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The Society for Human Rights was the first documented organization to fight for gay rights. It was founded by a man named Henry Gerber in 1924. He was a German immigrant who lived in Chicago. The organization was influenced by a German doctor who worked with the  Scientific-Humanitarian Committee. The organization sadly had to disperse because many members were arrested for  “obscenity”(some of the members wives gave the police a tip), and the group soon went bankrupt with all the legal fees, and the scandal caused Henry Gerber to lose his job.

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The Society for Human Rights | Legacy Project Chicago

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The First LGBT Rights Organization in the United States

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In the 60 ´ s it was illegal to serve people in the LGBTQ community alcohol and many bars and, people caught doing so would be arrested, or their shop would get shut down. The Stonewall Inn was a bar thought to be a safe space for people in the LGBTQ community, welcoming people in drag, gay people, and the homeless, and it was owned by the Mafia meaning ¨police were paid to look the other way.¨ In June of 1969 the police raided the bar and arrested bartenders and people dressed in drag. The second raid people started to fight back, causing an uprising in the fight for gay rights. This really was the turning point of the movement because it encouraged many people to stand up to homophobic activities like this.

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On a hot summer night in 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a bar located in New York City's Greenwich Village that served as a haven for the city's gay, lesbian and transgender community.

At the time, homosexual acts remained illegal in every state except Illinois, and bars and restaurants could get shut down for having gay employees or serving gay patrons. Most gay bars and clubs in New York at the time (including the Stonewall) were operated by the Mafia, who paid corrupt police officers to look the other way and blackmailed wealthy gay patrons by threatening to "out" them.

Police raids on gay bars were common, but on that particular night, members of the city's LGBTQ community decided to fight back-sparking an uprising that would launch a new era of resistance and revolution.
June 24, 1969: Police arrest Stonewall employees, confiscate alcohol.
On the Tuesday before the riots began, police conducted an evening raid on the Stonewall, arresting some of its employees and confiscating its stash of illegal liquor. As with many similar raids, the police targeted the bar for operating without a proper liquor license.

After the raid, the NYPD planned a second raid for the following Friday, which they hoped would shut down the bar for good.
June 27-28, 1969: Stonewall crowd erupts after police arrest and rough up patrons.
After midnight on an unseasonably hot Friday night, the Stonewall was packed when eight plainclothes or undercover police officers (six men and two women) entered the bar. In addition to the bar's employees, they also singled out drag queens and other cross-dressing patrons for arrest. In New York City, " masquerading " as a member of the opposite sex was a crime.

More NYPD officers arrived on foot and in three patrol cars. Meanwhile, bar patrons who had been released joined the crowds of onlookers that were forming outside the Stonewall. A police van arrived, and police began loading Stonewall employees and cross-dressers inside.
Early hours of June 28, 1969: Transgender women resist arrest. Bottles are thrown at police.
Accounts vary over exactly what kicked off the riots, but according to witness reports, the crowd erupted after police roughed up a woman dressed in masculine attire (some believe the woman was lesbian activist Stormé DeLarverie) who had complained that her handcuffs were too tight. People started taunting the officers, yelling "Pigs!" and "Copper!" and throwing pennies at them, followed by bottles; some in the crowd slashed the tires of the police vehicles.

According to David Carter, historian and author of Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution, the "hierarchy of resistance" in the riots began with the homeless or "street" kids, those young gay men who viewed the Stonewall as the only safe place in their lives.

Two transgender women of color, Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, were said to have resisted arrest and thrown the first bottle (or brick or stone) at the cops, respectively. Although Johnson later said in a 1987 podcast interview with historian Eric Marcus that she had not arrived until the uprising was well underway.

The exact breakdown of who did what first remains unclear-in part because this was long before the smartphone era and there was minimal documentation of the night's events.
Close to 4 a.m. June 28, 1969: Police retreat and barricade themselves inside Stonewall.
As the police van and squad cars left to drop the prisoners off at the nearby Sixth Precinct, the growing mob forced the original NYPD raiding party to retreat into the Stonewall itself and barricade themselves inside.

Some rioters used a parking meter as a battering ram to break through the door; others threw beer bottles, trash and other objects, or made impromptu firebombs with bottles, matches and lighter fluid.

Sirens announced the arrival of more police officers, as well as squadrons of the Tactical Patrol Force (TPF), the city's riot police. As the helmeted officers marched in formation down Christopher Street, protesters outsmarted them by running away, then circling the short blocks of the Village and coming back up behind the officers.

Finally, sometime after 4 a.m., things settled down. Amazingly, no one died or was critically injured on the first night of rioting, though a few police officers reported injuries.
June 28-29: Stonewall reopens, supporters gather. Police beat and tear gas the crowd.
Despite having been torn apart by the cops, the Stonewall Inn opened before dark the next night (though it wasn't serving alcohol). More and more supporters showed up, chanting slogans like "gay power" and "we shall overcome."

