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The United States involved withlesbian,gay,bisexual,transgender andqueer (LGBTQ) people, as well as theLGBTQ social movements they have built.^[4][5]

Until the 20th century, it was uncommon for LGBTQ individuals to live open lives due topersecution and social ostracization. The nation'sProtestant roots led to aheteronormative culture, reinforced throughsodomy laws, often falsely attributed toPuritans. These laws began whenKing Henry VIII established himself as head of theChurch of England. With this cameThe Buggery Act 1533^[6]. Before this, while theCatholic Church was known to prosecute sodomites from time to time, sodomy was considered a church issue secular courts had little interest in.

This stigma forced most LGBTQ people to livein the closet. LGBTQ life before the mid-20th century, especially that of lesbians, is mostly preserved through personal writings.

The process ofdecriminalizing sodomy began in 1962 with the repeal of Illinois's anti-sodomy statute.^[7] This process continued until 2003, whenLawrence v. Texas ruled the 14 remaining anti-sodomy statutes unconstitutional.^[8] In 1973, theAmerican Psychiatric Association declassified homosexuality as amental disorder.^[9]

In the mid-20th century, gay men and lesbians began organizing movements to advocate for their rights. As the century went on, bisexual and transgender individuals gained visibility and the GLBT acronym was formed. Key social advances of the 20th and 21st centuries included thedecriminalization of homosexuality, the creation ofdomestic partnerships,anti-discrimination legislation at the state and local levels, advocacy forHIV/AIDS patients, and the legalization ofgay marriage.

British anti-sodomy laws began when King Henry VIII createdThe Buggery Act of 1533, which meant a death penalty and confiscation of property to those convicted of buggery/sodomy. Sodomy at the time had a broader definition, including bestiality, masturbation, and heterosexual anal intercourse.

The new civil sodomy laws were primarily used to confiscate property from monasteries and weaken the Catholic Church's influence in England. Approximately 180 monks and nuns that confessed to sodomy (believed to primarily be confessions of masturbation).^[10]

Henry's successors,Edward VI andLady Jane Grey, kept the Buggery Act but the next monarch,Mary I, believed matters of sodomy to be a church issue and repealed these laws in her first year of rule. They were reinstated byQueen Elizabeth.^[11] Her own successor,King James (Mary Queen of Scots' son and believed to be homosexual himself) did not repeat Queen Mary of England's actions by repealing the sodomy laws. They remained in place as British colonization began with the establishment of Jamestown in 1607. This brought sodomy law with its death penalty to America. Subsequent British colonies repeated this pattern.

Colonies in the early 1600s were established withChristiannorms. These norms included the traditionalheterosexual family structure with a man and a woman.

Edward Coke was appointed by King James I, and his interpretation of sodomy laws would be a heavy influence upon American colonies. He made distinction betweenBuggery (Sodomitae -- men with man or beast) andPederasty (Paederasts/Pecorantes -- men with boy), the latter he considered a "species" of buggery which Lumbards (Italians) brought to England. What constituted sodomy as a crime he determined respective to heterosexual rape laws ("emissio seminis without penetration maketh no rape"): sodomy was only a crime if penetration occurred. In such an event, both parties involved (regardless of consent) were guilty, though he called for boys under 14 not be punished.^[12]

The only colony to not fully codify the death penalty for sodomy was Quaker Pennsylvania.^[13] White men would be imprisoned;^[14] Black men (both enslaved and free) could still risk execution.^[15]

However, prosecutions rarely happened and when they did, the death penalty was rarely enforced. Documented executions forsodomy began in 1624 with Richard Cornish, a member of theVirginia Colony, who assaulted anindentured servant.

After America was founded in 1776, the death penalty in each colony/state was slowly replaced with imprisonment. The laws themselves, however, would not be abolished for another 200 years.

Jamestown was established in 1607. The early years of Jamestown were harsh and marked by starvation. John Smith's diaries indicate some men exchanged "love" for food, with a footnote of "sailor's abuses."^[16] Sodomy laws were established in 1610, though mostly ignored.

Jamestown was notably heavily male dominated, which would persist for several decades. Such situations have been known to prompt "situational sexuality," which makes studies of identity-based sexuality complicated.

In 1629, a controversy arose whenThomas/Thomasine Hall, a "maidservant," was caught in bed with another woman and word spread that they were really a man. Heterosexual fornication was a crime under Jamestown law, and this would have meant prosecution. However, Hall was intersex, had lived as both a man and woman, and identified as both. After multiple inspections of Hall's genitals, the court gave up trying to classify Hall, who was sentenced to wear men's clothing with women's accessories.^[17]

Maryland was founded in 1634. Similar to Jamestown, it suffered a disproportionate male population. Many formed household's of "mates," or mateships, where groups of 2 or more men would live in the same house and share work/property claims.^[18] Romantic mateships may have existed in such circumstances. "HistoriansJohn D'Emilio andEstelle Freeman have argued that the Chesapeake region's early gender imbalance led to a looser policing of sexual norms and most likely led to a certain level of acceptance of male-male sexual liaisons"^[19]

Much of what we know of Puritan's approach to homosexuality come from:

• Sodomy laws vs actual sodomy prosecutions
• Sermons
• The trial of Nicolas Sension - a man who paid and pressed male servants and young men into sleeping with him for 30 years^[20]
• The diary ofReverend Michael Wigglesworth - a minister and teacher atHarvard who struggled with his love/lust for men

Separatists arrived inPlymouth in 1620, followed by Puritans inSalem (1625) andBoston (1626). In the beginning, Puritans defaulted to British law, but eventually created their own sodomy laws with citation toLeviticus:^[21] Plymouth in 1636,Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1641, andNew Haven in 1642.

