Timeline of LGBT history

Contents 1 9660 to 5000 BC 2 7000 to 1700 BC 3 25th century BC 4 7th century BC 5 6th century BC 6 4th century BC 7 2nd century BC 8 1st century BC 9 1st century CE 10 2nd century 11 3rd century 12 4th century 13 5th century 14 6th century 15 7th Century 16 9th century 17 10th century 18 11th Century 19 12th century 20 13th century 21 14th century 22 15th Century 23 16th century 24 17th century 25 18th century 26 19th century 27 20th century 27.1 1901–1909 27.2 1910s 27.3 1920s 27.4 1930s 27.5 1940s 27.6 1950s 27.7 1960s 27.8 1970s 27.9 1980s 27.10 1990s 27.11 2000 28 21st century 28.1 2001–2009 28.2 2010s 29 See also 30 Footnotes 31 References 32 External links

The following is a timeline of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) related history.

9660 to 5000 BC

• Mesolithic rock art in Sicily depicts phallic male figures in pairs that have been interpreted variously, including as depictions of homosexual intercourse.^[1]

7000 to 1700 BC

• Among the sexual depictions in Neolithic and Bronze Age drawings and figurines from the Mediterranean are "third sex" human figures having female breasts and male genitals or without distinguishing sex characteristics. In Neolithic Italy, female images are found in a domestic context, while images that combine sexual characteristics appear in burials or religious settings; in Neolithic Greece and Cyprus, figures are often dual-sexed or without identifying sexual characteristics.^[2]

25th century BC

• The tomb of the Egyptian royal servants Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum is built during the Fifth Dynasty. The two have sometimes been seen as a homosexual couple,^[3] and if so are the first same-sex couple to be recorded by name.^[4]

7th century BC

• ca. 630 BC – Dorian aristocrats in Crete adopt formal relations between adult aristocrats and adolescent boys; an inscription from Crete is the oldest record of the social institution of paiderasteia among the Greeks^[5] (see Cretan pederasty). Marriage between men in Greece was not legally recognized, but men might form life-long relationships originating in paiderasteia ("pederasty," without the pejorative connotations of the English word). These partnerships were not dissimilar to heterosexual marriages except that the older person served as educator or mentor.^[6]
• 600 BC – Sappho of Lesbos writes love poetry addressing other women, providing the eventual inspiration for the word lesbian.^[7]

6th century BC

• ca. 540–530 BC – Wall paintings from the Etruscan Tomb of the Bulls (ItalianTomba dei Tori), found in 1892 in the Monterozzi necropolis, Tarquinia, depict homosexual intercourse. The tomb is named for the pair of bulls who watch human sex scenes, one between a man and a woman, and the other between two men; these may be apotropaic, or embody aspects of the cycle of regeneration and the afterlife. The three-chamber tomb was inscribed with the name of the deceased for whom it was originally built, Aranth Spurianas or Arath Spuriana, and also depicts Achilles killing the Trojan prince Troilus, along with indications of Apollo cult.^[8]

4th century BC

• 385 BC – Plato publishes Symposium in which Phaedrus, Eryixmachus, Aristophanes and other Greek intellectuals argue that love between males is the highest form, while sex with women is lustful and utilitarian.^[9] Socrates, however, differs.^[10] He demonstrates extreme self-control when seduced by the beautiful Alcibiades.^[11]
• 350 BC – Plato publishes Laws in which the Athenian stranger and his companions criticize homosexuality as being lustful and wrong for society because it does not further the species and may lead to irresponsible citizenry.^[12]
• 338 BC – The Sacred Band of Thebes, an undefeated elite battalion made up of one hundred and fifty pederastic couples, is destroyed by the forces of Philip II of Macedon who bemoans their loss and praises their honour.^[13]
• 326 BC – Military leader Alexander the Great, who was bisexual (as was considered the norm in Ancient Greek culture ^[14]), completes conquest of most of the then known Western world, launching the Hellenistic Age in which millions of people are converted to a Hellenistic culture that views homosexual relationships positively.

2nd century BC

• 149 BC or earlier – During the Roman Republic, the Lex Scantinia imposed penalties on those who committed a sex crime (stuprum) against a freeborn youth; infrequently mentioned or enforced, it may also have been used to prosecute male citizens who willingly took the passive role in homosexual relations.^[15] It is unclear whether the penalty was death or a fine. For an adult male citizen to desire and engage in same-sex relations was considered natural and socially acceptable, as long as his partner was a male prostitute, slave or infamis, a person excluded from the legal protections accorded a citizen. In the Imperial period, the Lex Scantinia was revived by Domitian as part of his program of judicial and moral reform.^[16]
• ca. 90s–80s BC - The Roman consul Quintus Lutatius Catulus was among a circle of poets who made short, light Hellenistic poems fashionable in the late Republic. Both his surviving epigrams address a male as an object of desire, signaling a new homoerotic aesthetic in Roman culture.^[17]

1st century BC

• 80 BC – Julius Caesar allegedly has a love affair with king Nicomedes IV of Bithynia.^[18]
• 57 BC – 54 BC – Catullus writes the Carmina, including love poems to Juventius, boasting of sexual prowess with youth and violent invectives against passive sodomites.
• 42 BC – 39 BC – Virgil writes the Eclogæ Vel Bucolica, with many references to homosexual love and relationship.
• 27 BC – The Roman Empire begins with the reign of Augustus. The first recorded same-sex marriages occur during this period.^[19]
• 26, 25 and 18 BC – Tibullus writes the Carmina, with references to homosexuality.

Romans, like the Greeks, tolerated love and sex amongst men. Two Roman Emperors publicly married men, some had gay lovers themselves, and homosexual prostitution was taxed. However, like the Greeks, passivity and effeminacy were not tolerated, and an adult male freeborn Roman could lose his citizen status if caught performing fellatio or being penetrated.^[12]

1st century CE

• 54 – Nero becomes Emperor of Rome. Nero married two men in legal ceremonies, with at least one accorded the regalia worn by the wives of the Caesars.^[20]

• 79 – The eruption of Mount Vesuvius buries the coastal resorts of Pompeii and Herculaneum, preserving a rich collection of Roman erotic art, including representations of male-male, female-female, and group sex acts.

• 98 – Trajan, one of the most beloved of Roman emperors, begins his reign. Trajan was well known for his homosexuality and fondness for young males. This was used to advantage by the king of Edessa, Abgar VII, who, after incurring the anger of Trajan for some misdeed, sent his handsome young son to make his apologies, thereby obtaining pardon.^[21]

2nd century

• 130 -- Antinous, a 19 year old boy who was the Roman Emperor Hadrian's favorite, dies under mysterious circumstances in Aegyptus and Hadrian creates a cult giving Antinous the status of a god, commissioning numerous sculptures of him throughout the Roman Empire.
• 165 – Christian martyr Giustino writes: "We have learned that is an evil thing to show newborns, since we see that almost everyone, not only the girls but boys too, are forced into prostitution".^[22]

3rd century

• 218 – The emperor Elagabalus begins his reign. He marries a man named Zoticus, an athlete from Smyrna, in a lavish public ceremony at Rome amid the rejoicings of the public.^[23]
• 244–249 – Emperor Philip the Arab tries and fails to outlaw homosexual prostitution.^[12]