Again the police were called out to restore order, including an even larger group of TPF officers, who beat and tear-gassed members of the crowd. This continued until the early hours of the morning when the crowd dispersed.
June 29-July 1, 1969: Stonewall becomes gathering point for LGBTQ activists.
Over the next several nights, gay activists continued to gather near the Stonewall, taking advantage of the moment to spread information and build the community that would fuel the growth of the gay rights movement. Though police officers also returned, the mood was less confrontational, with isolated skirmishes replacing the large-scale riots of the weekend.
July 2, 1969: Gay activists protest newspaper coverage.
In response to the Village Voice'scoverage of the riots, which referred to " the forces of faggotry," protesters swarmed outside the paper's offices. Some called for burning the building down. When the police pushed back, rioting started again, but lasted only a short time, concluding by midnight.

The New York Daily News also resorted to homophobic slurs in its detailed coverage, running the headline: "Homo Nest Raided, Queen Bees Are Stinging Mad." Meanwhile, the New York Times wrote only sparingly of the whole event, printing a short article on page 22 on June 30 titled "Police Again Rout 'Village' Youths."
The lasting impact of the Stonewall Riots.
With Stonewall, the spirit of '60s rebellion spread to LGBTQ people in New York and beyond, who for the first time found themselves part of a community. Though the gay rights movement didn't begin at Stonewall, the uprising did mark a turning point, as earlier "homophile" organizations like the Mattachine Society gave way to more radical groups like the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) and the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA).
June 28, 1970: First Gay Pride parade sets off from Stonewall.
On the first anniversary of the police raid on the Stonewall Inn, gay activists in New York organized the Christopher Street Liberation March to cap off the city's first Gay Pride Week. As several hundred people began marching up 6th Avenue toward Central Park, supporters from the crowd joined them. The procession eventually stretched some 15 city blocks, encompassing thousands of people.

Inspired by New York's example, activists in other cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston and Chicago, organized gay pride celebrations that same year. The frenzy of activism born on that first night at Stonewall would eventually fuel gay rights movements in Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Australia and New Zealand, among other countries, becoming a lasting force that would carry on for the next half-century-and beyond.

HISTORY Vault: America the Story of Us

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What Happened at the Stonewall Riots? A Timeline of the 1969 Uprising | HISTORY

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The June 1969 uprising at New York City's Stonewall Inn marked a raucous turning point in the fight for LGBT rights.

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The outbreak of Aids had a lasting effect on the LGBTQ community. The first case in the U.S was in June 1981. It was very heartbreaking, and many lives were lost. There were more than 100,000 cases reported in the U.S alone in 1988. As dark of a time it was though it is really what brought the all the lesbian, gay, trans, bi, and queer people together, and united them more as a unit, to become the true LGBTQ community. Aids is still a problem in the

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12/15/2018

The emergence of AIDS activism helped bring attention to multiple systems of injustice
by Ashley Latham, SF LGBT Center intern

The AIDS epidemic in San Francisco began in the 1980s with the first documented case occurring in 1981. The disease was found in gay men living in major metropolitan areas, such as San Francisco. During the initial discovery of AIDS, it was commonly referred to as GRID (Gay-Related Autoimmune Disease), which worked to create early and everlasting associations between homosexuality and AIDS. Once researchers realized the disease was not gay-specific, GRID became known as AIDS.

"From the start of the epidemic, those most affected by HIV/AIDS were among the most stigmatized populations in American society: gay men, injection drug users, and immigrants. The association of the disease with marginalized groups hindered the development of prevention and treatment strategies." ( Why We Fight: Remembering AIDS Activism)

Individuals with AIDS not only struggled to find medical care and treatments, but also endured the menacing effects of socialized stigma surrounding the disease. Enduring and ultimately surviving the AIDS epidemic brought people of differing identities together: lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals formed what we know today as the LGBTQ community.

In response to the effects of HIV and AIDS felt amongst the LGBTQ community, the emergence of AIDS activism helped bring attention to multiple systems of injustice.

"Government was failing our community at the time, and the community actually said 'no, we are going to take care of each other, we are going to be there for each other, and we are going to curtail the spread of this disease in really amazing and creative ways,'" says Roberto Ordeñana the Deputy Executive Director at the SF LGBT Center.

The efforts of AIDS activists commonly focused on stigmatization of the disease, the promotion of safe sex practices, and clean needle exchanges. AIDS activists strove to transform personal grief into a collective political voice while maintaining the dignity of people living with HIV, according to Why We Fight.

A combination of the power of protest in addition to large-scale fundraising worked to call attention to the AIDS epidemic. The first and largest AIDS Walk was organized in San Francisco in 1987. The survival of the LGBTQ community in the face of AIDS was a testament to the community members' ability to advocate and protect one another. The creation and establishment of organizations such as the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the SF LGBT Center was, in many ways, a by-product of the call to action evoked by the AIDS epidemic.