Puritans showed a certain "tolerance" to homosexuality, which historians have struggled to explain.^[22] The same sodomy laws applied to bestiality, which brought extremely harsh punishment, including several executions.^[23] One explanation for this tolerance was they cared far more about threats to community peace than to sexual morality.^[24] Another is that Puritans strictly defined sodomy as penetration, accusations required at least two witnesses (which were hard to get), and false accusations of a capital crime could risk its own punishment.^[25]

For men who faced homosexual sodomy accusations, the death penalty was often avoided in favor of warnings or whippings unless children were involved. The only two men executed for sodomy were New Haven's John Knight, who assaulted a 14-year-old boy and (previously) a 14-year-old girl, and William Plaine, who "had corrupted a great part of the youth of Guilford by masturbations...above a hundred times."^[26]

Beginning in 1648, Massachusetts Bay updated its sodomy laws to absolve boys under 14 and victims of assault, and Plymouth followed suit in 1671. In other colonies, likeNew Netherlands, such people could still risk punishment.^[27]

The first (documented) conviction forlesbian behavior in America took place in 1649 with the prosecution ofSarah White Norman and Mary Vincent Hammon.^[28] Sarah Norman was required to publicly apologize; Mary Vincent received no punishment, for the reason, it is believed, that she was only 15 years old at the time.

Puritans held the usual bigotries of their time and place. However, they were unique among Christian communities for placing a heavy value in education and having a willingness to abandon traditions in pursuit of moral good.^[24] This began to result in diversity and conflicts in biblical interpretation, which led Puritanism to fracture intopresbyterians,congregational branches, and sects for what is nowUnitarian Universalism. These would eventually become some of the mostLGBTQ-affirming Christian denominations in the US.

In 1771,Josiah Quincy Jr andJohn Adams were opposing attorneys in an assault and battery case, John Gray vs Lendall/Lindall Pitts. Pitts began to flirt with a woman (either John Gray or a friend), whom he greatly liked. He later discovered this woman was a "cross-dressing man." He reacted with hostility and struck Gray's head, causing serious injury. Gray sued Pitts £300 ($66,000 in 2025) for physical damage.They were rewarded £5 ($1,100), raised to £18 ($4,000). Cross-dressing was illegal under Massachusetts law, but Gray/their friend suffered no repercussions and the judge seems to have ignored this.^[29]

In 1776,Public Universal Friend (also known as The Friend) suffered an illness, after which they claimed to be reborn and began to live a genderless life. They preached throughoutNew England, and soon acquired a following, called "The Society of Universal Friends".^[30]

Noah Webster published the originalWebster's American Dictionary of the English Language in 1828. He included several LGBT terms in his book; focusing on terms forgay sexual practices and ignoringlesbian sexual practices:bugger,^[31]buggery,^[32]pathic,^[33]pederast,^[34]pederastic,^[35]pederasty,^[36]sodomy,^[37] andsodomite.^[38] He occasionally cited theKing James Version. For example, Webster citedFirst Epistle to the Corinthians VI to define the homosexual context of the termabuser.^[39] Another citation is theBook of Genesis 18 to associate the termcry to theSodom and Gomorrah.^[40] One of the first public advocates for gay rights in America was the Presbyterian pastorCarl Schlegel.^[41]

Retired physicianThomas P. Lowry cites letters and notes from soldiers during theCivil War noting stories of men "lying with men" in bed. Lowry's analysis of primary sources documents sexual practices throughout the era, and notes that sexuality was more fluid than previously noted. He underlines that the nature of fragmentary sources makes definitive conclusions hard, but notes two dismissals in the Navy for homosexual behavior.^[42]

Additionally, researchers at the National Archives found evidence of 250 women serving as men, although few continued to live on as men after the war. One such example isAlbert Cashier, who was assigned female at birth, served as man during the Civil War, and lived as one after, until his death. He received a male veteran pension for the rest of his life. Cashier's sex was eventually discovered, but he kept his pension thanks to public pressure from his former comrades.^[43] The word "transgender," however, did not exist, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, making identification of LGBTQ soldiers complex.^[44]

The presence of homosexual and transgender people has been noted throughout the history of theAmerican Frontier. The mutualistic nature of relationships betweencowboys and the lack of women that worked with them facilitated the development of romantic and sexual relations between male cowboys.^[45] Such relationships manifested, for example, instag parties where men would dance with another male dance partner with a patch over hiscrotch to signal his role as the "woman" in the relationship.^[46] These relationships were largely tolerated due to the scarcity of labor in the West until such work became increasinglymechanized.^[47]

The United States saw the rise of its ownUranian poetry after theUranian ("Urnings") movement began to rise in the Western world.Walt Whitman denied his homosexuality in a letter after asked outright about hissexual orientation byJohn Addington Symonds.^[48][49]Bayard Taylor wroteJoseph and His Friend: A Story of Pennsylvania in 1870.Archibald Clavering Gunter wrote a lesbian story in 1896 that would serve for the 1914 film, "A Florida Enchantment."

