LGBTQ+ History
LGBTQ+ history includes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. Key moments in LGBTQ+ history include the Stonewall Riots, the assassination of Harvey Milk, the AIDS crisis and marriage equality.
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Before the Stonewall Riots, these activists helped set the stage for advances in the LGBTQ civil rights movement.
Harlem drag balls thrived during the post-Civil War era, creating a space where trans and queer people of color later broke out to develop House Ballroom.
The AIDS Memorial Quilt—with 1,920 individual panels, each inscribed with the names of people lost to AIDS—was displayed for the first time on October 11, 1987. It has grown ever since.
The Court ruled in favor of gay rights as early as 1958. But its decisions haven't always sided with the LGBT community.
Trans Rights
Cooper’s Do-nuts Sparks the Trans Rights Movement
You might not expect a Donut Shop to spark a revolution, but in 1959, Cooper’s Do-nuts sets the stage for the trans rights movement.
3 Key Firsts in LGBTQ+ History
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A Vietnam War veteran and drag performer came up with the iconic design in 1978.
The June 1969 riots at New York City's Stonewall Inn marked a raucous turning point in the fight for LGBTQ rights. Here's a timeline of how it unfolded.
For decades, LGBTQ+ people have turned to Fire Island as a place of visibility, celebration and belonging.
When the police raided the Stonewall Inn in 1969, the riots that ensued sparked a global movement.
The Stonewall Riots served as a catalyst for the modern gay rights movement.
The history of Pride Month began with the June 1969 Stonewall Riots and continues today with celebrations honoring the LGBTQ+ community.
While the 1969 riots outside a gay bar in Greenwich Village were a collective action, they launched a generation of activists fighting for LGBTQ+ rights, like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera.
In 1966, three men walked into a bar, stated they were gay and ordered drinks. When they were denied service, a movement began.
The Activists Who Removed Homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
The DSM once labeled homosexuality a mental disorder. In the 1960s, LGBTQ+ activists Barbara Gittings and Frank Kameny pushed to change that, helping spur its removal from the DSM in 1973.
In the face of oppression, many LGBTQ+ people developed secret ways to connect and communicate.
Boston marriages offered an alternative for women who didn’t want to depend on men.
American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California.
