passes legislature but is vetoed by Governor Deukmajian; rallies and protests statewide

1985 - Harvey Milk School opens, first school geared toward Gay Teens

1986 - The gay community successfully defeats two LaRouche initiatives that propose quarantining Californians with AIDS and HIV. Out of this effort comes the first statewide advocacy group for gay and lesbian civil rights - the Lobby for Individual Freedom and Equality (LIFE Lobby).

1986 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in the case of Bowers v. Hardwick that homosexual activity between consenting adults in the privacy of the home was not protected by the Constitution.

1987 - ACT UP is formed; demands early release of experimental drugs for seriously ill Americans with cancer, AIDS, and other diseases

1987 - October  500,000 Gay Men and Women march on Washington to protest the Hardwick decision.

1989 - California Legislature passes comprehensive Hate Crimes law, which includes sexual orientation

1989 - Tongues Untied premiers on PBS sparking debate about NEA funding Gay themed art.

1990 - For the first time, the national census includes a question that more or less identifies gay couples

1990 - Queer Nation formed in New York

1990 - Julio Rivera is murdered in New York City beaten with a Beer Bottle, Hammer, Wrench and then stabbed with a Knife for being Gay.

1991 - AB 101, second attempt to ban discrimination, passes Legislature but is vetoed by Governor Wilson; rallies and protests for several weeks statewide

1992 - Governor Wilson signs non-discrimination bill (AB 2601), adding sexual orientation protections to the Labor Code

1992 - May Tracy Thorne appears on ABC TV to urge an end to the ba on homosexuals in the miltary and came out during the interview. Within days of his television appearance, the Navy notified Thorne of discharge proceedings. 

1992 - Oregon Ballot Measure 9 Defeated

1993 - Roberta Achtenberg is the first openly gay or lesbian person to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate

1993 - President Clinton settles for "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" military policy

1993 - Brandon Teena is raped and murdered;

1994 - Sheila James Kuehl elected to California Assembly, first openly lesbian or gay member of the Legislature

1994 - 25th Anniversary of Stonewall Riots; draws 1.1 million marchers

1994 - American Medical Association opposes medical treatment to "cure" homosexuals

1995 - Tracy Thorne is discharged from the Navy for homosexuality. Thorne had been awarded the Navy Achievement Medal for "superb leadership, exceptional professionalism and total devotion to duty.'' just prior to his discharge  

1996 - Openly lesbian Carole Migden elected to California Assembly

1996 - Congress passes "Defense of Marriage" act giving states the right to not recognize same-sex marriages from other states

1996 - U.S. Supreme Court strikes down Colorado anti-gay Amendment 2

1996 - First attempt to create state domestic partner registry (AB 2810); vetoed by Governor Wilson

1997 - Assembly Member Sheila James Kuehl becomes first woman and first openly lesbian Speaker pro Tempore

1997 - The Hawaii Legislature passed a law that allows same-sex couples to enter into a reciprocal beneficiary relationship

1998 - Matthew Shepard is tortured and murdered in Wyoming

1999 - First statewide Domestic Partnership registration (AB 26) passes Legislature and is signed by Governor Davis

1999 - AB 1001, adding sexual orientation to Fair Employment and Housing Act, passes Legislature and is signed by Governor Davis

1999 - AB 537, protecting gay and lesbian students from harassment, passes Legislature and is signed by Governor Davis

1999 - Gary Matson and Winfield Mowder are murdered in Redding, CA

2000 - Sheila James Kuehl becomes first openly lesbian elected California Senator

2000 - Openly lesbian Christine Kehoe and Jackie Goldberg are elected to California Assembly

2000 - Vermont becomes first state to offer civil unions for same-sex couples

2000 - U.S. Supreme Court rules in close 5-4 vote that the First Amendment allows the Boy Scouts of America to oust a gay Scout leader in New Jersey

2001 - The Netherlands becomes the first country to grant full marriage rights to same-sex couples

2001 - Federal judge upholds Florida law that bans gays from adopting children

2002 - California teen Eddie "Gwen" Araujo is fatally attacked by four men who discover "Gwen" is actually a young transgendered male

2002 - The nation’s first legislative Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Caucus is formed in the California Legislature with the following members: Senator Sheila Kuehl and Assembly Members Jackie Goldberg, Christine Kehoe, and Carole Migden

2002 - John Laird of Santa Cruz and Mark Leno of San Francisco become first openly gay men in the California Legislature, and active members of LGBT Caucus, when they are elected to the State Assembly

2003 - Belgium and three Canadian provinces extend marriage rights to same-sex couples

2003 - In Lawrence v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that laws against private, consensual, non-commercial sex between adults are a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. The decision overturns the "sodomy laws" in the 13 states that still retain them.

2004 - On May 17, same-sex marriages become legal in Massachusetts.

2004 - The U.S. Supreme Court refuses to intervene as Massachusetts issues marriage licenses to same-sex couples in the state. Gay and lesbian couples begin exchanging vows

2004 - Federal marriage amendment defeated.

2004 - New Jersey’s partnership law takes effect July 1. Civil unions are legal in Vermont. California and Hawaii have domestic partnership laws that provide certain legal rights to gay relationships. Virginia expands its ban on same-sex marriage by prohibiting partnership contracts, civil unions, and other arrangements between persons of the same sex, and declares void and unenforceable any contractual rights created by the couple. The U.S. Supreme Court refuses to intervene as Massachusetts becomes first state to legalize same-sex marriage.

2005 - San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer rules that California can no longer justify limiting marriage to a man and woman.

2005 - Civil unions become legal in Connecticut in October

2006 - Civil unions become legal in New Jersey in December.

2007 - Same-sex couples in Oregon approves domestic partnerships that provide the same rights, benefits, and responsibilities as marriage under state law,

2007 - Washington state legislature passed a law establishing a domestic partner registry

2007 - In November, the House of Representatives approves a bill ensuring equal rights in the workplace for gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals.

2008 - February, a New York State appeals court unanimously votes that valid same-sex marriages performed in other states must be recognized by employers in New York, granting same-sex couples the same rights as other couples.The state of Oregon passes a law that allows same-sex couples to register as domestic partners allowing them some spousal rights of married couples.

2008 - The California Supreme Court rules that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. By November 3rd, more than 18,000 same-sex couples have married.

2008 - The Supreme Court of Connecticut rules that same-sex couples have the right to marry.
 
2008 - Voters in California, Arizona, and Florida approved the passage of measures that ban same-sex marriage. Arkansas passed a measure intended to bar gay men and lesbians from adopting children.

2008 - California voters approved a ban on same-sex marriage called Proposition 8. The attorney general of California, Jerry Brown, asked the state's Supreme Court to review the constitutionality of Proposition 8.

2008 - Same-sex marriages begin to be officially performed in Connecticut.

2009 - Marriage licenses began to be issued to same-sex couples in Iowa

2009 - April 29, Matthew Shepard Act (HR 1913) passed the House. Currently pending in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

2009 - The California Supreme Court ruled that "The Amendment to the State Constitution referred to as Proposition 8 is valid and enforceable from the moment it was passed." but the 18,000 marriages performed while Gay Marriage was legal remain valid

September 2009 - marriage licenses will begin to be issued to same-sex couples in Maine & Vermont
 
January 1, 2010 - marriage licenses will begin to be issued to same-sex couples in New Hampshire.