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Jun 28, 2017 · The gay rights movement in the United States has seen huge progress in the last century, and especially the last two decades. Laws prohibiting homosexual activity have been struck down; lesbian,...
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Gay rights movement, civil rights movement that advocates equal rights for LGBTQ persons—that is, for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender persons, and queer persons—and calls for an end to discrimination against LGBTQ persons in employment, credit, housing, public accommodations, and other areas of life.
- December 10, 1924. The Society for Human Rights is founded by Henry Gerber in Chicago. The society is the first gay rights organization as well as the oldest documented in America.
- 1948. Biologist and sex researcher Alfred Kinsey publishes Sexual Behavior in the Human Male. From his research Kinsey concludes that homosexual behavior is not restricted to people who identify themselves as homosexual and that 37% of men have enjoyed homosexual activities at least once.
- November 11, 1950. In Los Angeles, gay rights activist Harry Hay founds America’s first sustained national gay rights organization. In an attempt to change public perception of homosexuality, the Mattachine Society aims to "eliminate discrimination, derision, prejudice and bigotry," to assimilate homosexuals into mainstream society, and to cultivate the notion of an "ethical homosexual culture."
- December 15, 1950. A Senate report titled "Employment of Homosexuals and Other Sex Perverts in Government" is distributed to members of Congress after the federal government had covertly investigated employees' sexual orientation at the beginning of the Cold War.
Mar 16, 2023 · Awareness of a burgeoning civil rights movement (Martin Luther King’s key organizer Bayard Rustin was a gay man) led to the first American-based political demands for fair treatment of gays and lesbians in mental health, public policy, and employment.
Patrons and onlookers fought back—and the days-long melee that ensued, characterized then as a riot and now known as the Stonewall Rebellion, helped spark the modern LGBTQ civil rights movement. Each June, Pride Month honors the history of Stonewall with parades and events.
Mar 7, 2024 · June 28, 1969 marks the beginning of the Stonewall Uprising, a series of events between police and LGBTQ+ protesters which stretched over six days.
Jun 1, 2023 · EXPLAINER. What was the Stonewall uprising? A June 1969 police raid of the New York bar erupted into a days-long rebellion that lit a fire under the fight for LGBTQ rights. By Erin Blakemore....