American presidentsJames Buchanan and his successor,Abraham Lincoln, were suspected of beinghomosexual. Thesexuality of Abraham Lincoln has been considered for over a century. Perhaps the best evidence to connect Lincoln and homosexuality is a poem that he wrote in his youth that reads: "But Billy has married a boy".^[50]

Nineteenth-centuryVermont residentsCharity Bryant andSylvia Drake, documented byRachel Hope Cleves in her 2014 book,Charity and Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America.^[51]

Susan Lee Johnson included the story ofJohn Chaffee and Jason Chamberlain, aCalifornia couple who were together for more than 50 years until Chaffee's death in 1903, in her 2000 bookRoaring Camp: The Social World of the California Gold Rush.^[52]

Around 1890, former acting First LadyRose Cleveland started a lesbian relationship withEvangeline Marrs Simpson, with explicit erotic correspondence;^[53] this cooled when Evangeline marriedHenry Benjamin Whipple, but after his death in 1901 the two rekindled their relationship and in 1910 they moved to Italy together.^[54][55][56]

Henry Oliver Walker was commissioned in 1898 to paint a mural in theLibrary of Congress. What the eccentric artist painted was shocking to pious sympathies: amural of thecatamiteGanymede withZeus in the depiction of aneagle, which was derived fromGreek mythology.

William Dorsey Swann was the first person to describe himself as adrag queen. Swann was the first American on record who pursued legal and political action to defend theLGBTQ community'sright to assemble.^[57] During the 1880s and 1890s, Swann organized a series ofdrag balls inWashington, D.C. Swann was arrested in police raids numerous times, including in the first documented case of arrests for female impersonation in the United States on April 12, 1888.^[58]

Restrictions against loitering and solicitation of sex in public places were installed in the late 19th century by many states (namely to target, among other things, solicitation for same-sex sexual favors), and increasingly tighter restrictions upon "perverts" were common by the turn of the century.^{[citation needed]}Sodomy laws in the United States were enacted separately over the course of four centuries and varied state by state.

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In the United States, as early as the turn of the 20th century, several groups worked in hiding to avoid persecution and to advance the rights of homosexuals, but little is known about them.^[59]Edward Irenaeus Prime-Stevenson publishedImre: A Memorandum in 1906 andThe Intersexes in 1908.^[60] A better documented group isHenry Gerber'sSociety for Human Rights (formed in Chicago in 1924), which was quickly suppressed within months of its establishment.^[61] Serving as an enlisted man in occupied Germany afterWorld War I, Gerber had learned ofMagnus Hirschfeld's pioneering work. Upon returning to the U.S. and settling inChicago, Gerber organized the first documented public homosexual organization in America and published two issues of the first gay publication, entitledFriendship and Freedom. Meanwhile, during the 1920s, LGBT persons found employment as entertainers or entertainment assistants for various urban venues in cities such as New York City.^[62]

Homosexuals were occasionally seen inPre-Code Hollywood films.Buster Keaton'sSeven Chances offered a rare joke about thefemale impersonator,Julian Eltinge. ThePansy Craze offered actors, such asGene Malin,Ray Bourbon,Billy De Wolfe,Joe Besser, andKaryl Norman. The craze found itself in a wide variety of American films, fromgangster films likeThe Public Enemy, tomusicals likeWonder Bar andanimated cartoons likeDizzy Red Riding Hood. Homosexuals also managed to take part in the then-illegalpornographic film industry.

Around 1929,The Surprise of a Knight became the first American gaypornographic film.A Stiff Game would be the second American gay pornographic film.

Homosexuality was also present in themusic industry. In 1922, Norval Bertrand Langworthy (better known asSpeed Langworthy) (b. May 15, 1901, Seward, Nebraska - d. March 22, 1999, Arizona)^[63] wrote the songWe Men Must Grow a Mustache;Abe Lyman appeared on thesheet music.Edgar Leslie andJames V. Monaco wroteMasculine Women, Feminine Men^[64] forHugh J. Ward's 1926 production of the musicalLady Be Good.^[64] Homosexuality also found its way intoAfrican-American music.Ma Rainey, who is believed to have been alesbian, recorded the songProve it on Me Blues. According to pbs.org, the song is about her arrest forgroup sex, in which alleged lesbianism occurred.^[65] George Hannah decided in 1930 to record the songThe Boy in the Boat."^[66]Kokomo Arnold recorded the song "Sissy Man Blues" in 1935.^[67] Pinewood Tom (Josh White), George Noble, and Connie McLean's Rhythm Boys followed with their own records.^[68]

While it seems that homosexuals enjoyed greater recognition in the media afterWorld War I, many were still arrested and convicted through statesodomy laws. For example,Eva Kotchever headed a lesbian café calledEve's Hangout inGreenwich Village. It was stated about her business that "men are admitted but not welcome." Kotchever's indiscretion was so reckless that she wrote about lesbianism in her book,Lesbian Love. In 1926, theNew York City Police Department raided her club, and Kotchever was arrested on anobscenity charge and deported to her native Poland.^[69] Kotchever, who was Jewish, would eventually fall victim to theHolocaust inAuschwitz.