4th century

• 305- 306 – Council of Elvira (now Granada, Spain). This council was representative of the Western European Church and among other things, it barred pederasts the right to Communion.
• 314 – Council of Ancyra (now Ankara, Turkey). This council was representative of the Eastern European Church and it excluded the Sacraments for 15 years to unmarried men under the age of 20 who were caught in homosexual acts, and excluded the man for life if he was married and over the age of 50.
• 342 – The first law against same-sex marriage was promulgated by the Christian emperors Constantius II and Constans.^[24]
• 390 – In the year 390, the Christian emperors Valentinian II, Theodosius I and Arcadius declared homosexual sex to be illegal and those who were guilty of it were condemned to be burned alive in front of the public.^[25]
• 390- 405 – Nonnus' Dionysiaca is the last known piece of literature for nearly 1,000 years to celebrate homosexual passion.^[12]

5th century

• 498 – In spite of the laws against gay sex, the Christian emperors continued to collect taxes on male prostitutes until the reign of Anastasius I, who finally abolishes the tax in favor of sampling of the best men.^[26]

6th century

• 529 – The Christian emperor Justinian I (527–565) made homosexuals a scapegoat for problems such as "famines, earthquakes, and pestilences."^[27]
• 589 – The Visigothic kingdom in Spain, is converted from Arianism to Catholicism. This conversion leads to a revision of the law to conform to those of Catholic countries. These revisions include provisions for the persecution of gays and Jews.^[28]

7th Century

• 693 – In Iberia, Visigothic ruler Egica of Hispania and Septimania, demanded that a Church council confront the occurence of homosexuality in the Kingdom. The Sixteenth Council of Toledo issued a statement in response, which was adopted by Egica, stating that homosexual acts be punished by castration, exclusion from Communion, hair shearing, one hundred stripes of the lash, and banishment into exile.^[12]

9th century

• 800–900 – During the Carolingian Renaissance, Alcuin of York, an abbot, wrote love poems to other monks in spite of numerous Church laws condemning homosexuality.^[29]

10th century

• 966 – Foundation of Poland, which never criminalized homosexuality throughout its history (see 1835 and 1932).^[30]

11th Century

• 1007 – The Decretum of Burchard of Worms equates homosexual acts with other sexual transgressions such as adultery and argues, therefore, that it should have the same penance (generally fasting).^[12]
• 1051 – Peter Damian writes the treatise Liber Gomorrhianus, in which he argues for stricter punishments for clerics failing their duty against "vices of nature."^[31]
• 1100 – Ivo of Chartres tries to convince Pope Urban II about homosexuality risks. Ivo accused Rodolfo, archbishop of Tours, of convincing the King of France to appoint a certain Giovanni as bishop of Orléans. Giovanni was well known as Rodolfo's lover and had relations with the king himself, a fact of which the king openly boasted. Pope Urban, however, didn't consider this as a decisive fact: Giovanni ruled as bishop for almost forty years, and Rodolfo continued to be well known and respected.^{[32][dead link]}

12th century

• 1102 – The Council of London took measures to ensure that the English public knew that homosexuality was sinful.^{[citation needed]}
• 1120 – Baldwin II of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, convenes the Council of Nablus to address the vices within the Kingdom. The Council calls for the burning of individuals who perpetually commit sodomy.^[12]
• 1140 – The Italian Monk Gratian compiles his work Concordia discordantium canonum in which he argues that sodomy is the worst of all the sexual sins because it involves using the member in an unnatural way.^[12]
• 1179 – The Third Lateran Council of Rome issues a decree for the excommunication of sodomites.

13th century

• 1232 – Pope Gregory IX starts the Inquisition in the Italian City-States. Some cities called for banishment and/or amputation as punishments for 1st- and 2nd-offending sodomites and burning for the 3rd or habitual offenders.^{[citation needed]}
• 1250–1300 – Homosexual activity radically passes from being completely legal in the most of Europe to incurring the death penalty in most european states.^[33]
• 1260 – In France, first-offending sodomites lost their testicles, second offenders lost their member, and third offenders were burned. Women caught in same-sex acts could be mutilated and executed as well.^[12]
• 1265 – Thomas Aquinas argues that sodomy is second only to murder in the ranking of sins.^[12]
• 1283 – The French Civil Code dictated that convicted sodomites not only were burned but that their property was forfeited.

14th century

• 1321 – Dante's Inferno places sodomites in the Seventh Circle.
• 1327 – The deposed King Edward II of England is killed, allegedly by forcing a red-hot poker through his rectum. Edward II had a history of conflict with the nobility, who repeatedly banished his former lover Piers Gaveston, the Earl of Cornwall.^{[citation needed]}
• 1347 – Rolandino Roncaglia is trialed for sodomy, an event that caused a sensation in Italy. He confessed he "had not ever had sexual intercourses neither with his wife nor with any other woman because he didn't ever felt any carnal appetite, nor he couldn't ever have an erection of his virile member". After his wife died of plague, Rolandino started to prostitute himself, wearing female dresses because "since he has female look, voice and movements – although he hasn't the female orifice but has male member and testicles – many persons considered him to be a woman because of his appearance".^[34]
• 1370s – Jan van Aersdone and Willem Case were two men executed in Antwerp in the 1370s. The charge against them was gay sex, which was illegal and strenuously vilified in medieval Europe.^{[citation needed]} Aersdone and Case stand out because records of their names have survived. One other couple still known by name from the 14th century were Giovanni Braganza and Nicoleto Marmagna of Venice.^[35]
• 1395 — John Rykener, known also as Johannes Richer and Eleanor, was a transvestite prostitute working mainly in London (near Cheapside), but also active in Oxford. He was arrested in 1395 for cross-dressing and interrogated.

15th Century

• 1476 – Florentine court records of 1476 show that Leonardo Da Vinci and three other young men were charged with sodomy, and acquitted.^[36]
• 1483 – The Spanish Inquisition begins. Sodomites were stoned, castrated, and burned. Between 1540 and 1700, more than 1,600 people were prosecuted for sodomy.^[12]

16th century

• 1532 – Holy Roman Empire makes sodomy punishable by death.^[12]
• 1533 – King Henry VIII passes the Buggery Act 1533 making all male-male sexual activity punishable by death.^[37]
• 1553 – Mary Tudor ascends the English throne and removes all of the laws passed by Henry VIII.
• 1558 – Elizabeth I ascends the English throne and reinstates the sodomy laws.^[12]

17th century

• 1620 – Brandenburg-Prussia criminalizes sodomy, making it punishable by death.^[12]
• 1624 – Richard Cornish of the Virginia Colony is tried and hanged for sodomy.^[38]
• 1649 – The first known conviction for lesbian activity in North America occurs in March when Sarah White Norman is charged with "Lewd behaviour each with other upon a bed" with Mary Vincent Hammon in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Hammon was under 16 and not prosecuted.^[39]
• 1655 – The Connecticut Colony passes a law against sodomy including women.^[40]

18th century

• 1721 – Catherina Margaretha Linck is executed for female sodomy in Germany.
• 1726 – Mother Clap's molly house in London is raided by police, resulting in the execution of three men.^[41]
• Between 1730 and 1811, a widespread panic in the Dutch Republic leads to a spectacular series of trials for sodomy, with persecutions at their most severe from 1730 to 1737, 1764, 1776, and from 1795 to 1798.^{[citation needed]}

• 1785 – Jeremy Bentham is one of the first people to argue for the decriminalization of sodomy in England.^[12]
• 1791 – Revolutionary France (and Andorra) adopts a new penal code which no longer criminalizes sodomy. France thus becomes the first West European country to decriminalize homosexual acts between consenting adults .^[42]

• 1794 – The Kingdom of Prussia abolishes the death penalty for sodomy.^[12]