"The idea for the Center was born out of the AIDS epidemic," says Ordeñana. "A group of community members came together in the 90s to really think about constructing a community center that would serve as a beacon of hope for the community, because it had obviously been devastated by the AIDS epidemic, particularly in San Francisco."

The AIDS epidemic has had lasting effects on the LGBT community, especially in San Francisco.

"It's important to recognize the trauma that survivors are carrying," says Ordeñana. "People who lost their whole entire family network, who had found family and formed family through friendships, and how devastating that is...and how real that is for people to still carry."

(Photo: Max Templeton/Unsplash)

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Looking Back: The AIDS Epidemic - SF LGBT Center

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12/15/2018 The emergence of AIDS activism helped bring attention to multiple systems of injustice by Ashley Latham, SF LGBT Center intern The AIDS epidemic in San Francisco began in the 1980s with the first documented case occurring in 1981. The disease was found in gay men living in major metropolitan areas, such as San Francisco.

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June is the official pride month for people in the LGBTQ community. It is in memory of what happened at Stonewall in 1969, but it does not only represent that it also represents LGBTQ people ´ s fight for equality, and freedom to be themselves. The first Pride march was on June 28th, 1970 as well, which is another reason why June is declared the national Pride month from 2000 to today.

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Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Pride Month is currently celebrated each year in the month of June to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan. The Stonewall Uprising was a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States. In the United States the last Sunday in June was initially celebrated as "Gay Pride Day," but the actual day was flexible. In major cities across the nation the "day" soon grew to encompass a month-long series of events. Today, celebrations include pride parades, picnics, parties, workshops, symposia and concerts, and LGBTQ Pride Month events attract millions of participants around the world. Memorials are held during this month for those members of the community who have been lost to hate crimes or HIV/AIDS. The purpose of the commemorative month is to recognize the impact that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals have had on history locally, nationally, and internationally.

In 1994, a coalition of education-based organizations in the United States designated October as LGBT History Month. In 1995, a resolution passed by the General Assembly of the National Education Association included LGBT History Month within a list of commemorative months. National Coming Out Day (October 11), as well as the first "March on Washington" in 1979, are commemorated in the LGBTQ community during LGBT History Month.

Annual LGBTQ+ Pride Traditions

The first Pride march in New York City was held on June 28, 1970, on the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. Primary sources available at the Library of Congress provide detailed information about how this first Pride march was planned and the reasons why activists felt so strongly that it should exist. Looking through the Lili Vincenz and Frank Kameny Papers in the Library's Manuscript Division, researchers can find planning documents, correspondence, flyers, ephemera and more from the first Pride marches in 1970. This, the first U.S. Gay Pride Week and March, was meant to give the community a chance to gather together to "...commemorate the Christopher Street Uprisings of last summer in which thousands of homosexuals went to the streets to demonstrate against centuries of abuse ... from government hostility to employment and housing discrimination, Mafia control of Gay bars, and anti-Homosexual laws" (Christopher Street Liberation Day Committee Fliers, Franklin Kameny Papers). The concept behind the initial Pride march came from members of the Eastern Regional Conference of Homophile Organizations (ERCHO), who had been organizing an annual July 4th demonstration (1965-1969) known as the " Reminder Day Pickets," at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. At the ERCHO Conference in November 1969, the 13 homophile organizations in attendance voted to pass a resolution to organize a national annual demonstration, to be called Christopher Street Liberation Day.

As members of the Mattachine Society of Washington, Frank Kameny and Lilli Vincenz participated in the discussion, planning, and promotion of the first Pride along with activists in New York City and other homophile groups belonging to ERCHO.

By all estimates, there were three to five thousand marchers at the inaugural Pride in New York City, and today marchers in New York City number in the millions. Since 1970, LGBTQ+ people have continued to gather together in June to march with Pride and demonstrate for equal rights.

Watch documentary footage of the first Pride march, "Gay and Proud," a documentary by activist Lilli Vincenz:

Gay and Proud

Footage of one of the earliest Gay Pride demonstration marches, the first Christopher Street Liberation Day Parade, held in New York City, New York, on June 28, 1970, to commemorate the first anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.

Executive and Legislative Documents

The Law Library of Congress has compiled guides to commemorative observations, including a comprehensive inventory of the Public Laws, Presidential Proclamations and congressional resolutions related to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Transgender and Queer Pride Month.

Images Used on this Site

[Arthur Laurents, director La Cage aux Folles]

Walt Whitman
1819-1892

Lilli Vincenz
(The Ladder), January 1966, Lilli Vincenz Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress

Frank Kameny (in suit), June 1948, Box 137, Folder 10, Frank Kameny Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress

Pauli Murray of New York, winner of a 1946 Mademoiselle Merit Award for signal achievement in law

Bayard Rustin
1912 - 1987

Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announces the Library's acquisition of the AIDS Memorial Quilt Archive during a ceremony in the Great Hall, November 20, 2019. Photo by Shawn Miller/Library of Congress External .