During the late 1940s through the 1960s, a handful of radio and television news programs airedepisodes that focused on homosexuality, with some television movies and network series episodes featuring gay characters or themes.^[70] Thehomophile movement began in the 1950s and 60s with the creation of several organizations, including theMattachine Society, theDaughters of Bilitis and theSociety for Individual Rights.

In 1948,Sexual Behavior in the Human Male was published byAlfred Kinsey, a work which was one of the first to look scientifically at the subject of sexuality. Kinsey claimed that approximately 10% of the adult male population (and about half that number among females) were predominantly or exclusively homosexual for at least three years of their lives.^[71]

In 1958, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the gay publicationONE, Inc., was not obscene and thus protected by theFirst Amendment.^[72] TheCalifornia Supreme Court extended similar protection toKenneth Anger's homoerotic film,Fireworks and Illinois became the first state to decriminalize sodomy between consenting adults in private.^[73]

Little change in the laws or mores of society was seen until the mid-1960s, when thesexual revolution began.Gay pulp fiction andLesbian pulp fiction ushered in a new era. Thephysique movement also emerged withMr. America.Athletic Model Guild produced much of thehomoerotic content that proceeded thegay pornographybusiness. This was a time of major social upheaval in many social areas, including views of gender roles and human sexuality.

This section is an excerpt fromLavender Scare.[edit]

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TheLavender Scare was amoral panic abouthomosexual people in the United States government which led to their mass dismissal from government service during the mid-20th century. It contributed to and paralleled theanti-communist campaign which is known asMcCarthyism and theSecond Red Scare.^[74]Gay men andlesbians were said to be national security risks and communist sympathizers, which led to the call to remove them from state employment.^[75] It was thought that due to the stigma around homosexuality, gay people were vulnerable toblackmail, which could lead to a breach in national security.^[76] Lesbians were at less risk of persecution than gay men, but some lesbians were interrogated or lost their jobs.

The Lavender Scare normalized persecution of homosexuals through bureaucratic institutionalization of homophobia. Former U.S. senatorAlan K. Simpson wrote: "The so-called 'Red Scare' has been the main focus of most historians of that period of time. A lesser-known element and one that harmed far more people was thewitch-hunt McCarthy and others conducted against homosexuals."^[77]

This section is an excerpt fromCompton's Cafeteria riot.[edit]

TheCompton's Cafeteria riot occurred in August 1966 in theTenderloin district ofSan Francisco.^[78] The riot was a response to the violent and constantpolice harassment oftrans people, particularlytrans women, anddrag queens.^[79] The incident was one of the firstLGBTQ-related riots in United States history, preceding the more famous 1969Stonewall riots inNew York City by three years.^{[80][note 1]} It marked the beginning oftransgender activism inSan Francisco.^[81]

The 1960s was a pivotal period for sexual, gender, and ethnic minorities, as social movements championing civil rights and sexual liberation came to fruition. Additionally, the 1950s created the foundation for the trans rights and gay liberation movements with the earlierHomophile movement.^[82][83] Though Stonewall is often heralded as the beginning of the trans rights movement, the importance of Compton's Cafeteria Riots and the homophile movement that came first.^[80] Social groups helped mobilize and even churches, likeGlide Memorial Methodist Church in San Francisco, began reaching out to the transgender community.^[84] Nevertheless, many police officers resisted these movements and the increasing visibility of these groups, continuing to harass and abuse transgender people.^[79] This simultaneous rise in support for transgender rights on the one side and the unwillingness to accept these new ideas on the other created the strain that fueled the riot at Compton's Cafeteria in the summer of 1966. The incident began when atransgender woman resisted arrest by throwing coffee at a police officer.^[85] It was followed bydrag queens and transgender women pouring into the streets, fighting back with their high heels and heavy bags.^[86]

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In the late 1960s, "liberation" philosophy had started to create different factions within theCivil Rights Movement,Black Power movement,anti-war movement, andfeminist movement, and also engulfed the homophile movement. A new generation of young gay and lesbian Americans saw their struggle within a broader movement to dismantle racism, sexism, western imperialism, and traditional mores regarding drugs and sexuality. This new perspective on Gay Liberation had a major turning point with theStonewall riots in 1969.