19th century

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• 1811 – Netherlands and Indonesia decriminalizes homosexual acts
• 1828 – The term "Crime against nature" first used in the Criminal code in the United States.
• 1830 – Brazil decriminalizes homosexual acts; The word asexual is used as a term for the first time in biology.
• 1832 – Russia criminalizes homosexual acts making them punishable by up to five years exile in Siberia under Article 995 of its new criminal code.
• 1835 – For the first time in history, homosexuality becomes illegal in Poland after the occupying Russian Empire imposes repressive laws.
• 1836 – The last known execution for homosexuality in Great Britain.^[43]
• 1852 – Portugal decriminalizes homosexual acts.
• 1858 – The Ottoman Empire (predecessor of Turkey) decriminalizes homosexuality;^[44] Timor-Leste legalises homosexuality.
• 1861 – In England, the Offences against the Person Act 1861 is amended to remove the death sentence for "buggery" (which had not been used since 1836). The penalty became imprisonment from 10 years to life.
• 1865 – San Marino decriminalizes sodomy.
• 1867 – On August 29, 1867, Karl Heinrich Ulrichs became the first self-proclaimed homosexual to speak out publicly for homosexual rights when he pleaded at the Congress of German Jurists in Munich for a resolution urging the repeal of anti-homosexual laws.
• 1869 – The term "homosexuality" appears in print for the first time in a German-Hungarian pamphlet written by Karl-Maria Kertbeny (1824–1882).
• 1870 – Joseph and His Friend: A Story of Pennsylvania is published, possibly the first American novel about a homosexual relationship.
• 1871 – Homosexuality is criminalized throughout the German Empire by Paragraph 175 of the Reich Criminal Code; Guatemala and Mexico decriminalize homosexual acts.
• 1880 – The Empire of Japan decrimiminalized homosexual acts, having only made them illegal during the Meiji Restoration.
• 1886 — In England, the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885, outlawing sexual relations between men (but not between women) is given Royal Assent by Queen Victoria. Argentina decriminalizes homosexuality, while Portugal re-criminalizes homosexual acts.
• 1889 – In Italy, homosexuality is legalised; the Cleveland Street Scandal erupts in England.
• 1892 – The words "bisexual" and "heterosexual" are first used in their current senses in Charles Gilbert Chaddock's translation of Kraft-Ebing's Psychopathia Sexualis.
• 1892 – Popular openly bisexual poet Edna St. Vincent Millay is born on 22nd February.
• 1894 – Biologist and pioneer of human sexuality Alfred Kinsey is born on 23rd June.
• 1895 – The trial of Oscar Wilde results in his being prosecuted under the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 for "gross indecency" and sentenced to two years hard labor in prison.
• 1895 – Earl Lind forms Cercle Hermaphroditos which is the 1st group to announce a political agenda to fight against the persecution of homosexuals.
• 1897 – Magnus Hirschfeld founds the Scientific Humanitarian Committee on May 14 to organize for homosexual rights and the repeal of Paragraph 175.
• 1897 – George Cecil Ives organizes the first homosexual rights group in England, the Order of Chaeronea.

20th century

1901–1909

• 1903 – In New York on February 21, 1903, New York police conducted the first United States recorded raid on a gay bathhouse, the Ariston Hotel Baths. 26 men were arrested and 12 brought to trial on sodomy charges; 7 men received sentences ranging from 4 to 20 years in prison.^[45]
• 1906 – Potentially the first openly gay American novel, Imre, is published.^[12]
• 1907 – Adolf Brand, the activist leader of the Gemeinschaft der Eigenen, working to overturn Paragraph 175, publishes a piece "outing" the imperial chancellor of Germany, Prince Bernhard von Bülow. The Prince sues Brand for libel and clears his name; Brand is sentenced to 18 months in prison.^[46]
• 1907–1909 – Harden-Eulenburg Affair in Germany^[47]

1910s

• 1910 – Emma Goldman first begins speaking publicly in favor of homosexual rights. Magnus Hirschfeld later wrote "she was the first and only woman, indeed the first and only American, to take up the defense of homosexual love before the general public."^[48]
  

  

  May 14, 1928 issue of German lesbian periodical Die Freundin (Friedrich Radszuweit)
  ^[49]
• 1913 – The word faggot is first used in print in reference to gays in a vocabulary of criminal slang published in Portland, Oregon: "All the fagots [sic] (sissies) will be dressed in drag at the ball tonight".
• Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time is published in France, marking the first time a modern Western author treats homosexuality openly in literature.
• 1917 – The October Revolution in Russia repeals the previous criminal code in its entirety — including Article 995.^[50][51] Bolshevik leaders boast that "homosexual relationships and heterosexual relationships are treated exactly the same by the law."
• 1919 – In Berlin, Germany, Doctor Magnus Hirschfeld co-founds the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft (Institute for Sex Research), a pioneering private research institute and counseling office. Its library of thousands of books was destroyed by Nazis in May, 1933.^[52][53][54]
• 1919 - Different From the Others, one of the first explicitly gay films, is released. Magnus Hirschfeld has a cameo in the film and partially funded its production.

1920s

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• 1920 – The word Gay is used for the first time in reference to homosexuality.^{[citation needed]}
• 1921 – In England an attempt to make lesbianism illegal for the first time in Britain's history fails.^[55]
• 1922 – A new criminal code comes into force in the USSR officially decriminalizing homosexual acts.
• 1923 – The word fag is first used in print in reference to gays in Nels Anderson's The Hobo: "Fairies or Fags are men or boys who exploit sex for profit."
• 1924 – The first homosexual rights organization in America is founded by Henry Gerber in Chicago — The Society for Human Rights.^[56] The group exists for a few months before disbanding under police pressure.^[57] Panama, Paraguay and Peru legalize homosexuality.
• 1926 – The New York Times is the first major publication to use the word "homosexuality".^[12]
• 1927 - Karol Szymanowski, Poland's openly gay composer, is appointed chief of Poland's state-owned national music school, the Fryderyk Chopin Music Academy.
• 1928 – The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall is published in the UK and later in the United States. This sparks great legal controversy and brings the topic of homosexuality to public conversation.
• 1929 – On May 22, Katharine Lee Bates, author of America the Beautiful dies. On October 16, a Reichstag Committee votes to repeal Paragraph 175; the Nazis' rise to power prevents the implementation of the vote.

1930s

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• 1931 - Mädchen in Uniform, one of the first explicitly lesbian films and the first pro-lesbian film, is released.
• 1932 – Poland codifies the homosexual and heterosexual age of consent equally at 15. Polish law had never criminalized homosexuality, although occupying powers had outlawed it in 1835.^[30]
• 1933 – New Danish penalty law decriminalizes homosexuality.
• 1933 – The National Socialist German Workers Party bans homosexual groups. Homosexuals are sent to concentration camps. Nazis burn the library of Magnus Hirschfeld's Institute for Sexual Research, and destroy the Institute; Denmark and Philippines decriminalizes homosexuality. Homosexual acts are recriminalized in the USSR.
• 1934 – Uruguay decriminalizes homosexuality. The USSR once again criminalizes muzhelozhstvo (specific Russian definition of “male sexual intercourse with male”, literally “man lying with man”), punishable by up to 5 years in prison – more for the coercion or involvement of minors.^[58]
• 1936 – Federico García Lorca , Spanish poet, is shot at the beginning of the civil war.
• 1937 – The first use of the pink triangle for gay men in Nazi concentration camps.