The cast of Queer Eye discuss LGBTQ+ youth issues during a conversation with moderator Jonathan Capehart, April 3, 2019. Photo by Shawn Miller.

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About | Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Pride Month | Library of Congress

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Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Pride Month is currently celebrated each year in the month of June to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan. The Stonewall Uprising was a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States.

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Matthew Shepard was a college student in Wyoming that was slaughtered and beaten to death, due to his sexuality. After his death people started to get more involved in helping the LGBTQ community with equality, so much so that the Prevention Act of 2009 was passed, preventing hate crimes against a person sexuality, or specific things about them. This incident did light a spark in LGBTQ people and supporters to put even more of a fight for equality.

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University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard dies after a vicious attack by two anti-gay bigots. After meeting Shepard in a Laramie, Wyoming, gay bar, The Fireside Lounge, Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney lured him to the parking lot, where he was savagely attacked and robbed.

The two attackers then took Shepard, 21 years old and weighing just over 100 pounds, to a remote spot outside of town and tied his naked body to a wooden fence, tortured him, and left him in the freezing cold. Two mountain bikers, who initially thought his mutilated body was a scarecrow, discovered him. Shepard died soon afterward. Henderson and McKinney went on to attack two Latino youths later that same evening, beating and pistol-whipping them. Matthew Shepard's death sparked national outrage and renewed calls for extending hate crime laws to cover violence based on a person's sexual orientation. President Clinton implored Congress to pass the Hate Crimes Prevention Act in the wake of the incident.

To avoid a death sentence, Russell Henderson pleaded guilty to kidnapping and murder in April 1999 and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Later that year, Aaron McKinney attempted to use a "gay panic" defense at his own trial, claiming that Sheppard's advances disgusted him. When McKinney sought to introduce evidence that a man had molested him as a child, Judge Barton Voigt would not allow it. He ruled that the defense was too similar to temporary insanity, which is not an option in Wyoming.

McKinney was convicted of Shepard's murder but managed to escape the death penalty largely due to Shepard's parents. In the tense and quiet courtroom, Dennis Shepard told his son's murderer, "I would like nothing better than to see you die, Mr. McKinney. However, this is the time to begin the healing process. To show mercy to someone who refused to show any mercy." McKinney was sentenced to life in prison. Henderson's and McKinney's girlfriends, who had helped Henderson and McKinney dispose of evidence, were charged as accessories to the murder.

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Matthew Shepard, victim of anti-gay hate crime, dies

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University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard dies after a vicious attack by two anti-gay bigots. After meeting Shepard in a Laramie, Wyoming, gay bar, The Fireside Lounge, Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney lured him to the parking lot, where he was savagely attacked and robbed.

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Arne Duncan is an American educator, who was the U.S Secretary of Education for 6 years. He was the one banned discrimination based on sexuality in schools. On June 16, 2011 he allowed the right fro students to meet and form Gay and Straight Alliances.

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HRC: Arne Duncan Helped Lead Fight Against Discrimination and Move Toward More Inclusive Classrooms

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Skip to Content Share on Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Email WASHINGTON -- Today, the Human Rights Campaign, (HRC), the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, issued the following statement upon news that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will leave his position in December.

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The Don't ask Don't tell policy made it illegal for people in the LGBTQ community to openly serve in any branches of the military. Luckily though when Barack Obama was elected president he knew that had to go. He got rid of the policy so people could serve their country and openly be themselves, and people who were previously dishonorably discharged were able to re-enroll. The policy was officially revoked on September 20th, 2011.

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The Introduction of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

In 1994, the U.S. adopted "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" as the official federal policy on military service by lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals. The rule was discrimination in its purest form and prevented service members from being openly queer without threat of being discharged. DADT was based on the false assumption that the presence of LGBTQ+ individuals in any branch of the military would undermine the ability of people to carry out their duties. Over the course of the policy's life, thousands of brave service members were discharged simply for who they were and whom they loved.

Ensuring Justice for Service Members Everywhere

HRC made repealing DADT a top priority - and public sentiment showed the evolving perceptions of LGBTQ+ people serving openly in the military. By the time President Obama took office, we knew there was a coalition of supporters and elected officials ready to retire this hateful policy once and for all. Our Voices of Honor tour worked with hundreds of LGBTQ+ veterans across 50 different cities to lobby members of Congress to repeal DADT and identified more than 20,000 pro-repeal veterans. We also worked with Eric Alva, an openly gay Marine and the first person injured in the Iraq War, to share his story and speak on behalf of the thousands of LGBTQ+ service members actively fighting for our country.