New gay liberation organizations were created, such as theGay Liberation Front (GLF) inNew York City and theGay Activists Alliance (GAA). In keeping with the mass frustration of LGBT people, and the adoption of the socialistic philosophies that were being propagated in the late 1960s–1970s, these new organizations engaged in colorful and outrageousstreet theater.^[90] The GLF published "A Gay Manifesto," which was influenced byPaul Goodman's work titled "The Politics of Being Queer" (1969).

The group Dyketactics was the first LGBT group in the U.S. to take the police to court for police brutality in the caseDyketactics vs. The City of Philadelphia.^[91] Members of Dyketactics who took the police to court, now known as "The Dyketactics Six," were beaten by the Philadelphia Civil Defence Squad in a demonstration for LGBT rights on December 4, 1975.^[92]

Late in 1979, anew religious revival amongconservativeEvangelical Protestants andRoman Catholics ushered in theRepublican coalition politically aligned with theChristian right that would reign in the United States between the years 1970s and 1980s,^{[93][94][95][96]} becoming another obstacle for the progress of theLGBTQ rights movement.^[95] During theHIV/AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, LGBTQ communities were furtherstigmatized as they became the focus ofmass hysteria, sufferedisolation andmarginalization, and were targeted withextreme acts of violence.^[97]

The gay liberation movement spread to countries worldwide and heavily influenced many of themodern LGBT rights organizations. Out of this vein, several modern-day advocacy organizations were established with differing approaches: theHuman Rights Campaign, formed in 1980, follows a more middle-class-oriented and reformist tradition, while other organizations such as theNational Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), formed in 1973, tries to begrassroots-oriented and support local and state groups to create change from the ground up.

In the 1970s, many gay people moved to cities such asSan Francisco.^[98]Harvey Milk, a gay man, was elected to the city's Board of Supervisors, a legislative chamber often known as acity council in other municipalities.^[99] Milk wasassassinated in 1978 along with the city'smayor,George Moscone.^[100] TheWhite Night Riot on May 21, 1979, was a reaction to the manslaughter conviction and sentence given to the assassin,Dan White, which were thought to be too lenient. Milk played an important role in the gay migration and the gay rights movement.^[101][102]

Thefirst national gay rights march in the United States took place on October 14, 1979, inWashington, D.C., involving perhaps as many as 100,000 people.^[103][104]

HistorianWilliam A. Percy considers that a third epoch of the gay rights movement began in the early 1980s, when AIDS received the highest priority and decimated its leaders, and lasted until 1998, whenadvanced antiretroviral therapy greatly extended the life expectancy of those with AIDS in developed countries.^[105] It was during this era thatdirect action groups such asACT UP were formed.^[106]

In 1962Illinois was the first state in the United States to decriminalize private consensual sexual activity in same-sex couples.^[107] Although decriminalization of sexual relations was an important step, it was insufficient to guarantee full equality in other areas of life such as a right to life without discrimination.^[107]

Over the next several decades, laws prohibiting homosexual acts were repealed on a state-by-state basis.Connecticut was the next state to decriminalize homosexuality.^[108]Colorado,^[109]Oregon,^[110]Delaware,^[111] andHawaii^[112] had decriminalized homosexuality by 1973.Ohio,^[113]Massachusetts,^[114]North Dakota,^[115]New Mexico,^[116]New Hampshire,^[117]California,^[118]West Virginia,^[119]Iowa,^[120]Maine,^[121]Indiana,^[122]South Dakota,^[123]Wyoming,^[124]Nebraska,^[125]Washington,^[126]New York^[127] decriminalized homosexuality in the 1970s; in the 1980s,Pennsylvania^[127] andWisconsin.^[128] followed suit.

In 1990 Mica England sued theDallas Police Department for discrimination, and in 1994 overturned its hiring policy. Mica England vs State of Texas, City of Dallas, and Police Chief Mack Vines. This had a statewide effect on state government employment. The Mica England Lawsuit also overturned the Homosexual Conduct Law in 34 counties in the First District Court of Appeal and the Third District Court of Appeal. A late appeal by the Dallas city Attorney at the State Supreme Court level prevented the Supreme Court from ruling for the whole state of Texas. Otherwise, the 21.06 statute would have been overturned statewide. The Mica England case is referred to and is used for discovery in current discrimination lawsuits.

In the 1990s,Kentucky,^[129]Nevada,^[130]Tennessee,^[131]Montana,^[132]Rhode Island.^[133]

In 2003, theSupreme Court decriminalizedhomosexuality inLawrence v. Texas, overturning laws inAlabama,Florida,Idaho,Kansas,Louisiana,Michigan,Mississippi,Missouri,North Carolina,Oklahoma,South Carolina,Texas,Utah, andVirginia.

The long-standing prohibition of gays serving openly in the United States military was reinforced under "Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT), a 1993 Congressional policy that allowed for homosexual people to serve in the military provided that they did not disclose their sexual orientation. TheDefense of Marriage Act (DOMA) of 1996 barred the federal government from recognizing same-sex couples in any legal manner.

The tipping point of activism in favor of same-sex marriage came in 2008 when the California State Supreme Court ruled that the previous proposition which barred the legalization of same-sex marriage in California was unconstitutional under the United States Constitution. Over 18,000 couples then obtained legal licenses from May until November of the same year, when another statewide proposition reinstated the ban on same-sex marriage. This was received by nationwide protests against the ban and several legal battles which were projected to end up in the Supreme Court of the United States.