1940s

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• 1940 – Iceland decriminalizes homosexuality.
• 1941 – Transsexuality was first used in reference to homosexuality and bisexuality.
• 1942 – Switzerland decriminalizes homosexuality, with the age of consent set at 20.
• 1944 – Sweden decriminalizes homosexuality, with the age of consent set at 20 and Suriname legalizes homosexuality.
• 1945 – Upon the liberation of Nazi concentration camps by Allied forces, those interned for homosexuality are not freed, but required to serve out the full term of their sentences under Paragraph 175; Portugal decriminalises homosexuality for the second time in its history.
• Four honourably discharged gay veterans form the Veterans Benevolent Association, the first LGBT veterans' group.^[59]
• 1946 – "COC" (Dutch acronym for "Center for Culture and Recreation"), one of the earliest homophile organizations, is founded in the Netherlands. It is the oldest surviving LGBT organization.
• 1947 – Vice Versa, the first North American LGBT publication, is written and self-published by Lisa Ben in Los Angeles.
• 1948 – "Forbundet af 1948" ("League of 1948"), a homosexual group, is formed in Denmark.
• 1948 – The communist authorities of Poland make 15 the age of consent for all sexual acts, homosexual or heterosexual.

1950s

• 1950 – The Organization for Sexual Equality, now Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights (RFSL), is formed in Sweden; East Germany partially abrogates the Nazis' emendations to Paragraph 175; The Mattachine Society, the first sustained American homosexual group, is founded in Los Angeles (November 11); 190 individuals in the United States are dismissed from government employment for their sexual orientation, commencing the Lavender scare.
• 1951 – Greece decriminalizes homosexuality.
• 1952 – In the spring of 1952, Dale Jennings was arrested in Los Angeles for allegedly soliciting a police officer in a bathroom in Westlake Park, now known as MacArthur Park. His trial drew national attention to the Mattachine Society, and membership increased drastically after Jennings contested the charges, resulting in a hung jury.^[60]
• 1952 – Christine Jorgensen becomes the first widely-publicized person to have undergone sex reassignment surgery, in this case, male to female, creating a world-wide sensation.
• 1954 – June 7–Mathematical and computer genius Alan Turing commits suicide by cyanide poisoning, 18 months after being given a choice between two years in prison or libido-reducing hormone treatment for a year as a punishment for homosexuality.^[61] A succession of well-known men, including Lord Montagu, Michael Pitt-Rivers and Peter Wildeblood, were convicted of homosexual offences as British police pursued a McCarthy-like purge of Society homosexuals.^[62] Arcadie, the first homosexual group in France, is formed.
• 1955 – Daughters of Bilitis founded in San Francisco, California; Mattachine Society New York chapter founded.
• 1956 – Thailand decriminalizes homosexual acts.
• 1957 – The word "Transsexual" is coined by U.S. physician Harry Benjamin; The Wolfenden Committee's report recommends decriminalizing consensual homosexual behaviour between adults in the United Kingdom; Psychologist Evelyn Hooker publishes a study showing that homosexual men are as well adjusted as non-homosexual men, which becomes a major factor in the American Psychiatric Association removing homosexuality from its handbook of disorders in 1973.
• 1958 – The Homosexual Law Reform Society is founded in the United Kingdom; Barbara Gittings founds the New York chapter of Daughters of Bilitis.
• 1958 – The United States Supreme Court rules in favor of the First Amendment rights of a gay and lesbian magazine, marking the first time the United States Supreme Court had ruled on a case involving homosexuality.

1960s

• 1961 – Czechoslovakia and Hungary decriminalize sodomy; the Vatican declares that anyone who is "affected by the perverse inclination" towards homosexuality should not be allowed to take religious vows or be ordained within the Roman Catholic Church; The Rejected, the first documentary on homosexuality, is broadcast on KQED TV in San Francisco on 11 September 1961; José Sarria becomes the first openly gay candidate for public office in the United States when he runs for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.^[63]
• 1961 – Illinois becomes first U.S. state to remove sodomy law from its criminal code (effective 1962).^[64]
• 1963 – Israel de-facto decriminalizes sodomy and sexual acts between men by judicial decision against the enforcement of the relevant section in the old British-mandate law from 1936 (which in fact was never enforced).^{[citation needed]}
• 1964 – Canada sees its first gay-positive organization, ASK, and first gay magazines: ASK Newsletter (in Vancouver), and Gay (by Gay Publishing Company of Toronto). Gay was the first periodical to use the term 'Gay' in the title and expanded quickly, including outstripping the distribution of American publications under the name Gay International. These were quickly followed by Two (by Gayboy (later Kamp) Publishing Company of Toronto).^[65][66]
• 1965 – Everett George Klippert, the last person imprisoned in Canada for homosexuality, is arrested for private, consensual sex with men. After being assessed "incurably homosexual", he is sentenced to an indefinite "preventive detention" as a dangerous sexual offender. This was considered by many Canadians to be extremely homophobic, and prompted sympathetic articles in Maclean's and The Toronto Star, eventually leading to increased calls for legal reform in Canada which passed in 1969^{[citation needed]}. Conservatively dressed gays and lesbians demonstrate outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia on July 4, 1965. This was the first in a series of Annual Reminders that took place through 1969.
• 1966 – The Mattachine Society stages a "Sip-In" at Julius Bar in New York City challenging a New York State Liquor Authority prohibiting serving alcohol to gays; the National Planning Conference of Homophile Organizations is established (to became NACHO — North American Conference of Homophile Organizations later that year); the Compton's Cafeteria Riot occurred in August 1966 in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. This incident was the first recorded transgender riot in United States history, preceding the more famous 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City by three years.
• 1967 – Chad decriminalizes homosexuality; The Sexual Offences Act 1967 decriminalizes male homosexual behaviour in England and Wales; The book Homosexual Behavior Among Males by Wainwright Churchill breaks ground as a scientific study approaching homosexuality as a fact of life and introduces the term "homoerotophobia", a possible precursor to "homophobia"; The Oscar Wilde Bookshop, the world's first homosexual-oriented bookstore, opens in New York City; "Our World" ("Nuestro Mundo"), the first Latino-American homosexual group, is created in Argentina; A raid on the Black Cat Tavern in Los Angeles, California promotes homosexual rights activity. The Student Homophile League at Columbia University is the first institutionally recognized gay student group in the United States.^{[citation needed]}
• 1968 – Paragraph 175 is eased in East Germany decriminalizing homosexual acts over the age of 18; Bulgaria decriminalizes adult homosexual relations.

• 1969 – The Stonewall riots occur in New York; Paragraph 175 is eased in West Germany; Bill C-150 is passed, decriminalizing homosexuality in Canada. Pierre Trudeau, the Canadian Prime Minister is quoted as having said: "The state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation."; Poland decriminalizes homosexual prostitution; An Australian arm of the Daughters of Bilitis forms in Melbourne and is considered Australia's first homosexual rights organisation.^{[citation needed]}
• 1969 – On 31 December 1969, the Cockettes perform for the first time at the Palace Theatre on Union and Columbus in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco.

1970s

• 1970 – The first Gay Liberation Day March is held in New York City; The first LGBT Pride Parade is held in Los Angeles; The first "Gay-in" held in San Francisco; Carl Wittman writes A Gay Manifesto;^[67][68] CAMP (Campaign Against Moral Persecution) is formed in Australia.^[69][70]

• 1971 – Society Five (a homosexual rights organization) is formed in Melbourne, Australia; Homosexuality is decriminalized in Austria, Costa Rica and Finland; Colorado and Oregon repeal sodomy laws; Idaho repeals the sodomy law — Then re-instates the repealed sodomy law because of outrage among Mormons and Catholics.^[71][72] The Netherlands changes the homosexual age of consent to 16, the same as the straight age of consent; The U.S. Libertarian Party calls for the repeal of all victimless crime laws, including the sodomy laws; Dr. Frank Kameny becomes the first openly gay candidate for the United States Congress; The University of Michigan establishes the first collegiate LGBT programs office, then known as the "Gay Advocate's Office." The UK Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was recognized as a political movement in the national press and was holding weekly meetings of 200 to 300 people.;^[73] George Klippert, the last man jailed for homosexuality in Canada, is released from prison.