19 million Emails to members & supporters

625,000 Emails to members of Congress

50,000 Handwritten letters

1,000 Grassroots lobby visits

A Vote for Equality

Leading up to a vote on repealing DADT in the Senate Armed Services Committee, HRC mobilized across six states identified as key to passing legislation through the committee. We then expanded our efforts across the country - hiring 27 staff members on the ground nationwide - to rally support ahead of a full Senate vote. After tens of thousands of letters, emails and calls from our members and supporters, victory was achieved and DADT was repealed in full on September 20, 2011. Service members previously discharged for their LGBTQ+ status were offered re-enrollment and future recruits knew they would no longer face discrimination when trying to serve their country.

The Continued Fight for Transgender Rights

In July 2017, President Trump sent a hateful tweet that transgender individuals would no longer be able to enter the military and those currently enlisted would not be allowed to continue in their roles. This was followed by an official memorandum the next month that went into effect in January 2019 amid ongoing lawsuits. Since then, HRC has joined a lawsuit fighting back against the policy. Trump's ban is baseless, spurious and flat out unpatriotic. HRC is continuing to fight against this ban so that all people - especially transgender individuals - can serve our country.

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Skip to Content In 1994, the U.S. adopted "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" as the official federal policy on military service by lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals. The rule was discrimination in its purest form and prevented service members from being openly queer without threat of being discharged.

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On June 15, 2015 same sex marriage was made legal in the U.S. The fight for LGBTQ marriage was long and hard. In 2003 Massachusetts was the first state to legalize it. There was a major set back when president Bush talked about how he opposed same sex marriage. Many states though started to fight for same sex marriage, and a couple years after Obama was elected he declared same sex marriage finally legal.

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From gathering supporters in small towns across the country to rallying in front of the Supreme Court of the United States, we gave our all to ensure every person, regardless of whom they love, is recognized equally under the law.

A Growing Call for Equality

Efforts to legalize same-sex marriage began to pop up across the country in the 1990s, and with it challenges on the state and national levels. Civil unions for same-sex couples existed in many states but created a separate but equal standard. At the federal level, couples were denied access to more than 1,100 federal rights and responsibilities associated with the institution, as well as those denied by their given state. The Defense of Marriage Act was signed into law in 1996 and defined marriage by the federal government as between a man and woman, thereby allowing states to deny marriage equality.

New Century & New Beginnings

As the Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas struck down sodomy laws in 2003, another victory was celebrated as Massachussetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage via a court ruling. On the federal level, however, efforts continued to prevent equality from becoming a reality. President Bush announced his opposition to same-sex marriage while the House introduced a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as between a man and a woman.

Rising Support Signals Hope

States from coast to coast began striking down past bans and enshrining marriage equality in new laws. California famously achieved marriage equality in 2008, only to have it dismantled again by the introduction and passage of Proposition 8, a ballot initiative that updated the state constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman, that same year. The amendment later was disputed in lower level courts before making its way to the Supreme Court.

A Turning Point for Change

Only a few years after President Obama declared DOMA unconstitutional, - and instructed the Justice Department to stop defending it in court - the Supreme Court advanced marriage equality through key decisions in 2013. Hollingsworth v. Perry determined Prop. 8 lacked legal standing while United States v. Windsor deemed DOMA unconstitutional - all but paving the way to full equality.

Marriage Equality Becomes a Reality

The moment for full marriage equality finally arrived on June 26, 2015, with the Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. In a landmark 5-4 decision, marriage equality became the law of the land and granted same-sex couples in all 50 states the right to full, equal recognition under the law.

HRC's Work Changing Hearts & Minds

HRC knew from the very beginning that the fight for marriage equality wasn't just about changing policies - it was about changing hearts and minds. People needed to hear the stories of couples and families across the country impacted by laws that failed to grant them the recognition they deserved.

Decades of Championing Equality

Nationwide marriage equality was at the forefront of HRC's work for years before public sentiment toward same-sex marriage shifted. We consistently worked with coalitions across the country to rally support on the local, state and federal levels to ensure policies were inclusive of LGBTQ+ people. In 2013, just weeks before the Supreme Court decided on integral decisions in the fight for marriage equality, HRC launched headfirst into a campaign that took on a life of its own.

Working from Coast to Coast

Across the country, HRC mobilized efforts to bring marriage equality to multiple states ahead of the eventual Supreme Court ruling in 2015. We launched one of our largest field operations in history in New York, deploying 30 full-time organizers and creating our New Yorkers for Marriage Equality campaign that would eventually lead to the state's passage of same-sex marriage in 2011. HRC also invested millions of dollars into state ballot initiatives in places like Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington.

Building Coalitions

After the Supreme Court announced it would hear the two cases in 2012, we immediately began gathering coalitions to drive a national conversation. Through both the Respect for Marriage Coalition and United for Marriage coalitions, we worked with like-minded organizations to show why the time for full equality had arrived. We also positioned elected officials at all levels of government - including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton - at the forefront of our campaign.

