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Marsha P Johnson is an important leader associated with the fight for LGBT rights as she was a transgender pioneer, self-proclaimed drag queen, and outspoken advocate for gay rights. Johnson founded STAR (street transvestite/transgender action revolutionaries), which provided “shelter and food to homeless LGBT youth.” Johnson’s leadership helped inspire change as she started many movements that helped start the movement for gay rights, such as the Stonewall riots, in which Johnson is alleged to have thrown the first “brick that started the riots.” Johnson also helped introduce the term “transgender” as well as the idea of one being transgender. During the twenty years that Marsha P. Johnson fought for LGBT rights, she helped bring those rights to LGBT individuals as well as making life less hard for LGBT teens already living on the streets.

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Marsha P. Johnson, a Transgender Pioneer and Activist (Published 2020)

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Johnson was part of the Stonewall uprising, helped transgender youths and was an AIDS activist. She died at 46 under murky circumstances.

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A key event associated with the fight for LGBT rights is the stonewall riots. The stonewall riots were a "series of riots...at the Stonewall Inn", a gay club in New York. There were many gay patrons involved, and the cops called to the scene. The stonewall riots were started when cops arrested a lesbian who resisted and hit her over the head. The lesbian patron then "called for attention" and inadvertently started the Stonewall Riots. The Stonewall Riots were caused by the LGBT community's rage building up over a series of years, and this one event just happened to be their breaking point. The Stonewall Riots had a profound impact on the LGBT community's fight for rights as it gained nationwide recognition and made people realize how unfairly the LGBT community had been treated.

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Constant Raids at Gay Bars

The 1960s and preceding decades were not welcoming times for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Americans. For instance, solicitation of same-sex relations was illegal in New York City.

For such reasons, LGBT individuals flocked to gay bars and clubs, places of refuge where they could express themselves openly and socialize without worry. However, the New York State Liquor Authority penalized and shut down establishments that served alcohol to known or suspected LGBT individuals, arguing that the mere gathering of homosexuals was "disorderly."

Thanks to activists' efforts, these regulations were overturned in 1966, and LGBT patrons could then be served alcohol. But engaging in gay behavior in public (holding hands, kissing or dancing with someone of the same sex) was still illegal, so police harassment of gay bars continued and many bars still operated without liquor licenses-in part because they were owned by the Mafia.

Gay Rights Before Stonewall

The first documented U.S. gay rights organization, The Society for Human Rights (SHR), was founded in 1924 by Henry Gerber, a German immigrant. Police raids forced them to disband in 1925, but not before they had published several issues of their newsletter, "Friendship and Freedom," the country's first gay-interest newsletter. America's first lesbian rights organization, The Daughters of Bilitis, was formed in San Francisco on September 21, 1955.

In 1966, three years before Stonewall, members of The Mattachine Society, an organization dedicated to gay rights, staged a "sip-in" where they openly declared their sexuality at taverns, daring staff to turn them away and suing establishments who did. When The Commission on Human Rights ruled that gay individuals had the right to be served in bars, police raids were temporarily reduced.

The Stonewall Inn

The crime syndicate saw profit in catering to shunned gay clientele, and by the mid-1960s, the Genovese crime family controlled most Greenwich Village gay bars. In 1966, they purchased Stonewall Inn (a "straight" bar and restaurant), cheaply renovated it, and reopened it the next year as a gay bar.

Stonewall Inn was registered as a type of private "bottle bar," which did not require a liquor license because patrons were supposed to bring their own liquor. Club attendees had to sign their names in a book upon entry to maintain the club's false exclusivity. The Genovese family bribed New York's Sixth Police Precinct to ignore the activities occurring within the club.

Without police interference, the crime family could cut costs how they saw fit: The club lacked a fire exit, running water behind the bar to wash glasses, clean toilets that didn't routinely overflow and palatable drinks that weren't watered down beyond recognition. What's more, the Mafia reportedly blackmailed the club's wealthier patrons who wanted to keep their sexuality a secret.

Nonetheless, Stonewall Inn quickly became an important Greenwich Village institution. It was large and relatively cheap to enter. It welcomed drag queens, who received a bitter reception at other gay bars and clubs. It was a nightly home for many runaways and homeless gay youths, who panhandled or shoplifted to afford the entry fee. And it was one of the few-if not the only-gay bar left that allowed dancing.

