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Read about featured U.S. Government events that impacted the civil rights of LGBTQ+ community since 1950, and learn about notable individuals in American history.
Check out some U.S. Government resources on historical research on the LGBTQ+ community.
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Library of Congress Find research materials on the history of the LGBTQ+ community. |
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National Park Service Visit and learn about LGBTQ+ cultural heritage sites. |
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U.S. National Archives and Records Administration Explore historical records and documents, including |
Click on the side arrows to see brief biographies of notable LGBTQ+ individuals in American history, including Jane Addams, Gilbert Baker, James Baldwin, Tammy Baldwin, Robert Bauman, Albert Cashier, Lorraine Vivian Hansberry, Alan L. Hart, Christine Jorgensen, Billie Jean King, Audre Lorde, Harvey Milk, Elaine Noble, James Obergefell, Sally Ride, Bayard Rustin, Michael Sam, William Dorsey Swann, Billy Tipton, Lena Waithe, and Edith Windsor.
Adopted identity of a man, served in the American Civil War, and continued living as a man after the war.
Civil rights activist and social worker. First American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931.
A former slave who was first person known to self-identity as a drag queen.
Pioneered the use of X-ray photography.
Civil rights activist (March on Washington).
Jazz musician and bandleader.
American writer and civil rights activist.
First person widely known to have sex reassignment surgery.
Lead plaintiff in United States v. Windsor.
First African-American female author to have a play performed on Broadway.
First openly gay man elected to public office in California in 1978.
African-American female poet and civil rights activist.
First openly LGBTQ+ member of the U.S. Congress in 1980.
Professional American tennis player.
First openly LGBTQ+ person to be elected to a state legislature in 1975.
Designer of the rainbow flag.
First American woman in space.
First openly LGBTQ+ U.S. Senator in 1999.
Lead plaintiff in Obergefell v. Hodges.
First African-American woman to win primetime Emmy in comedy writing.
First openly gay player drafted to the National Football League.
Click on the side arrows for more information about the featured events in U.S. Government history between 1950 and 2022.
| Date | Event | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 7, 1950 |
Senate Resolution No. 280 |
October 22, 2009 | Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act |
| April 27, 1953 | Executive Order 10450 | June 2, 2010 | Presidential Memorandum-Extension of Benefits to Same-Sex Domestic Partners of Federal Employees |
| January 13, 1958 | One, Incorporated, v. Olesen | December 22, 2010 | Don't Ask Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 |
| July 2, 1964 | Civil Rights Act of 1964 | June 26, 2013 | United States v. Windsor |
| October 10, 1972 | Baker v. Nelson | July 21, 2014 | Executive Order 13672 |
| June 30, 1986 | Bowers v. Hardwick | June 26, 2015 | Obergefell v. Hodges |
| December 21, 1993 | Department of Defense Directive 1304.26 [Don't Ask, Don't Tell] | June 24, 2016 | Stonewall Inn as a national monument |
| May 20, 1996 | Romer v. Evans | June 4, 2018 | Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission |
| September 21, 1996 | Defense of Marriage Act | June 15, 2020 | Bostock v. Clayton County |
| May 28, 1998 | Executive Order 13087 | January 20, 2021 | Executive Order 13988 |
| June 11, 1999 | Proclamation 7203 | June 25, 2021 | Executive Order 14035 |
| June 26, 2003 | Lawrence v. Texas | December 13, 2022 | Respect for Marriage Act |
| June 1, 2009 | Proclamation 8387 |
"In executive session, committee voted to report with amendments S. Res. 280, to make a study and investigation of homosexuals in Government agencies. As approved by the committee, the resolution would provide $10,000 for the investigation and the committee would be required to report back to the Senate not later than January 31, 1951."^
This Senate resolution is among several Congressional investigations and subsequent reports in the early 1950s that "helped institutionalize discrimination" of gay people, particularly in Federal Government employment.*
For additional information:
"...The investigations conducted pursuant to this order shall be designed to develop information as to whether the employment or retention in employment in the Federal service of the person being investigated is clearly consistent with the interests of the national security. Such information shall relate, but shall not be limited, to the following... Any criminal, infamous, dishonest, immoral, or notoriously disgraceful conduct, habitual use of intoxicants to excess, drug addiction, sexual perversion."^
"This executive action is the culmination of a period, called the 'Lavender Scare.'"*
For additional information:
"The petition for writ of certiorari is granted and the judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is reversed."^
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the pro-LGBTQ+ writing in ONE: The Homosexual Magazine does not violate any Federal obscenity laws.*
For additional information:
"To enforce the constitutional right to vote, to confer jurisdiction upon the district courts of the United States to provide injunctive relief against discrimination in public accommodations, to authorize the Attorney General to institute suites to protect constitutional rights in public facilities and public education, to extend the Commission on Civil Rights, to prevent discrimination in federally assisted programs, to establish a Commission on Equal Employment Opportunity, and for other purposes."^
President Lyndon Johnson signs this act into law, which includes outlawing discrimination to public accommodations, public facilities, public education, and federally assisted programs.
For additional information:
"The appeal is dismissed for want of a substantial federal question."^
Baker v. Nelson is the "earliest same-sex marriage case to be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court," in which it dismisses the case and effectively upholds a state's law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.*
For additional information:
"This is essentially not a question of personal "preferences" but rather of the legislative authority of the State. I find nothing in the Constitution depriving a State of the power to enact the statute challenged here."^
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that "there is no constitutional right to engage in homosexual sodomy."*
For additional information:
"Sexual orientation is considered a personal and private matter, and homosexual orientation is not a bar to service entry or continued service unless manifested by homosexual conduct."^
Known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," President Clinton issues this directive that new recruits of the U.S. Armed Forces "could not be asked about their sexual orientation and that members of the military who did not disclose their homosexuality or bisexuality would be allowed to remain in the military."*
For additional information:
"We must conclude that Amendment 2 [of Colorado's state referendum] classifies homosexuals not to further a proper legislative end but to make them unequal to everyone else. This Colorado cannot do. A State cannot so deem a class of persons a stranger to its laws. Amendment 2 violates the Equal Protection Clause, and the judgment of the Supreme Court of Colorado is affirmed."^
U.S. Supreme Court rules that discrimination based on sexual orientation violates the Equal Protection Clause.