Our Red Logo for Equality

In response to a growing conversation on social media, we decided to unveil a new iteration of our iconic logo by turning it red and pink in the name of love. We allowed Facebook users across the digital landscape to add filters to their own profiles and express their support for equality with their own networks.

Creating a Digital Wave

The launch of our red logo took HRC's digital presence to new heights as people worldwide embraced it as a call for change. Celebrities, companies, elected officials and countless more people added the HRC red logo to their profiles to spread awareness ahead of the Supreme Court decisions.

Celebrating Our Victory

As the Supreme Court handed down landmark decisions in both 2013 and 2015, HRC was there with hundreds of supporters and thousands following online to celebrate marriage equality. Our collective efforts to affirm that love is love had finally paid off and granted same-sex couples in all 50 states the right to marry.

Our work continues.

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The Journey to Marriage Equality in the United States - HRC

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The road to nationwide marriage equality was a long one, spanning decades of United States history and culminating in victory in June 2015. Throughout the long fight for marriage equality,...

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Trans People are Allowed to Serve in the Military 

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Trans People are Allowed to Serve in the Military 

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On January 25th, 2021 the ban on trans people in the Military was lifted. Trump during his reign basically tweeted that trans people would not be allowed in the military. He sent this order to the Supreme court and they approved it on April 12th 2019. Many states tried to stop the ban but in the end Trump won. It wasn´t until he was elected out of office that President Biden revoked the ban.

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July 26, 2017: President Trump tweets that "the United States Government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military."

August 9, 2017: NCLR and GLAD file Doe v. Trump, the first lawsuit seeking to stop the ban, challenging its constitutionality and requesting that the court issue a nationwide preliminary injunction to stop it from taking effect while the case is being heard in court.

August 25, 2017: President Trump issues a memorandum ordering then Secretary of Defense James Mattis to submit "a plan for implementing" the ban by February 21, 2018.

August 28, 2017: The ACLU files Stone v. Trump, challenging the Trump-Pence transgender military ban, in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. On this same day, Lambda Legal files Karnoski v. Trump, challenging the Trump-Pence transgender military ban, in the United States District Court for the District of Washington.

September 5, 2017: Equality California files Stockman v. Trump, challenging the Trump-Pence transgender military ban, in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. NCLR and GLAD join the case October 2, 2017, and file a motion for preliminary injunction. The State of California joins the case as a plaintiff on Nov. 17, 2017.

October 30, 2017: The United States District Court for the District of Columbia rules that Doe v. Trump plaintiffs established a likelihood of success on their claim that President Trump's ban violates equal protection, that plaintiffs would be irreparably harmed without a preliminary injunction to stop the ban, and that the public interest and balance of hardships weighed in favor of granting injunctive relief and temporarily halting the ban while the case is heard by the court.

November 21, 2017 - December 22, 2017: Preliminary injunctions are issued blocking the ban in Stone ( Nov. 21); Karnoski ( Dec. 11), and Stockman ( Dec. 22).

January 1, 2018: After the Administration drops all attempts to block the date that had previously been set by the DOD for open enlistment to go into effect, transgender Americans are eligible to enlist in the U.S. military for the first time in history.

March 23, 2018: President Trump accepts the "Mattis Plan" and issues a memorandum "revoking" his August 25 Memorandum.

April 20, 2018: Defendants file motions to dissolve the nationwide preliminary injunctions enjoining the transgender military ban in Doe v. Trump; Stockman v. Trump, Karnoski v. Trump, and Stone v. Trump.

August 6, 2018: United States District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly denies Trump administration motions to dismiss Doe v. Trump and to dissolve the preliminary injunction preventing the ban from going into effect.

August 27, 2018: Defendants file notice of appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals of Judge Kollar-Kotelly's denial of their motion to dissolve the preliminary injunction preventing enforcement of the transgender military ban. Parallel appeals are filed by the Administration in the 9 th Circuit in both Karnoski v. Trump [April 30, 2018] and Stockman v. Trump [November 16, 2018]

October 29, 2018: A wide array of former military leaders, veterans' and civil rights organizations, women's groups, military scholars and historians, and states go on record opposing President Trump's ongoing efforts to exclude transgender people from military service, in thirteen friend-of-the-court briefs filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

November 23, 2018: The Trump administration files petitions for cert before judgment in Doe v. Trump, Stockman v. Trump, and Karnoski v. Trump. They do not file in Stone v. Trump because the district court had not yet ruled on the Administration's motion to dissolve the injunction.

November 30, 2018: Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly denies the Trump administration's motion to stay her preliminary injunction while the administration seeks cert from the Supreme Court.

December 13, 2018: The Trump administration files petitions asking the U.S. Supreme Court to lift the injunctions blocking the ban from taking effect if the Court declines to hear the cases this term.

December 24 & 28, 2018: Plaintiffs file briefs opposing the administration's requests that the U.S. Supreme Court hear cases on the ban prematurely and that the Court lift the injunctions blocking the ban from taking effect while the cases continue.