Raids were still a fact of life, but usually corrupt cops would tip off Mafia-run bars before they occurred, allowing owners to stash the alcohol (sold without a liquor license) and hide other illegal activities. In fact, the NYPD had stormed Stonewall Inn just a few days before the riot-inducing raid.

The Stonewall Riots Begin

When police raided Stonewall Inn on the morning of June 28, it came as a surprise-the bar wasn't tipped off this time.

Armed with a warrant, police officers entered the club, roughed up patrons, and, finding bootlegged alcohol, arrested 13 people, including employees and people violating the state's gender-appropriate clothing statute (female officers would take suspected cross-dressing patrons into the bathroom to check their sex).

Fed up with constant police harassment and social discrimination, angry patrons and neighborhood residents hung around outside of the bar rather than disperse, becoming increasingly agitated as the events unfolded and people were aggressively manhandled. At one point, an officer hit a lesbian over the head as he forced her into the police van- she shouted to onlookers to act, inciting the crowd to begin throw pennies, bottles, cobble stones and other objects at the police.

Within minutes, a full-blown riot involving hundreds of people began. The police, a few prisoners and a Village Voice writer barricaded themselves in the bar, which the mob attempted to set on fire after breaching the barricade repeatedly.

The fire department and a riot squad were eventually able to douse the flames, rescue those inside Stonewall, and disperse the crowd. But the protests, sometimes involving thousands of people, continued in the area for five more days, flaring up at one point after the Village Voice published its account of the riots.

Stonewall's Legacy

Though the Stonewall uprising didn't start the gay rights movement, it was a galvanizing force for LGBT political activism, leading to numerous gay rights organizations, including the Gay Liberation Front, Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD (formerly Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), and PFLAG (formerly Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays).

On the one-year anniversary of the riots on June 28, 1970, thousands of people marched in the streets of Manhattan from the Stonewall Inn to Central Park in what was then called "Christopher Street Liberation Day," America's first gay pride parade. The parade's official chant was: "Say it loud, gay is proud."

In 2016, then-President Barack Obama designated the site of the riots-Stonewall Inn, Christopher Park, and the surrounding streets and sidewalks-a national monument in recognition of the area's contribution to gay rights.

Photo Gallery

HISTORY Vault

Sources

A History of Gay Rights in America. CBS.
LGBTQ Activism: The Henry Gerber House, Chicago, IL. NPS.gov.

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1969 Stonewall Riots - Origins, Timeline & Leaders

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The Stonewall Riots, also called the Stonewall Uprising, took place on June 28, 1969, in New York City, after police raided the Stonewall Inn, a local gay club. The raid sparked a riot among bar patrons and neighborhood residents as police hauled employees and patrons out of the bar, leading to six days of protests and violent clashes.

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1973, The board of the American Psychiatric Association votes to remove homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses.

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1973, The board of the American Psychiatric Association votes to remove homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses.

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The board of the American Psychiatric Association votes to remove homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses.

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Forty-four years ago today, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) -- the largest psychiatric organization in the world -- made history by issuing a resolution stating that homosexuality was not a mental illness or sickness. This declaration helped shift public opinion, marking a major milestone for LGBTQ equality.

The resolution stated, "We will no longer insist on a label of sickness for individuals who insist that they are well and demonstrate no generalized impairment in social effectiveness." The statement continued to say the APA supports "civil rights legislation at local, state, and Federal levels that would insure homosexual citizens the same protections now guaranteed to others."

Now, more than 40 years later, LGBTQ advocates are still fighting to achieve that reality. Despite significant steps forward, 31 states still lack clear, fully-inclusive non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people, meaning that LGBTQ people are at risk of being fired, denied housing, and denied services for who they are or whom they love.

That's why HRC is fighting to pass The Equality Act, which would provide consistent and explicit federal non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people across key areas of life, including employment, housing, credit, education, public spaces and services, federally funded programs and jury service.

In recent years, the APA has continued to advocate for LGBTQ people, including forcefully opposing the dangerous practice of so-called "conversion therapy" and opposing the Trump-Pence Administration's ban on qualified transgender people serving in the military.

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In 1973, APA Removed Homosexuality From List of Mental Illnesses

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Forty-four years ago today, the American Psychiatric Association made history by issuing a resolution stating that homosexuality was not a mental illness or sickness.

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1974, The first openly gay American elected to public office 

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1974, The first openly gay American elected to public office 

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Kathy Kozachenko becomes the first openly gay American elected to public office when she wins a seat on the Ann Arbor, Michigan City Council.