In the late 2000s and early 2010s, attention was also paid to the rise of suicides and the lack of self-esteem by LGBT children and teenagers due to homophobic bullying. The "It Gets Better Project", founded and promoted byDan Savage, was launched to counter the phenomenon, and various initiatives were taken by both activists and politicians to impose better conditions for LGBT students in public schools.

PresidentBarack Obama took many definitive pro-LGBT rights stances. In 2009, his administration reversed Bush administration policy and signed the U.N. declaration that calls for the decriminalization of homosexuality.^[136] In June 2009, Obama became the first president to declare the month of June to be LGBT pride month; President Clinton had declared June Gay and Lesbian Pride Month.^[137][138] Obama did so again in June 2010,^[139] June 2011,^[140] June 2012,^[141] June 2013,^[142] June 2014,^[143] and June 2015.^[144]

On June 17, 2009, President Obama signed apresidential memorandum allowing same-sex partners of federal employees to receive certain benefits. The memorandum does not cover full health coverage.^[145] On October 28, 2009, Obama signed theMatthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which added gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability to the federal hate crimes law.^[146]

In October 2009, he nominatedSharon Lubinski to become the first openly lesbianU.S. marshal to serve the Minnesota district.^[147]

On January 4, 2010, he appointedAmanda Simpson the Senior Technical Advisor to theDepartment of Commerce, making her the first openly transgender person appointed to a government post by a U.S. president.^{[148][149][150]} He had appointed the most U.S. gay and lesbian officials of any U.S. president, at the time.^[151]

At the start of 2010, the Obama administration included gender identity among the classes protected against discrimination under the authority of theEqual Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). On April 15, 2010, Obama issued an executive order to the Department of Health and Human Services that required medical facilities to grant visitation and medical decision-making rights to same-sex couples.^[152] In June 2010, he expanded the Family Medical Leave Act to cover employees taking unpaid leave to care for the children of same-sex partners.^[153] On December 22, 2010, Obama signed theDon't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 into law.^[154]

On February 23, 2011, President Obama instructed the Justice Department to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act in court.^[155]

In March 2011, the U.S. issued a nonbinding declaration in favor of gay rights that gained the support of more than 80 countries at the U.N.^[156] In June 2011, the U.N. endorsed the rights of gay, lesbian, and transgender people for the first time, by passing a resolution that was backed by the U.S., among other countries.^[156]

On August 18, 2011, the Obama administration announced that it would suspend deportation proceedings against many undocumented immigrants who pose no threat to national security or public safety, with the White House interpreting the term "family" to include partners of lesbian, gay and bisexual people.^[157]

On September 30, 2011, theDefense Department issued new guidelines that allow military chaplains to officiate at same-sex weddings, on or off military installations, in states where such weddings are allowed.^[158]

On December 5, 2011, the Obama administration announced the United States would use all the tools of American diplomacy, including the potent enticement of foreign aid, to promote LGBT rights around the world.^[159]

In March and April 2012, Obama expressed his opposition to state constitutional bans on same-sex marriage inNorth Carolina, andMinnesota.^[160]

On May 3, 2012, theFederal Bureau of Prisons agreed to add an LGBT representative to the diversity program at each of the 120 prisons it operates in the United States.^[161]

On May 9, 2012, Obama publicly supported same-sex marriage, the first sitting U.S. president to do so. Obama told an interviewer that:^[162]

Over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think about those soldiers or airmen or Marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that Don't Ask Don't Tell is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I've just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married.

In the 2012 election, Obama received the endorsement of the following gay rights organizations: Equal Rights Washington, Fair Wisconsin,Gay-Straight Alliance,^[163][164]Human Rights Campaign,^[165] and theNational Stonewall Democrats. TheAmerican Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) gave Obama a score of 100% on the issue of gays and lesbians in the US military and a score of 75% on the issue of freedom to marry for gay people.^[166]

On January 7, 2013, the Pentagon agreed to pay full separation pay to service members discharged under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."^[167]

Obama also called for full equality during his secondinaugural address on January 21, 2013: "Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law—for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well." It was the first mention of rights for gays and lesbians or use of the wordgay in an inaugural address.^[168][169]

On March 1, 2013, Obama, speaking aboutHollingsworth v. Perry, the U.S. Supreme Court case aboutProposition 8, said "When the Supreme Court asks do you think that the California law, which doesn't provide any rationale for discriminating against same-sex couples other than just the notion that, well, they're same-sex couples—if the Supreme Court asks me or my attorney general or solicitor general, 'Do we think that meets constitutional muster?' I felt it was important for us to answer that question honestly. And the answer is no." The administration took the position that the Supreme Court should apply "heightened scrutiny" to California's ban—a standard under which legal experts say no state ban could survive.^[170]

On June 26, 2013, The Supreme Court invalidated The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which prohibited federal recognition of same-sex marriages, inUnited States v. Windsor.