• 1972 – Sweden becomes first country in the world to allow transsexuals to legally change their sex, and provides free hormone therapy;^[74] Hawaii legalizes homosexuality; In South Australia, a consenting adults in private-type legal defence was introduced; Norway decriminalizes homosexuality; East Lansing, Michigan and Ann Arbor, Michigan and San Francisco, California become the first cities in United States to pass a homosexual rights ordinance. Jim Foster, San Francisco and Madeline Davis, Buffalo, New York, first gay and lesbian delegates to the Democratic Convention, Miami, McGovern; give the first speeches advocating a gay rights plank in the Democratic Party Platform. "Stonewall Nation" first gay anthem is written and recorded by Madeline Davis and is produced on 45 rpm record by the Mattachine Society of the Niagara Frontier. Lesbianism 101, first lesbianism course in the U.S. taught at the University of Buffalo by Margaret Small and Madeline Davis.^{[citation needed]}Jeanne Manford marched with her gay son in New York's Pride Day parade. This was the beginning of PFLAG Parents Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.http://community.pflag.org/Page.aspx?pid=267
• 1973 – The American Psychiatric Association removes homosexuality from its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-II), based largely on the research and advocacy of Evelyn Hooker; Malta legalizes homosexuality; In West Germany, the age of consent is reduced for homosexuals to 18 (though it is 14 for heterosexuals).^{[citation needed]}

• 1974 – Kathy Kozachenko becomes the first openly gay American elected to public office when she wins a seat on the Ann Arbor, Michigan city council; In New York City Dr. Fritz Klein founds the Bisexual Forum, the first support group for the Bisexual Community; Ohio repeals sodomy laws. Robert Grant founds American Christian Cause to oppose the "gay agenda", the beginning of modern Christian politics in America. In London, the first openly LGBT telephone help line opens, followed one year later by the Brighton Lesbian and Gay Switchboard;^{[citation needed]} the Brunswick Four are arrested on January 5, 1974, in Toronto, Ontario. This incident of Lesbophobia galvanizes the Toronto Lesbian and Gay community;^[75] the National Socialist League (The Gay Nazi Party) is founded in Los Angeles, California.^{[citation needed]}

• 1975 – Homosexuality is legalized in California due to bill authored by and successfully lobbied for in the state legislature by State Assemblyman from San Francisco Max Gaboury; Elaine Noble becomes the second openly gay American elected to public office when she wins a seat in the Massachusetts State House; South Australia becomes the first state in Australia to make homosexuality legal between consenting adults in private. Panama is the second country in the world to allow transsexuals who have gone through gender reassignment surgery to get their personal documents reflecting their new sex;^{[citation needed]} UK journal Gay Left begins publication.^[76]
  

  

  Gay rights protesters in New York City, protesting at the United States' 1976 Democratic National Convention

• 1976 – Robert Grant founds the Christian Voice to take his anti-homosexual-rights crusade national in United States; the Homosexual Law Reform Coalition and the Gay Teachers Group are started in Australia; the Australian Capital Territory decriminalizes homosexuality between consenting adults in private and equalizes the age of consent; and Denmark equalizes the age of consent.^{[citation needed]}

• 1977 – Harvey Milk is elected city-county supervisor in San Francisco, becoming the third out American elected to public office. Dade County, Florida enacts a Human Rights Ordinance; it is repealed the same year after a militant anti-homosexual-rights campaign led by Anita Bryant. Quebec becomes the first jurisdiction larger than a city or county in the world to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in the public and private sectors; Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia and Vojvodina; legalise homosexuality.^{[citation needed]} Welsh author Jeffrey Weeks publishes Coming Out;^[77]
  

  

  Original eight-color version of the LGBT pride flag
  Publication of the first issue of Gaysweek, NYC's first mainstream gay weekly. Police raid a house outside of Boston outraging the gay community. In response the Boston-Boise Committee is formed, which would lead to the founding of NAMBLA.^[78]

• 1978 – San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone are assassinated by former Supervisor Dan White; the first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is held, with 2000 people attending and 53 subsequently arrested and some seriously beaten by police. ; The rainbow flag is first used as a symbol of homosexual pride; Sweden establishes a uniform age of consent. Samois the earliest known lesbian-feminist BDSM organization is founded in San Francisco; well-known members of the group include Patrick Califia and Gayle Rubin; the group is among the very earliest advocates of what came to be known as sex-positive feminism^{[citation needed]}; The International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) is established.^[79]

• 1979 – The first national homosexual rights march on Washington, DC is held; The White Night riots occur, Harry Hay issues the first call for a Radical Faerie gathering in Arizona, and Cuba and Spain decriminalize homosexuality.^{[citation needed]}
• 1979 A number of people in Sweden called in sick with a case of being homosexual, in protest of homosexuality being classified as an illness. This was followed by an activist occupation of the main office of the National Board of Health and Welfare. Within a few months, Sweden became the first country in the world to remove homosexuality as an illness.^[74]