For additional information:
"To define and protect the institution of marriage."^
DOMA "recognizes states’ rights to define marriage within their borders, but which limits the obligation of other states to accept those marriages as well, defining marriage with regard to federal benefits."*
For additional information:
"... in order to provide for a uniform policy for the Federal Government to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation."^
This executive order amends Executive Order 11478 to include sexual orientation.
For additional information:
"NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 1999 as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month. I encourage all Americans to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities that celebrate our diversity, and to remember throughout the year the gay and lesbian Americans whose many and varied contributions have enriched our national life."^
The month of June is designated "Gay and Lesbian Pride Month.'"*
For additional information:
"A law branding one class of persons as criminal based solely on the State's moral disapproval of that class and the conduct associated with that class runs contrary to the values of the Constitution and the Equal Protection Clause, under any standard of review."^
In a 6-3 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down a specific Texas statue that "outlawed sodomy between persons of the same sex."*
For additional information:
"Now, Therefore, I, Barack Obama, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to turn back discrimination and prejudice everywhere it exists."^
"President Barack H. Obama expands the commemorative month to include bisexual and transgender Americans when he declares June 'Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month.'"*
For additional information:
"... The problem of crimes motivated by bias is sufficiently serious, widespread, and interstate in nature as to warrant Federal assistance to States, local jurisdictions, and Indian tribes."^
This act provides the Federal Government "funding and technical assistance to state, local, and tribal jurisdictions to help them to more effectively investigate and prosecute hate crimes."*
For additional information:
"Although legislative action is necessary to provide full equality to LGBT Federal employees, the agencies have identified a number of benefits that can be extended under existing law. OPM, in consultation with the Department of Justice, has provided me with a report recommending that all of the identified benefits be extended..."^
The memorandum extends "to the same-sex domestic partners of Federal employees the full range of benefits currently enjoyed by Federal employees' opposite-sex spouses."*
For additional information:
"... The amendments made by subsection (f) shall take effect 60 days after the date on which the last of the following occurs... That the implementation of necessary policies and regulations pursuant to the discretion provided by the amendments made by subsection (f) is consistent with the standards of military readiness, military effectiveness, unit cohesion, and recruiting and retention of the Armed Forces."^
The repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" allows U.S. Armed Forces personnel to serve openly.
For additional information:
"DOMA singles out a class of persons deemed by a State entitled to recognition and protection to enhance their own liberty. It imposes a disability on the class by refusing to acknowledge a status the State finds to be dignified and proper... By seeking to displace this protection and treating those persons as living in marriages less respected than others, the federal statute is in violation of the Fifth Amendment."^
The U.S. Supreme Court rules DOMA as unconstitutional, allowing "legally married same-sex couples to enjoy the same federal rights, benefits, and obligations as other married couples."*
For additional information:
"... in order to provide for a uniform policy for the Federal Government to prohibit discrimination and take further steps to promote economy and efficiency in Federal Government procurement by prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity."^
This executive order amends Executive Order 11246 by "replacing the words ‘'sex, or national origin'’ with the words ‘'sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin.’"*
For additional information:
"No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family.... Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right."^
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that "same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry in all states."*
For additional information:
"The Stonewall Uprising changed the Nation's history. After the Stonewall incident, the LGBT community across the Nation realized its power to join together and demand equality and respect."^
President Barack Obama designates Stonewall Inn and related objects as part of Stonewall National Monument.
For additional information:
"The Commission’s hostility was inconsistent with the First Amendment’s guarantee that our laws be applied in a manner that is neutral toward religion... The outcome of cases like this in other circumstances must await further elaboration in the courts, all in the context of recognizing that these disputes must be resolved with tolerance, without undue disrespect to sincere religious beliefs, and without subjecting gay persons to indignities when they seek goods and services in an open market."^
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that Colorado's Anti-Discrimination Act by the Colorado Civil Rights Commission "does not meet all of the 'governmental neutrality' factors" concerning religious beliefs.*
For additional information:
"In Title VII, Congress adopted broad language making it illegal for an employer to rely on an employee’s sex when deciding to fire that employee. We do not hesitate to recognize today a necessary consequence of that legislative choice: An employer who fires an individual merely for being gay or transgender defies the law."^
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that "firing individuals because of their sexual orientation or transgender status violates Title VII’s prohibition on discrimination because of sex."*
For additional information:
"It is the policy of my Administration to prevent and combat discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation, and to fully enforce Title VII and other laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation. It is also the policy of my Administration to address overlapping forms of discrimination."^
This executive order is in response to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling of Bostock v. Clayton County.
For additional information:
"As the Nation's largest employer, the Federal Government must be a model for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, where all employees are treated with dignity and respect. Accordingly, the Federal Government must strengthen its ability to recruit, hire, develop, promote, and retain our Nation's talent and remove barriers to equal opportunity."^
This executive order "reestablishes a coordinated Government-wide initiative to promote diversity and inclusion in the Federal workforce and expand its scope to include equity and accessibility.*
For additional information:
"To repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and ensure respect for State regulation of marriage, and for other purposes."^
This act "requires that interracial marriages and same-sex marriage must be recognized as legal in every state in the nation."*
For additional information:
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