On August 7, 2013, Obama criticized Russia's anti-gay law.^[171]

On December 26, 2013, President Obama signed theNational Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 into law, which repealed the ban on consensual sodomy in theUCMJ.^[172]

On February 16, 2014, Obama criticized Uganda's anti-gay law.^[173]

On February 28, 2014, Obama agreed with GovernorJan Brewer's veto ofSB 1062.^[174]

Obama included openly gay athletes in the February 2014 Olympic delegation, namelyBrian Boitano andBillie Jean King (who was replaced byCaitlin Cahow, who was also openly gay.)^[175][176] This was done in criticism of Russia's anti-gay law.^[176]

On July 21, 2014, President Obama signedExecutive Order 13672, adding "gender identity" to the categories protected against discrimination in hiring in the federal civilian workforce and both "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" to the categories protected against discrimination in hiring and employment on the part of federal government contractors and sub-contractors.^[177]

Obama was also criticized for meeting with the anti-gay Ugandan presidentYoweri Museveni at a dinner with African heads of state in August 2014.^[178]

Later in August 2014 Obama made a surprise video appearance at the opening ceremony of the 2014Gay Games.^[179][180]

On February 10, 2015,David Axelrod'sBeliever: My Forty Years in Politics was published. In the book, Axelrod revealed that PresidentBarack Obama lied about his opposition to same-sex marriage for religious reasons in2008 United States presidential election. "I'm just not very good at bullshitting," Obama told Axelrod, after an event where he stated his opposition to same-sex marriage, according to the book.^[181]

On June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down all state bans on same-sex marriage, legalized it in all fifty states, and required states to honor out-of-state same-sex marriage licenses in the caseObergefell v. Hodges.

In 2015 the United States appointedRandy Berry as its first Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBT Persons.^[182]

Also in 2015 the Obama administration announced it had opened a gender-neutral bathroom within the White House complex; the bathroom is in theEisenhower Executive Office Building, next door to theWest Wing.^[183]

Also in 2015, President Obama responded to a petition seeking to banconversion therapy (inspired by the death ofLeelah Alcorn) with a pledge to advocate for such a ban.^[184]

Also in 2015, when President Obama declared May to beNational Foster Care Month, he included words never before included in a White House proclamation about adoption, stating in part, "With so many children waiting for loving homes, it is important to ensure all qualified caregivers have the opportunity to serve as foster or adoptive parents, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status. That is why we are working to break down the barriers that exist and investing in efforts to recruit more qualified parents for children in foster care." Thus it appears he is the first president to explicitly say gender identity should not prevent anyone from adopting or becoming a foster parent.^[185]

On October 29, 2015, PresidentBarack Obama endorsedProposition 1.^[186] Subsequently, on November 10, 2015, PresidentBarack Obama officially announced his support for theEquality Act of 2015.^[187]

In June 2016, President Obama dedicated the newStonewall National Monument inGreenwich Village,Lower Manhattan, as the firstU.S. National Monument to honor the LGBT rights movement.^[188]

On October 20, President Obama endorsed Kate Brown as Governor of Oregon.^[190] On November 8, Brown, who is bisexual, became the United States' first openly LGBT person elected Governor. She has also come out as a sexual assault survivor.^[191] She assumed office in 2015 due to a resignation.^[192] During her tenure as Governor before her election, she signed legislation to ban conversion therapy on minors.^[193]

On June 12, 2016, 49 people, mostly of Latino descent,were shot and killed byOmar Mateen during Latin Night at thePulse gay nightclub inOrlando, Florida. It was the deadliest attack against the LGBTQ community in American history^[194] and the second deadliest mass shooting in the United States.^[195] His ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy, declared three days after the shooting that Mateen might have been hiding homosexuality from his family.^[196] Though the attack was initially assumed to be motivated by homophobia, later evidence suggests that Mateen was motivated by US airstrikes against ISIS and may not have known that Pulse was a gay nightclub.^[197][198]

During the2016 Republican National Convention, following the Orlando nightclub shooting,Donald Trump said "As your president, I willdo everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens, from the violence and oppression of hateful foreign ideologies".^[199] At a campaign rally on October 29, 2016, Trump held up aRainbow Flag on stage upside down marked with "LGBTs for Trump".^[200] On November 11, 2016, Trump appointedPeter Thiel to the executive committee ofhis presidential transition team.^[201] On November 13, 2016, during an interview withLesley Stahl on60 Minutes, Trump said that he was fine with theObergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision and that it was irrelevant whether he supported same-sex marriage or not because the law was settled.^[202][203] Trump's decisions as president have put into question the sincerity of his comments as a candidate.^{[204][205][206][207]} On October 13, 2017, Trump became the first sitting president to address the Values Voter Summit, an annual conference sponsored by theFamily Research Council, which is known for its anti-LGBT civil rights advocacy.^[208][209]