January 4, 2019: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rules per curiam that the district court had improperly maintained the injunction first issued in October, 2017, in light of the subsequent issuance of the March 2018 "Mattis Plan."

January 22, 2019 - 5 justices on the Supreme Court give a green light to the Trump administration to enact its transgender military ban temporarily, while the cases challenging it continue through the lower courts, by temporarily staying two of four nationwide injunctions that had been blocking the ban since late in 2017.
At the same time, the Court does not agree to the Trump administration's request to leapfrog the usual judicial process by hearing the case against the ban in the current term. That allows all four of the cases to continue through the normal course in the federal district courts and courts of appeal.
February 7, 2019: Bipartisan bills are introduced in the U.S. Senate and House to overturn the Trump-Pence transgender military ban.

February 27, 2019: A panel of transgender service members testify before the House Armed Services Committee in a historic hearing. Their testimony is further proof that this is a discriminatory ban on transgender people who are willing and able to serve their country.

March 7, 2019 The Maryland District Court issues a ruling in Stone v. Trump staying the preliminary injunction blocking the ban in that case, in accordance with the January 22 Supreme Court order.

March 8, 2019: Full opinions are issued from the D.C. Circuit in Doe v. Trump, lifting the original injunction issued in October, 2017, and instructing that the case proceed to further discovery in the District Court.

March 12, 2019: The Department of Defense issues guidance for enacting the transgender military ban beginning in April.

April 12, 2019: The Trump-Pence transgender military ban goes into effect. The ban prohibits openly transgender people from enlisting in the military and subjects active duty military service members who come out as transgender to discharge.

May 22, 2019: Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) introduces the Securing the Rights our Veterans Earned Act ( SERVE Act) to ensure transgender service members discharged under the transgender military ban would be eligible for care from the VA. and requires the VA to provide health benefits to these troops if they obtain an "Other Than Honorable" or "Entry-Level Separation" discharge because of their gender identity.

June 14, 2019: The Ninth Circuit issues a decision in Karnoski v. Trump, sending the case back to the Washington District Court for further discovery. The ruling recognizes that the Mattis plan targets transgender people, and that the government faces an uphill battle in justifying it. On August 26, 2019, the Ninth Circuit orders that this ruling also applies to Stockman v. Trump, sending that case back to the District Court for the District of Central California for further discovery.

June 18, 2019: The U.S. House of Representatives passes an amendment to overturn Trump's transgender ban. A companion bill has been introduced in the U.S. Senate.

June 18, 2019: Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker (Republican) joins the governors of New Jersey, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington to allow transgender service members to continue to serve in their states' Army National Guard.

August 20, 2019: A judge for the US District Court for the District of Maryland rules against the Trump Administration's motions to dismiss the fourth lawsuit against the ban ( Stone v. Trump). With this ruling, all four of the lawsuits are proceeding to discovery and trial.

September 13, 2019: In a discovery ruling in Doe v. Trump the DC District Court rejects the government's claims that documents and information relating to the development of the Mattis Policy are privileged and rules that the plaintiffs are entitled to discovery on that process and on the government's justifications for adopting a ban.

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July 26, 2017: President Trump tweets that "the United States Government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military." August 9, 2017: NCLR and GLAD file Doe v.

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The Equality Act allowed LGBTQ people to do simple things like renting land, jury services, education etc. This act was passed on February 25th, 2021. This allowed people to be open about their sexuality, and live their lives freely as who they are.

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The Equality Act is a landmark piece of legislation that would expand federal civil rights laws to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination in employment, housing, credit, jury service, and federally funded programs, such as those for health and education, as well as public places and spaces. Nondiscrimination protections are sorely needed: A nationally representative 2020 survey from the Center for American Progress revealed that 1 in 3 LGBTQ Americans, including 3 in 5 transgender Americans, experienced discrimination in just the past year. Evidence demonstrates that discrimination has adverse effects on physical and mental health as well as basic economic security. This fact sheet explains how the Equality Act advances fair treatment for LGBTQ people, women, people of color, and people of faith.

The Equality Act enjoys broad-based support

The Equality Act enjoys broad support among the American public and a wide range of stakeholders, including the more than 300 member companies that comprise the Business Coalition for the Equality Act. According to a 2020 survey from the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute, more than 80 percent of Americans, including a majority of Americans in all 50 states, and majorities of Republicans, Democrats, and independents support LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections. The same survey found that solid majorities of people from all major religions support laws protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination; recently, more than 100 faith groups have endorsed the bill.

Employment

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Bostock v. Clayton County that it is illegal under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for an employer to not hire, to fire, or to otherwise discriminate against individuals because of their sexual orientation or gender identity (SOGI). The Equality Act would ensure that this interpretation is explicitly codified in the country's civil rights laws by clarifying that existing sex discrimination protections prohibit discrimination based on SOGI.