1980s

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• 1980 – The United States Democratic Party becomes the first major political party in the U.S. to endorse a homosexual rights platform plank; Scotland decriminalizes homosexuality; David McReynolds becomes the first openly LGBT individual to run for President of the United States, appearing on the Socialist Party U S A ticket; The Human Rights Campaign Fund is founded by Steve Endean; The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality.^[80]
• 1981 – The European Court of Human Rights in Dudgeon v. United Kingdom strikes down Northern Ireland's criminalisation of homosexual acts between consenting adults, leading to Northern Ireland decriminalising homosexual sex the following year; Victoria (Australia) and Colombia decriminalize homosexuality with a uniform age of consent; The Moral Majority starts its anti-homosexual crusade; Norway becomes the first country in the world to enact a law to prevent discrimination against homosexuals; Hong Kong's first sex-change operation is performed. The first official documentation of the condition to be known as AIDS was published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on 5 June 1981.^[81]
• 1982 – Laguna Beach, CA elects the first openly gay mayor in United States history; France equalizes the age of consent; The first Gay Games is held in San Francisco, attracting 1,600 participants; Northern Ireland decriminalizes homosexuality; Wisconsin becomes the first US state to ban discrimination against homosexuals; New South Wales becomes the first Australian state to outlaw discrimination on the basis of actual or perceived homosexuality. The condition to be known as AIDS had acquired a number of names – GRID5 (gay-related immune deficiency), ‘gay cancer’, ‘community-acquired immune dysfunction’ and ‘gay compromise syndrome’^[82] The CDC used the term AIDS for the first time in September 1982, when it reported that an average of one to two cases of AIDS were being diagnosed in America every day.^[83]
• 1983 – Massachusetts Representative Gerry Studds reveals he is a homosexual on the floor of the House, becoming the first openly gay member of Congress; Guernsey (Including Alderney, Herm and Sark) decriminalizes homosexuality; Portugal decriminalizes homosexuality for the third time in its history; AIDS is described as a "gay plague" by Reverend Jerry Falwell.
• 1984 – The lesbian and gay association "Ten Percent Club" is formed in Hong Kong; Massachusetts voters reelect representative Gerry Studds, despite his revealing himself as homosexual the year before; New South Wales and the Northern Territory in Australia make homosexual acts legal; Chris Smith, newly elected to the UK parliament declares: "My name is Chris Smith. I'm the Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury, and I'm gay", making him the first openly out homosexual politician in the UK parliament. The Argentine Homosexual Community (Comunidad Homosexual Argentina, CHA) is formed uniting several different and preexisting groups. Berkeley, California becomes the first city in the U.S. to adopt a program of domestic partnership health benefits for city employees; West Hollywood, CA is founded and becomes the first known city to elect a city council where a majority of the members are openly gay or lesbian.
• 1985 – France prohibits discrimination based on lifestyle (moeurs) in employment and services; the first memorial to gay Holocaust victims is dedicated; Belgium equalizes the age of consent; the Restoration Church of Jesus Christ (the Gay Mormon Church) is founded by Antonio A. Feliz.^[84] Bisexual actor Rock Hudson died of AIDS. He was the first major public figure known to have died from an AIDS-related illness.^[85]
• 1986 – Homosexual Law Reform Act passed in New Zealand, legalizing sex between males over 16; Haiti decriminalizes homosexuality, June in Bowers v. Hardwick case, U.S. Supreme Court upholds Georgia law forbidding oral or anal sex, ruling that the constitutional right to privacy does not extend to homosexual relations, but it did not state whether the law could be enforced against heterosexuals.
• 1987 – AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power(ACT-UP) founded in the US in response to the US government’s slow response in dealing with the AIDS crisis.^[86] ACT UP stages its first major demonstration, seventeen protesters are arrested; U.S. Congressman Barney Frank comes out; In New York City a group of Bisexual LGBT rights activist including Brenda Howard found the New York Area Bisexual Network (NYABN); Homomonument, a memorial to persecuted homosexuals, opens in Amsterdam. David Norris is the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in the Republic of Ireland.
• 1988 – Sweden is the first country to pass laws protecting homosexual regarding social services, taxes, and inheritances. The anti-gay Section 28 passes in England and Wales; Scotland enacts almost identical legislation; Canadian MP Svend Robinson comes out; Canada lowers the age of consent for sodomy to 18; Belize and Israel decriminalize (de jure) sodomy and sexual acts between men (the relevant section in the old British-mandate law from 1936 was never enforced in Israel). After losing an Irish High Court case (1980) and an Irish Supreme Court case (1983), David Norris takes his case (Norris v. Ireland) to the European Court of Human Rights. The European Court strikes down the Irish law criminalising male-to-male sex on the grounds of privacy.
• 1989 – Western Australia decriminalizes male homosexuality (but the age of consent is set at 21); Liechtenstein legalizes homosexuality; Denmark is the first country in the world to enact registered partnership laws (like a civil union) for same-sex couples, with most of the same rights as marriage (excluding the right to adoption (until June 2010) and the right to marriage in a church).

1990s

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(See individual year page for more info)

• 1990
  • Equalization of age of consent: Czechoslovakia (see Czech Republic, Slovakia)
  • Decriminalisation of homosexuality: UK Crown Dependency of Jersey and the Australian state of Queensland
  • LGBT Organizations founded: BiNet USA (USA), OutRage! (UK) and Queer Nation (USA)
  • Other: Justin Fashanu is the first professional footballer to come out in the press.

• 1991
  • Decriminalisation of homosexuality: Bahamas, Hong Kong and Ukraine
  • AIDS Related: The red ribbon is first used as a symbol of the campaign against HIV/AIDS.

• 1992
  • Equalization of age of consent: Iceland, Luxembourg and Switzerland
  • Homosexuality no longer an illness: The World Health Organization
  • Decriminalisation of homosexuality: Estonia and Latvia
  • Repeal of Sodomy laws: UK Crown Dependency of Isle of Man (homosexuality still illegal until 1994)
  • End to ban on gay people in the military: Australia, Canada
  • Recriminalisation of homosexuality: Nicaragua (until Mar 2008).

• 1993
  • Jan Waterman wins precedent setting human rights victory, some refer to as the beginning of G & L history in Canada. Included in the Human Rights code and in Teaching Human Rights:^{[clarification needed]}
  • Civil Union/Registered Partnership laws:
    • Passed and Comes into effect: Norway (without adoption until 2002, replaced with same-sex marriage in 2008/09)
  • Repeal of Sodomy laws: Australian Territory of Norfolk Island
  • Decriminalisation of homosexuality: Belarus, UK Crown Dependency of Gibraltar, Ireland, Lithuania, Russia (with the exception of the Chechen Republic);
  • Anti-discrimination legislation: US state of Minnesota (gender identity)
  • Ban on gays serving openly in the military: USA (see Don't ask, don't tell, repealed 2010)
  • End to ban on gay people in the military: New Zealand
  • Significant LGBT Murders: Brandon Teena

• 1994
  • Unregistered Cohabitation recognition:
    • Passed and Comes into effect: Israel (without adoption, without step-adoption until 2005)
  • Anti-discrimination legislation: South Africa (sexual orientation, interim constitution)
  • Decriminalisation of homosexuality: Bermuda, Germany, UK Crown Dependency of Isle of Man and Serbia
  • Equalization of age of consent:
    • Partial: UK reduces the age of consent for homosexual men to 18;
  • Homosexuality no longer an illness: American Medical Association
  • LGBT Organizations founded: National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality (South Africa)
  • Other : Canada grants refugee status to homosexuals fearing for their well-being in their native country; Toonen v. Australia decided by UN Human Rights Committee.

• 1995
  • Civil Union/Registered Partnership laws:
    • Passed and Comes into effect: Sweden (with adoption, replaced with same-sex marriage in Apr 2009)
  • Anti-discrimination legislation: Canada (sexual orientation)
  • Decriminalisation of homosexuality: Albania and Moldova
  • AIDS Related: Triple combination therapy of drugs such as 3TC, AZT and ddC shown to be effective in treating HIV, the virus responsible for AIDS^[87]
  • Other : The Human Rights Campaign drops the word "Fund" from their title and broadens their mission to promote "an America where gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people are ensured equality and embraced as full members of the American family at home, at work and in every community;"
  • LGBT Organizations founded: Gay Advice Darlington/Durham was founded by local gay and bisexual men, and has developed into a Charity that work with and for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Community of County Durham and Darlington.

• 1996
  • Civil Union/Registered Partnership laws:
    • Passed and Comes into effect: Iceland (with step-adoption, without joint adoption until 2006, replaced with same-sex marriage in 2010)
  • Unregistered Cohabitation recognition:
    • Passed and Comes into effect: Hungary (replaced with registered partnerships in 2009)
  • Restriction of LGBT partnership rights: USA, (federal, see DOMA)
  • Equalization of age of consent: Burkina Faso
  • Decriminalisation of homosexuality: Romania, Macedonia, Macau

• 1997
  • Anti-discrimination legislation: Fiji (sexual orientation, constitution) and South Africa (sexual orientation, constitution)
  • Equalization of age of consent: Russia
  • Decriminalisation of homosexuality: Ecuador and the Australian state of Tasmania
  • Other : The UK extends immigration rights to same-sex couples akin to marriage;

• 1998
  • Anti-discrimination legislation: Ecuador (sexual orientation, constitution), Ireland (sexual orientation) and the Canadian province of Alberta
  • Significant LGBT Murders: Rita Hester, Matthew Shepard
  • Decriminalisation of homosexuality: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, South Africa (retroactive to 1994), Southern Cyprus and Tajikistan
  • Equalization of age of consent: Croatia and Latvia
  • End to ban on gay people in the military: Romania, South Africa

• 1999
  • Civil Union/Registered Partnership laws:
    • Passed and Comes into effect: US State of California (without adoption, without step adoption until 2001, same-sex marriage in Jun 2008-Nov 2008)
    • Passed and Comes into effect: France
  • Equalization of age of consent: Finland (without adoption)
  • LGBT Organizations founded: "Queer Youth Alliance" (UK)
  • Other: Israel’s supreme court recognizes a lesbian partner as another legal mother of her partner’s biological son; South Africa grants spousal immigration benefits to same-sex partners.