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Forty-six years ago, on April 2, 1974, out lesbian Kathy Kozachenko was elected to the Ann Arbor City Council in Michigan - becoming the first openly gay person elected to political office in the United States. Then a 21-year-old University of Michigan student campaigning under the local (and now defunct) Human Rights Party, Kozachenko beat her lone Democratic opponent by 52 votes to little fanfare.

"Not a lot of people know about me," Kozachenko, 67, told NBC News. The accolade of "first elected openly gay official" is often misattributed to Harvey Milk, the boisterous gay icon who was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. In fact, Milk was hardly the first LGBTQ person to be elected to political office. Less than a year after Kozachenko was elected, out lesbian Elaine Noble was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

Kozachenko speculated that there are a few reasons she's been overlooked by history. Aside from being a woman, she never made her sexuality central to her campaign - a decision that sets her apart from many of her more well-known successors.

"Harvey Milk was a very strong and vibrant gay activist," Kozachenko said, adding that Milk, who was assassinated a year after his election, was a hero and a martyr. "I was and am a social justice advocate, of which LGBTQ rights comes in."

There's another reason few have heard of Kozachenko: She is a fiercely private person. It wasn't until 2015, when she agreed to be interviewed by a Bloomberg reporter, that she received any media attention. She was 61 at the time, and it was the first time a major publication profiled her life.

Kozachenko said she never intended to enter politics. Rather, politics chose her. She was born in Alexandria, Virginia, but grew up in Toledo, Ohio, where she moved with her father, stepmother (her biological mother died when she was young) and stepsiblings. The family moved again, to the rural community of Plymouth, Michigan, where Kozachenko attended high school. There, she got her first taste for radical activism. With the help of some of her teachers, she organized a discussion for the United Farm Workers at a local library.

After high school, in the early 1970s, she moved to Ann Arbor. Like many college towns at the time, Ann Arbor had become a hot spot for student-led protest over the Vietnam War and racial injustice. At the University of Michigan, Kozachenko, who was studying English and creative writing, became involved in the civil rights movement.

"I am so proud of all the activists that came after me ... The people that pushed and pushed and pushed for gay marriage, the transgender people that have pushed for their rights ... I'm grateful for the chance that I was able to play a small part in this."

The Michigan-based, left-wing Human Rights Party, an early champion for racial justice and gay rights, recruited Kozachenko to run for city council. The party consisted of mostly college students and recent graduates.

"I really believed in the goals of the Human Rights Party and our mission for social justice," Kozachenko said, "so I wanted to see the organization remain alive, so I agreed to run."

Unlike most American towns at the time, Ann Arbor was a liberal enclave, Kozachenko recalled- not many people seemed to care if you were gay. She eventually came out as a lesbian. By that time, the Human Rights Party had already been successful in electing two members to the city council: Jerry DeGrieck, a gay man, and Nancy Wechsler, a lesbian, who were both graduates of the University of Michigan. While DeGrieck and Wechsler were not out at the time of their election , the pair made history by becoming the first LGBTQ elected officials to come out while still in office.

The city council led the passage of one of the country's earliest ordinances protecting against discrimination based on race, national origin, sex, age, religion and sexual orientation in public accommodations. So when members of the party asked Kozachenko to run as an out lesbian, it didn't seem like a big deal.

"My campaign manager said to me, 'Well, since you're running, why don't we run you as an out lesbian?'" she recalled. "And I said, 'Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.'"

In fact, the party had so much success championing for gay rights in Ann Arbor that Kozachenko didn't feel the need to make it central to her agenda.

"This is the first time in the history of the U.S. that someone has run openly as a gay person and been elected to public office," Kozachenko said during her 1974 victory speech, which was unearthed by Bloomberg. "Gay liberation was not a major issue in the campaign - both candidates in this ward said they supported gay rights, but 10 years ago, or even three years ago, lesbianism would have meant automatic defeat. This year we talked about rent control. We talked about the city's budget. We talked about police priorities, and we had a record of action to run on. Many people's attitudes about gayness are still far from healthy, but my campaign forced some people at least to re-examine their prejudices and stereotypes."

Kozachenko's political career would be short-lived. After two years on the city council, she opted not to run for a second term. "As hard as we tried to make our organization representative of and inclusive of individuals beyond students - to be a voice for working people, people that were on welfare but trying to move beyond welfare, people of color - we weren't really able to go beyond being a student organization," she said of the Human Rights Party. "So the viability of the organization as a vehicle for change, I could see that it wasn't going to be long term, and I wanted to see where else I could be effective."

