Since the U.S. was founded in 1776, visibility of the lesbian, bisexual and gay communities has increased. Though progress has not been linear, this timeline of key events explores how rights related to politics, healthcare, military service and marriage have developed over time and brought us to where we are today.

1776

Before the United States is founded, people who live in the colonies are often subjected to laws that make sodomy, or gay sex, a capital offense.

1786

Pennsylvania is the first state to pass “An Act Amending the Penal Laws,” which states that those convicted of “robbery, burglary, sodomy, or buggary” would no longer be killed and instead would forfeit their lands, goods and servitude for a term “not exceeding ten years.”

1804 

When the U.S. is first created, many early states and colonies, including Ohio, inherit common law sodomy statutes from England.

Shortly after Ohio’s statehood in 1803, the laws are repealed, effectively legalizing sodomy for just six weeks before they are enacted again. For years, the policy goes back and forth, causing confusion.

1924 

Henry Gerber launches the Society for Human Rights, the first known gay rights organization in the U.S. The group’s goal is to combat prejudices against the gay community and support those who are being discriminated against.

While the organization only lasts a year before Gerber and several other members are arrested for deviancy, it marks the official beginning of gay rights organizations in America.

1950

Harry Hay launches the Mattachine Society, which goes on to be a prominent group in the Homophile Movement, a pre-Stonewall era term used to refer to homosexual or LGBTQ rights groups.

In 1955, the society begins publishing the Mattachine Review, a periodical which includes articles that pose questions like “as a distinct personality type, are homophiles so different?”

1950

A Senate report titled “Employment of Homosexuals and Other Sex Perverts in Government” is distributed to members of Congress. The report states, “It is the opinion of this subcommittee that those who engage in acts of homosexuality and other perverted sex activities are unsuitable for employment in the Federal Government. This conclusion is based upon the fact that persons who indulge in such degraded activity are committing not only illegal and immoral acts, but they also constitute security risks in positions of public trust.”

This report is an early move in the “Lavender Scare,” which leads to thousands of gay employees being fired or forced to resign.

1952

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) publishes its first edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). In it, they claim that homosexuality is a sociopathic personality disturbance.

1953

President Dwight Eisenhower signs executive order 10450, which bans homosexuals from all federal government work. The order states that any “criminal, infamous, dishonest, immoral, or notoriously disgraceful conduct, habitual use of intoxicants to excess, drug addiction, [or] sexual perversion” is a threat to national security. At the time, sexual perversion is understood as homosexuality. The order continues to fuel the Lavender Scare.

1953

Civil rights activist and organizer Bayard Rustin is arrested for getting caught having sex with a man in a parked car. Police arrest him under “morals” lawsthat target homosexual people. Following the event, Rustin chooses not to hide his sexuality. This leads to discrimination and results in him having to play a more behind-the-scenes role in the civil rights movement.

1955 

Daughters of Bilitis, the first lesbian rights organization in the U.S., is created. Rosalie “Rose” Bamberger first had the idea for the group and founded it with her partner, Rosemary Sliepen, and three other lesbian couples.

Since lesbian bars are regularly subjected to police raids, the club decides to host safer social functions, such as dances in people’s homes, and eventually the first National Lesbian Conference at San Francisco’s Hotel Whitcomb. While the organization begins as a social club, it eventually grows into a lesbian rights group with chapters throughout the country.

1958

The Supreme Court case, One, Inc. v. Olesen, is groundbreaking for LGBTQ First Amendment Rights. The case involves the Los Angeles postmaster Otto K. Olesen, who required federal postal authorities to seize copies of One: The Homosexual Magazine.

According to Olesen, the magazine was “obscene” which would make it unmailable under the Comstock Act of 1873. The Supreme Court ultimately decides that it is legal to mail LGBTQ magazines in the U.S., citing its previous ruling in Roth v. United States.

1962

Illinois becomes the first state to decriminalize homosexuality when it enacts the repeal of its sodomy laws. This is part of a larger overhaul of the state’s criminal code, so many folks didn’t realize that sodomy laws were repealed.

1968

The APA publishes the second edition of the DSM. This version reclassifies homosexuality as “sexual deviation.”

1969

Following a routine police raid of Stonewall Inn, the patrons fight back. From June 28 to July 3, as New York City’s LGBTQ community resist police violence, the Stonewall uprising becomes the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement.

Stormé DeLarverie has been identified as the “Stonewall lesbian,” a butch lesbian who was clubbed by police the night of the raid, which many believe activated the patrons. DeLarverie says in an interview, “[The officer] then yelled, ‘I said, move along, faggot.’ I think he thought I was a boy. When I refused, he raised his nightstick and clubbed me in the face.”

1972 

Don Fass begins the National Bisexual Liberation Group, making it one of the earliest bi groups in the U.S. They began “The Bisexual Expression,” the first known bisexual newsletter in the United States.

1973

Following pressure from homosexual activists, the APA votes to remove homosexuality from the DSM’s list of mental illnesses.

1974

Kathy Kozachenko is elected to a seat on the Ann Arbor, Michigan, City Council, making her the first openly LGBTQ elected official in the U.S.

Kozachenko later writes, “The fact that I was running as openly gay was a statement in and of itself. We also discussed the need for stereotypical gender roles to be eliminated and for women’s rights and gay rights to be more widely established as policy–in city and state government and in corporate America.”

1978

Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to hold public office in California, is assassinated outside city hall by a disgruntled former city supervisor. In his work, Milk helped pass a new city ordinance that banned discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, housing and public accommodations. He is remembered as one of the great LGBTQ advocates in American history.

1979

Over 75,000 people join the first-ever National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. Attendees demand equal rights for lesbian and gay people and push for protective civil rights legislation.

1980

The Democrats become the first major U.S. political party to endorse gay rights when the Democratic Rules Committee announces that they won’t discriminate against homosexuals. However, they also reject a proposal that would allow the party to recruit homosexuals.