Housing

The Equality Act similarly amends the Fair Housing Act (FHA) to explicitly codify SOGI protections, robustly prohibiting housing discrimination against LGBTQ people. Specifically, the law would prohibit differential treatment in renting, selling, pricing, eviction, service provision, shelter access, homeowners insurance, mortgage lending, and other activities, along with harassment, coercion, and retaliation in the exercise of their fair housing rights.

Credit

The Equality Act would also codify the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau's interpretive rule, explicitly adding SOGI as protected characteristics in the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. Consequentially, the law would clarify that LGBTQ people cannot be denied car loans, mortgage loans, credit cards, student loans, or small-business loans simply because of who they are-and that differential treatment in credit transactions is prohibited. Access to credit is essential for promoting greater economic security and the financial stability of disadvantaged groups such as LGBTQ people.

Jury service

By amending the Jury Selection and Service Act to explicitly include SOGI in its definition of sex discrimination, the Equality Act would codify existing interpretations to prohibit attorneys from rejecting prospective jurors simply because they are LGBTQ. Although sex discrimination is prohibited in jury selection nationwide, in the 42 states that currently lack explicit SOGI jury protections, attorneys may attempt to deprive LGBTQ people of their constitutional right to a jury of their peers.

Federally funded programs

The federal government funds a wide range of programs, including shelters, schools, community health centers, adoption agencies, and law enforcement or carceral institutions. The Equality Act amends Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include sex and SOGI, meaning that LGBTQ people and women would be protected from discrimination, mistreatment, or refusal by any of these programs. Given the difficulties faced by same-sex prospective parents considering adoption and the serious dangers that LGBTQ people, especially transgender individuals, face in confinement, these protections are needed and well overdue.

The amendment of Title VI would benefit LGBTQ students in federally funded schools by clarifying federal protection against bullying and harassment and ensuring that students have the right to use sex-segregated facilities and participate in sex-segregated activities in accordance with their gender identity. The Equality Act would also protect transgender and nonbinary students from the pervasive misgendering and harassment that many face-a lifesaving step. The Equality Act does not amend Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972: Protections for women and girls and sex-segregated programs in schools would be maintained.

Public spaces and services

According to CAP's 2020 survey, more than half of LGBTQ respondents who reported harassment or discrimination said that it occurred in a public space such as a store or restaurant. The Equality Act would establish sex and SOGI protections in public accommodations. This means that businesses open to the public, such as restaurants and pharmacies, would face accountability if they discriminate against, mistreat, or refuse to serve LGBTQ individuals. These amendments would not only benefit LGBTQ individuals; all women could no longer be charged higher prices than men for equivalent services or be denied services by establishments that provide health care. Currently, the 1964 Civil Rights Act is out of date and includes protections for only four areas of public accommodation: hotels, inns, motels, or similar lodging; restaurants; entertainment spaces such as movie theaters and sports arenas; and any entity physically located within one of those places. By expanding the range of public accommodations recognized under civil rights law, the Equality Act would ensure protections for race, color, religion, national origin, and sex, including SOGI, in public spaces, including retail stores, transportation, and health care providers.

The Equality Act protects and advances religious liberty

The Equality Act would benefit many religious people and would not undermine existing religious exemptions in the amended civil rights laws, despite the suggestions of opponents of LGBTQ equality. People of faith would, in fact, receive new protections from discrimination-for example, protections from faith-based discrimination in more public accommodations, such as prohibiting the use of "No Muslims allowed" signs in retail stores. Meanwhile, religious organizations would retain all the same exemptions they already have under civil rights laws such as Title VII and the FHA: They would still be allowed to favor people of the same religion, so long as they do not discriminate based on other protected characteristics. Importantly, the Equality Act clarifies that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) cannot serve as a defense against claims of discrimination. This ensures that religion cannot be weaponized as a license to discriminate-including against people for their religious beliefs-in accordance with RFRA's legislative intent.

Conclusion

The Equality Act would meaningfully expand civil rights protections for many Americans and advance equal treatment for LGBTQ people, women, people of faith, and people of color. The concrete benefits of the landmark civil rights laws that it would amend are clear-it's time to extend these benefits equally to all.
Theo Santos is the special assistant for the LGBTQ Research and Communications Project at the Center for American Progress. Caroline Medina is a policy analyst for the LGBTQ Research and Communications Project at the Center. Sharita Gruberg is the vice president for the LGBTQ Research and Communications Project at the Center.

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What You Need To Know About the Equality Act

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The Equality Act is a landmark piece of legislation that would expand federal civil rights laws to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination in employment, housing, credit, jury service, and federally funded programs, such as those for health and education, as well as public places and spaces.

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Annotations

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I think the strongest turning point in this movement is the outbreak of AIDS, because even though it was a very dark time it brought everyone in the LGBTQ community together.