After graduation, Kozachenko moved to New York City, where she joined a group of lesbian and gay socialists, and also volunteered for a group called Dykes and Tykes. "It was an organization that was helping women who had come out after having been married and had children, and their husbands were trying to take their kids away from them for being gay," she said.

Later, a group of gay activists invited her to Pittsburgh, where she spoke at a rally against anti-LGBTQ activists, including singer Anita Bryant. "I fell in love with the city and basically just decided to move here," said Kozachenko, who still lives in the city.

In Pittsburgh, she helped recruit people to the 1979 National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, the first large demonstration championing gay rights in the nation's capital. In 1984, she met her longtime partner, MaryAnn Geiger, through mutual friends. Three years later, the couple had a son together, Justin, whom Kozachenko gave birth to in 1987. Geiger died in 2010 from cancer, five years before same-sex marriage would be legalized.

In the 1980s, Pittsburg was far from the liberal safe haven Kozachenko had found in Ann Arbor. While she didn't hide her relationship with Geiger, she did not talk openly about it, either. "People at my work and so forth thought that I was a single woman who decided to have a child on her own," she said. But Kozachenko stayed and continued to advocate for social justice, which she does to this day, while also working as a health care service provider.

While Kozachenko's career as an out lesbian politician was short, she helped pave the way for a movement that led to the legalization of same-sex marriage across the U.S. in 2015 and a "rainbow wave" of out lawmakers in the years following. Today, 855 out LGBTQ political leaders sit in elected office, according to the Victory Institute, a nonprofit that helps train and elect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer candidates. In recognition of Kozachenko's election nearly five decades ago, the Victory Institute now celebrates its annual National Out to Win Day, currently in its second year, on April 2 to encourage LGBTQ people to run for political office

"I am so proud of all the activists that came after me," Kozachenko said. "The people that pushed and pushed and pushed for gay marriage, the transgender people that have pushed for their rights and for understanding of who they are. I think none of this would have happened without the energy and activism of many, many people not giving up, and I'm very grateful for that, and I'm grateful for the chance that I was able to play a small part in this."

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Meet the lesbian who made political history years before Harvey Milk

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Forty-six years ago, on April 2, 1974, out lesbian Kathy Kozachenko was elected to the Ann Arbor City Council in Michigan - becoming the first openly gay person elected to political office in the United States.

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1979, The First March for Lesbian and Gay Rights

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1979, The First March for Lesbian and Gay Rights

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75,000 people participate in the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. LGBT people and straight allies demand equal civil rights and urge for the passage of protective civil rights legislature.

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How the Pride March Made History (Published 2020)

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Fifty years after the first march, prominent organizers and activists tell its story and talk about how it spread across the globe.

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1982, Wisconsin becomes the first U.S. state to outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

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1982, Wisconsin becomes the first U.S. state to outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

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Wisconsin becomes the first U.S. state to outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

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Wisconsin became the first state to pass a law preventing discrimination based on sexual orientation on February 25th, 1982. Although other states like Massachusetts would follow suit nearly a decade later, the state of Wisconsin was the first of today's total of 20 states that have passed laws to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Before the enactment of this law, LGBT people were routinely denied jobs that were available for heterosexual people. Discrimination was commonplace, and LGBT community members were often put at risk of losing their jobs or homes if they decided to be open about their sexuality.

In the years leading up to the introduction of the country's first anti-discrimination law, police across the country clashed with the LGBT community in numerous encounters. These riots made national news and as word spread, LGBT communities across the country were inspired to fight against the injustices they faced in their own communities.

In Wisconsin, legislator Lloyd Barbee drew on the response to these clashes to gain support for a new bill that would protect people from discrimination based on sexual orientation. When he retired, he passed the bill onto Representative David Clarenbach who worked on getting support to pass the bill. Assembly Bill 70 (AB70) was officially proposed by Representatives Clarenbach, Leopold, Coggs, Ulichny and Becker in 1981 and went on to be passed with bipartisan support and signed into law by a Republican governor, Lee S. Dreyfus.

The anti-discrimination bill introduced in the Wisconsin legislature put an end to state-condoned anti-LGBT discrimination, explicitly stating that one cannot legally deny someone housing, public accommodations, or employment on the account of one's sexual orientation.