2000

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• 2000
  • Civil Union/Registered Partnership laws:
    • Passes and Comes into effect: US State of Vermont
  • Anti-discrimination legislation: South Africa (discrimination, hate speech, harassment; see PEPUDA)
  • Revoking of discrimination legislation: UK subdivision of Scotland (Section 28)
  • End to ban on gay people in the military: United Kingdom. See also: Sexual orientation and military service and Stonewall
  • Equalization of age of consent: Belarus, Israel, United Kingdom (passed eff. 2001)
  • Decriminalisation of homosexuality: Azerbaijan, Gabon and Georgia
  • Other: In Germany the Bundestag officially apologizes to gays and lesbians persecuted under the Nazi regime, and for "harm done to homosexual citizens up to 1969";

Israel recognizes same-sex relations for immigration purposes for a foreign partner of an Israeli resident.

21st century

2001–2009

(See individual year page for more info)

• 2001
  • Same sex marriages laws:
    • Come into effect: The Netherlands (with joint adoption)
  • Civil Union/Registered Partnership laws:
    • Comes into effect: Germany (without joint adoption until Oct 2004, then with step-adoption)
    • Passed: Finland (without joint adoption until May 2009, then with step-adoption)
  • Limited Partnership laws:
    • Passed and Comes into effect: Portugal (without joint adoption) (replaced with marriage 2009)
    • Comes into effect: Swiss canton of Geneva (without joint adoption)
  • Anti-discrimination legislation: US states of Rhode Island (private sector, gender identity) and Maryland (private sector, sexual orientation)
  • Equalization of age of consent: Albania, Estonia and Liechtenstein
  • Repeal of Sodomy laws: US state of Arizona
  • Decriminalisation of homosexuality: the rest of the United Kingdom's territories^{[citation needed]}
  • Homosexuality no longer an illness: China
  • Marches and Prides: Protesters disrupt the first Pride march in the Serbian ciy of Belgrade

• 2002
  • Civil Union/Registered Partnership laws:
    • Passed and Comes into effect: Canadian province of Quebec (with joint adoption)
    • Comes into effect: Finland (without joint adoption until May 2009, then with step-adoption)
    • Passed: Argentinian city of Buenos Aires (without joint adoption)
  • Limited Partnerships laws:
    • Passed: Swiss canton of Zurich (without joint adoption)
  • Same-sex couple adoption legalisation: South Africa (joint and step adoption), Sweden (step adoption)
  • Anti-discrimination legislation: US states of Alaska (public sector, sexual orientation) and New York (private sector, sexual orientation)
  • Equalization of age of consent: Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Hungary, Moldova, Romania and the Australian state of Western Australia
  • Repeal of Sodomy laws: Romania, Costa Rica and the US State of Arkansas
  • Decriminalisation of homosexuality: China, Mongolia
  • Other: openly gay Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn is assassinated by Volkert van der Graaf

• 2003
  • Same sex marriages laws:
    • Passed and Comes into effect: Belgium (without joint adoption until Apr 2006) and the Canadian provinces of Ontario, British Columbia
  • Civil Union/Registered Partnership laws:
    • Comes into effect: Argentinian city of Buenos Aires (without joint adoption)
    • Passed:: Australian state of Tasmania (step adoption only)
  • Limited Partnerships laws:
    • Comes into effect: Austria (without joint adoption)(replaced with registed partnerships 2010), Croatia (without joint adoption)
  • Anti-discrimination legislation:Bulgaria ( all sectors, sexual orientation), United Kingdom (excluding religious organisations, sexual orientation), US states of Arizona (public sector, sexual orientation), Kentucky (public sector, sexual orientation and gender identity), Michigan (executive branch of the state government, sexual orientation), New Mexico (private sector, sexual orientation and gender identity), Pennsylvania (public sector, gender identity)
  • Equalization of age of consent: Australian state and territory (resp.) of New South Wales and Northern Territory
  • Repeal of Sodomy laws: Armenia, USA (Lawrence v. Texas)
  • Decriminalisation of homosexuality: Iraq
  • Recriminalisation of homosexuality: Belize
  • Other: Section 28 is repealed in England and Wales and Northern Ireland. Gene Robinson becomes the first openly gay Bishop in the Episcopal church in the USA.

• 2004
  • Same sex marriage laws:
    • Passed and Comes into effect: Canadian provinces of Manitoba (with adoption), Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Quebec (with adoption), Saskatchewan and Yukon, US State of Massachusetts
  • Civil Union/Registered Partnership laws:
    • Passed and Comes into effect: Brazilian State of Rio Grande do Sul, Luxembourg (without joint adoption) and US state of Maine
    • Comes into effect:: Australian state of Tasmania (step adoption only)
    • Passed: New Zealand (without joint adoption)
  • Limited Partnership laws:
    • Passed and Comes into effect: New Jersey
  • Same-sex couple adoption legalisation: Germany (Step Adoption)
  • Banning of Same-sex marriage: Australia, US states of Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Oregon and Utah
  • Banning of Same-sex marriage and civil unions: US states of Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Virginia and Wisconsin
  • Anti-discrimination legislation: Portugal, US States of Indiana (public sector, gender identity), Louisiana (public sector, sexual orientation) and Maine
  • Equalization of age of consent: Lithuania
  • Decriminalisation of homosexuality: Cape Verde, Marshall Islands and San Marino
  • Other: UK Gender Recognition Bill, James McGreevey becomes the first openly gay Governor in U.S. history.^{[citation needed]}

• 2005
  • Same sex marriage laws:
    • Passed and Comes into effect: Canada, Spain (with joint adoption)
  • Civil Union/Registered Partnership laws:
    • Passes and Comes into effect: Andorra, United Kingdom (without joint adoption (England and Wales) until Dec 2005,^[88] without joint adoption (Scotland) until Sep 2009, without joint adoption (Northern Ireland)), US state of Connecticut
    • Comes into effect: New Zealand (without joint adoption), US state of California
    • Passed: Switzerland (without adoption), Slovenia
  • Same-sex couple adoption legalisation: UK Subdivisions of England and Wales
  • Banning of Same-sex marriage: Latvia and Uganda
  • Banning of Same-sex marriage and civil unions: US states of Kansas and Texas
  • Anti-discrimination legislation: US States of Illinois (private sector, sexual orientation and gender identity) and Maine (private sector, sexual orientation and gender identity)^{[citation needed]}
  • Repeal of Sodomy laws: Puerto Rico
  • Other: two gay male teenagers, Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni, are executed in Iran, André Boisclair is chosen leader of the Parti Québécois, becoming the first openly gay man elected as the leader of a major political party in North America.