The National LGBTQ Wall of Honor was inaugurated in June 2019 and is an Americanmemorial wall inGreenwich Village,LowerManhattan,New York City, dedicated to "LGBTQ pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes".^[210] The wall is located inside of theStonewall Inn and is a part of theStonewall National Monument, the firstU.S. National Monument dedicated toLGBTQ rights and history. The first fifty nominees were announced in June 2019, and the wall was unveiled on June 27, 2019, as a part of theStonewall 50 – WorldPride NYC 2019 events.^[211][212] Each year five additional names will be added .^[210]

In 2020, thecoronavirus pandemic in the United States led to cancellation of most pride parades across the United States during the traditional pride month of June. However, Brooklyn Liberation March, the largesttransgender-rights demonstration in LGBTQ history, took place on June 14, 2020, stretching fromGrand Army Plaza toFort Greene, Brooklyn, focused on supporting Black transgender lives. It drew an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 participants.^[213][214]

InBostock v. Clayton County,590 U.S. ___ (2020), , alandmark decision, the Supreme Court ruled that Title VII of theCivil Rights Act of 1964 protects employees against discrimination on account of their sexual orientation or gender identity.^[215][216]

In 2021, a significant conservativeanti-LGBTQ movement began in the United States, which has largely focused on transgender issues.^[217] The movement has resulted inbathroom use restrictions,bans on gender transition,"don't say gay" laws,laws against drag performances,book bans,boycotts, andconspiracy theories around grooming.^[218] In the campaign leading up to the2024 United States presidential election, Republicans spent over $200 million on ads related to transgender issues.^[219]

On January 20, 2021,Joe Biden took office as the 46th President of the United States.Pete Buttigieg (openly gay, aDemocrat and the formerMayor of South Bend) took office as the 19thSecretary of Transportation on February 3, 2021.^[220] His nomination was confirmed on February 2, 2021, by a vote of 86–13, making him the first openly LGBT Cabinet member in U.S. history.^{[note 3][221]} Nominated at age 38, he was also the youngest Cabinet secretary in theBiden administration and the youngest person ever to serve as Secretary of Transportation.^[222][223]

Biden also reversed the LGBT-targeting executive orders of his predecessor and signedExecutive Order 13988, which directed all federal agencies, federal contractors and sub-contractors to review all policies which implement non-discrimination protections on the basis of sex and extend them to sexual orientation and gender identity, which extended beyond the scope ofObama'sExecutive Order 13672 of 2014 andClinton'sExecutive Order 13087 of 1998.^[224]

In 2022, to prevent the potential loss of the right to same-sex marriage, theUnited States House of Representatives passed theRespect for Marriage Act which would nullify DOMA and protect the nationwide recognition of same-sex and interracial marriages if performed legally. In July 2022, the bill passed 267–157, with 47 Republican representatives joining the Democrats.^[225] In December 2022, theUnited States Senate passed the bill 61–36, and the House again voted 258–169 to pass it.^[226]

The2022 United States elections saw the largest number of openly-LGBT candidates appear on a general election ballot at 678, as well as the largest number of openly-LGBT winners of a national general election with at least 340 winning candidates. TheLGBTQ Victory Fund endorsed more than 500 openly-LGBT candidates for office, the most in the organization's history.^[227]

In the case303 Creative LLC v. Elenis (2023), theSupreme Court ruled 6–3 that the state of Colorado cannot compel the designer to create work that violates heranti-LGBT values.

The state legislatures of Michigan and Minnesota passed anti-discrimination laws protecting sexual orientation and gender identity.^[228] In addition, the states of Minnesota and Maryland repealed their defunct sodomy laws.^[229][230]

President Trump, through the power of executive orders, removed Executive Order 13988 of January 20, 2021 (Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation).^[231] Alongside this, Trump has also made progress towards allowing people with negative views on LGBT individuals to adopt queer children, leading to possibleConversion Therapy scenarios.^[232][233]

On January 27, TheIdaho House of Representatives voted for a resolution that calls for the Supreme Court to reconsider its 2015Obergefell v. Hodges same sex marriage decision.^{[234][235][236]}

On March 28,Utah becomes the firstUS state to ban LGBTQpride flags in government buildings and schools.^{[237][238][239]}

Scholars of U.S. LGBT history

• Biphobia
• Bisexuality in the United States
• History of gay men in the United States
• History of homosexuality in American film
• History of lesbianism in the United States
• History of transgender people in the United States
• Homophobia
• Lesbophobia
• LGBT demographics of the United States
• LGBT historic places in the United States
• LGBT people in the United States
• List of LGBT actions in the United States prior to the Stonewall riots
• African-American LGBT community#History

• LGBT history in California
• LGBT history in Florida
• LGBT history in Hawaii
• LGBT history in Illinois
• LGBT history in Louisiana
• LGBT history in Michigan
• LGBT history in New York
• LGBT history in North Dakota
• LGBT history in South Dakota
• LGBT history in Texas

• Kirchick, James (2022).Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington. New York: Henry Holt and Company.ISBN 9781627792325.OCLC 1293451114. Includes coverage of thelavender scare.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toLGBT history in the United States.

• Timeline: Milestones in the American Gay Rights Movement atPBS

• LGBTQ history in the United States
• LGBTQ history by country
• LGBTQ history in North America

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