The bill also stated that one cannot be denied access or service in a public accommodation based on his or her sexual orientation. Any place, public or private, that served the public as whole in Wisconsin could no longer reject patrons based on their sexuality. Employers were held to similar standards and were prohibited from practicing of discriminatory hiring methods. It was now illegal for employers to refuse to hire someone or in any way harass employees due to their sexual orientation.

Although the bill did not protect discrimination against members of the trans* community, the enactment of the country's first law to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation paved the way for continued advances for the LGBT community over the next three decades. Though many states have passed similar bills since 1982, sexual orientation discrimination is still not outlawed in many parts of the country and no federal law has yet to be enacted to protect LGBT people from discrimination.
This post is part of a series of posts highlighting LGBT history in the workplace and in the government in celebration of LGBT History Month 2017.

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LGBT History: The Country's First LGBT Anti-Discrimination Bill

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Wisconsin became the first state to pass a law preventing discrimination based on sexual orientation on February 25th, 1982. Although other states like Massachusetts would follow suit nearly a decade later, the state of Wisconsin was the first of today's total of 20 states that have passed laws to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation.

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A milestone as a few years earlier the public refused to acknowledge the existence of AIDS

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World AIDS Day | Definition, History, Activities, Importance, & Facts

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World AIDS Day, annual observance aimed at raising awareness of the global epidemic of AIDS and the spread of HIV. World AIDS Day occurs on December 1 and was established by the World Health Organization in 1988.

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2000, Vermont becomes the first state in the U.S. to legalize registered partnerships between same-sex couples.

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2000, Vermont becomes the first state in the U.S. to legalize registered partnerships between same-sex couples.

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Vermont becomes the first state in the U.S. to legalize civil unions and registered partnerships between same-sex couples.

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The Vermont House of Representatives gave its final approval today to a bill creating same-sex marriages in almost everything but the name. The State Senate approved the bill last week, and Gov. Howard Dean said he would sign it into law within days.

The 79-to-68 vote to create civil unions set off sighs of relief, tears and hugs among the three same-sex couples whose 1997 lawsuit seeking the right to marry led to this moment. Throughout the morning's debate, one couple, Nina Beck and Stacy Jolles, stood holding their baby son, Seth, beneath a portrait of George Washington. Moments after the vote, Ms. Jolles turned to Ms. Beck and offered a new version of the traditional proposal: ''C.U. me!''

That she could not say ''Marry me!'' reflects the gap between the civil unions, which will be available beginning July 1, and actual marriages. The civil unions are not expected to be recognized by other states and will not entitle the partners to federal benefits.

But the bill does create a sweeping marriagelike system that allows the state to confer on same-sex couples virtually all of the more than 300 rights and responsibilities enjoyed by married couples, from health insurance benefits to inheritance rights. Couples seeking civil unions must register with their town clerk and have the unions certified by a clergy member or a justice of the peace, and partners seeking to dissolve a union must go through family court just as married couples seeking a divorce do.

The bill was a response to a ruling in December by the Vermont Supreme Court, which found that gay and lesbian couples denied the right to marry were suffering from unconstitutional discrimination. The court invited the Legislature to come up with a remedy, either by including gay couples in the state's marriage laws or by creating a parallel system.

That ruling and the resulting legislative battles plunged Vermonters into weeks of difficult discussion over questions of gay marriage, and homosexuality in general, and today's debate demonstrated that deep dissent lingered.

Opponents of the bill argued that the majority of Vermonters opposed creating a marriagelike institution for gay couples, and that their will was being ignored.

''Stop shoving this bill down the throats of our people,'' said Representative George Schiavone, a Republican. ''Our people are coughing and gagging and choking on this bill,'' he said, and could ''throw it up and throw us out.''

Some also said that homosexuality was against God's will and that civil unions would undermine traditional marriage.

''This is a sad, dark day for the state of Vermont, and God help us all,'' one opponent said. Another warned, ''What we are trying to do is against the law of nature and against God's law.'' A third called the civil-unions bill ''social rape'' and a sign of ''moral rot,'' and a fourth said gays ''choose to engage in unnatural and unhealthy acts.''

But proponents of the bill carried the day and picked up three votes more than they had won in an earlier House vote last month.

''This bill is not about perversion in any way,'' said Representative Donny Osman, a Democrat. ''It is about love. It is not about sex, it is about relationships.''

And Representative William J. Lippert Jr., a Democrat who is the only openly gay member of the Legislature, said he had to contradict some of the bill's opponents. ''We are not a burden on society,'' he said. ''We are not sinful. We do not indulge in unnatural behavior. We do not ask for special privileges.''

The passage of the bill, Mr. Lippert said, would mean that the state was saying that ''my family, me and my partner's, are a family of worth in the state of Vermont.''

Governor Dean, a Democrat, said he has not decided what kind of signing ceremony to hold, if any. He saw the bill, he said, as a logical extension of Vermont's tradition of treating people equally, a tradition that dated back to the 18th century when the state's Constitution banned slavery.

Like many other proponents of the civil-unions bill, Governor Dean talked today about a ''healing process'' that Vermont now needs after being split by divisions over the issue. The state's population is almost evenly divided over the issue, polls have shown, and public hearings on the topic have sometimes turned unusually ugly.

But even if a healing process begins, the state will be entering an election season in which the civil- unions issue is sure to reverberate.

Governor Dean, who is running for re-election, said he expected the bill to be a factor in what is likely to be a hard-fought race for governor, and some lawmakers have said they expected their votes to cost them their seats.

The gay and lesbian plaintiffs in the lawsuit said they knew, too, that the political process was not over, but today's vote was still cause for celebration -- and serious thoughts as well. One plaintiff, Holly Puterbaugh, pressed by reporters about whether and how she would propose, asked her partner of more than 27 years, Lois Farnham, if she would join her in a civil union.

''Not in front of all these people!'' Ms. Farnham replied.

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Vermont Gives Final Approval to Same-Sex Unions (Published 2000)

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Vermont House approves bill creating civil unions for same-sex couples; bill, to be signed by Gov Howard Dean, gives same-sex couples virtually all rights and responsibilities of married couples, from health insurance to inheritance rights; couples will have to register with town clerk, have unions certified by clergy member or justice of the peace, and go through family court to dissolve unions; bill responds to state Supreme Court ruling in December, and is not expected to be recognized in other states or to entitle partners to federal benefits; photos of two lesbian couples (M)

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The act expands the U.S. Federal Hate Crime Law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. Matthew Shepard was tortured and murdered near Laramie, Wyoming on October 7, 1998 because of his sexual orientation.

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In the Civil Rights Act of 1968, Congress had already provided for federal investigation and prosecution on crimes involving race, color, religion or national origin. In 2009, Congress widened this law with the passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Consistent with the Supreme Court decision in Wisconsin v. Mitchell, the law was designed to provide enhanced penalties in hate crimes also involving "gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability" that was in or affected interstate or foreign commerce. In this image mourners hold programs with the image of Matthew Shepard during a "Thanksgiving and Remembrance of Matthew Shepard" service at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, Friday, Oct. 26, 2018. The ashes of Matthew Shepard, whose brutal murder in the 1990s became a rallying cry for the gay rights movement, will be laid to rest in Washington National Cathedral. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, used with permission from the Associated Press)

In recent years, there has been renewed attention to crimes that are committed as a result of an individual's race, religion, or perceived sexual orientation. This concern was heightened after the brutal murders of Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr., the first for his sexual orientation and the second for his race.

Congress widened the Civil Rights Act of 1968 to include other categories of hate crimes

In the Civil Rights Act of 1968, Congress had already provided for federal investigation and prosecution on crimes involving race, color, religion or national origin.In 2009, Congress widened this law with the passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.Consistent with the Supreme Court decision in Wisconsin v. Mitchell (1993), the law was designed to provide enhanced penalties in hate crimes also involving "gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability" that was in or affected interstate or foreign commerce.Because of First Amendment concerns, the law does not penalize speech per se unless the speech is intended to incite violence.

There have been a number of successful prosecutions under the law.

is a professor of political science and dean of the Honors College at Middle Tennessee State University. He is co-editor of the Encyclopedia of the First Amendment . This article was originally published in 2017.

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Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act

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In the Civil Rights Act of 1968, Congress had already provided for federal investigation and prosecution on crimes involving race, color, religion or national origin. In 2009, Congress widened this law with the passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

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2015, Gay Marriage is Legalized in all 50 states

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2015, Gay Marriage is Legalized in all 50 states

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Gay marriage is legalized on June 26, 2015

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Same-sex marriage is made legal nationwide with Obergefell v. Hodges decision | June 26, 2015 | HISTORY

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June 26, 2015 marks a major milestone for civil rights in the United States, as the Supreme Court announces its decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. By one vote, the court rules that same-sex marriage cannot be banned in the United States and that all same-sex marriages must be recognized nationwide, finally granting same-sex couples equal […]