• 2006
  • Same sex marriages laws:
    • Passed and Comes into effect: South Africa (with joint adoption)
  • Civil Union/Registered Partnership laws:
    • Passed and Comes into effect: Czech Republic (without joint adoption)
    • Comes into effect: Slovenia
    • Passed: Mexican City of Mexico City and US state of New Jersey
  • Limited Partnership laws:
    • Passed: Australian State of South Australia^[89]
  • Abroad Union recognition: Israel
  • Banning of Same-sex marriage: US State of Tennessee
  • Banning of Same-sex marriage and civil unions: US States of Alabama, Colorado, Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Virginia, Wisconsin
  • Same-sex couple adoption legalisation: Belgium
  • Anti-discrimination legislation: Faroe Islands,^[90] Germany (sexual orientation and gender identity), New Zealand (gender identity)^{[citation needed]} and US States and Districts of Illinois (sexual orientation), New Jersey (private sector, gender identity), Washington (sexual orientation and gender identity) and Washington, D.C. (private sector, gender identity)
  • Voiding of Anti-discrimination legislation: Kentucky
  • Equalization of age of consent: Hong Kong, Isle of Man,^[91] Serbia
  • Marches and Prides: the first homosexual pride march in Moscow ends with violence, the first regional Eastern European Pride is held in Zagreb, Croatia
  • Other: Springfield, Missouri repeals gay soliciting laws,^[92] the United States Senate fails to pass the Federal Marriage Amendment, the International Conference on LGBT Human Rights is held in Montreal, another section 28 "successfully repealed" in Isle of Man^{[93][dead link]}

• 2007
  • Civil Union/Registered Partnership laws:
    • Passed and Comes into effect: Mexian state of Coahuila
    • Comes into effect: Mexican City of Mexico City, Switzerland (without adoption), US state of New Jersey
    • Passed: Hungary (with adoption), US state of New Hampshire, Uruguay (without adoption until Sep 2008)
  • Limited Partnership laws:
    • Passed and Comes into effect: US state of Washington and Colombia
    • Comes into effect: Australian state of South Australia, US state of Oregon
  • Anti-discrimination legislation: United Kingdom^[94] (sexual orientation) and US states of Colorado (private sector, sexual orientation and gender identity), Iowa (private sector, sexual orientation and gender identity), Kansas (public sector, sexual orientation and gender identity), Michigan (public sector, gender identity), Ohio (public sector, sexual orientation and gender identity), Oregon (private sector, sexual orientation and gender identity) and Vermont (private sector, gender identity)
  • Equalization of age of consent: Portugal, South Africa, UK territory of Jersey,^[95][96] Vanuatu
  • Decriminalisation of homosexuality: Nepal and New Zealand territories of Niue and Tokelau
  • Marches and Prides: the first ever gay pride parade in a Muslim country is held in Istanbul, Turkey;^[97]
  • Other: on August 9, 2007, the Logo cable channel hosts the first presidential forum in the United States focusing specifically on LGBT issues. Six Democratic Party candidates participate in the event. GOP candidates were asked to attend but turned it down. On November 29, the first foreign gay wedding was held in Hanoi, Vietnam between a Japanese and an Irish national. The wedding raised much attention in the gay and lesbian community in Vietnam.^[98]

• 2008
  • Same sex marriages laws:
    • Passed and Comes into effect: US states of California (May–Nov 2008) and Connecticut
    • Passed: Norway (with joint adoption)
  • Civil Union/Registered Partnership laws:
    • Passed and comes into effect: The Australian Capital Territory, Ecuador (without joint adoption), US state of Washington (expansion of previous legislation)
    • Comes into effect: US state of New Hampshire, Uruguay (without joint adoption until Sep 2008)
  • Limited Partnership laws:
    • Comes into effect: Australian state of Victoria, US state of Oregon
  • Banning of Same-sex marriage: US states of Arizona and California
  • Banning of Same-sex marriage and civil unions: US state of Florida
  • Same-sex couple adoption legalisation: Uruguay
  • Banning of Same-sex adoption: Arkansas (struck down by the Arkansas Supreme Court in 2011)
  • Anti-discrimination legislation: California^{[citation needed]}
  • Equalization of age of consent: Nicaragua, Panama
  • Decriminalisation of homosexuality: Nicaragua and Panama
  • Marches and Prides: the first ever gay pride parade in Bulgaria
  • Other: Kosovo declares itself to be an independent country with a new constitution that includes mention of "sexual orientation", the first of its kind in Eastern Europe,^{[citation needed]}, Portland voters elect Sam Adams (Oregon politician) mayor, making it the largest city in the US with an openly-gay mayor (the next largest is Providence, Rhode Island), June 3 the first two same sex civil marriages (two men and two women)take place in Greece on the island of Tilos, the supreme court prosecutor and the minister of Justice claim the marriages are null and void

• 2009
  • Same sex marriages laws:
    • Passed and Comes into effect: Sweden^[99] (with joint adoption), US states of Iowa^[100] and Vermont^[101]
    • Comes into effect: Norway (with joint adoption)
    • Passed: Mexican City of Mexico City (with joint adoption), US states and districts of New Hampshire (step adoption only), Maine^[102] (never came into effect), Washington, D.C.^[103]
  • Civil Union/Registered Partnership laws:
    • Passed and comes into effect: Hungary (without joint adoption), Colombia (expansion of previous rights without joint adoption), US states of Nevada and Washington^[104] (expansion of previous rights)
    • Passed: Austria (without joint adoption)
  • Limited Partnership laws:
    • Passed and Comes into effect: US states of Colorado and Wisconsin
  • Abroad Union recognition: Japan,^[105] US district of Washington, D.C.
  • Same-sex couple adoption legalisation: Finland^[106] (step adoption), UK Subdivision of Scotland
  • Banning of Same-sex marriage: Maine^{[107][dead link]}
  • Anti-discrimination legislation: Serbia, US state of Delaware (private sector, sexual orientation), USA Matthew Shepard Act.^[108]
  • End to ban on gay people in the military: Argentina, Philippines, Uruguay
  • Decriminalisation of homosexuality: India^[109]
  • Other: Iceland elects the first openly gay head of government in the world, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir;^[110] On March 10, 2009, in Tel Aviv, Uzi Even and his life partner was the first same-sex male couple in Israel whose right of adoption has been legally acknowledged.;^[111] (26 May), the California Supreme Court upholds Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that banned same-sex marriage in November 2008, with a 6–1 vote;^[112] the Canadian province of Alberta becomes the last province to include the words "sexual orientation" in the Human Rights Act;^[113] Washington state voters approve keeping same-sex relationship rights as Domestic Partnerships by 51 percent; (12 Dec), Annise Parker is elected mayor of Houston, Texas, which becomes the largest city in the United States with an openly-gay mayor^[114] Welsh rugby star Gareth Thomas becomes the first known top-level professional male athlete in a team sport to come out while still active.^[115]

2010s

(See individual year page for more info)

• 2010
  • Same sex marriages laws:
    • Passed and comes into effect: Portugal (without joint adoption), Iceland (with joint adoption), Argentina (with adoption)^[116]
    • Comes into effect: Mexican City of Mexico City (with joint adoption). US state of New Hampshire (step adoption only) and Washington, D.C.^[103]
    • Recognition: The Mexican Supreme Court rules that marriages contracted in Mexico City are valid throughout the country, although no other jurisdiction is required to perform them. Australian State of Tasmania recognises same-marriages performed in other jurisdictions.
    • Other: U.S. state of California, United States District Judge Vaughn Walker strikes down California's Proposition 8 as violative of the United States Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses.^[117]
  • Civil Union/Registered Partnership laws:
    • Comes into effect: Austria (without adoption and IVF access rights)
    • Passed: Ireland (without adoption rights)
  • Limited Partnership laws:
    • Passed and comes into effect: Australian state of New South Wales (without joint adoption until Sep 2010)
  • Same-sex couple adoption legislation: Australian state of New South Wales, Denmark
  • End to ban of same-sex couple adoption: US states of Arkansas and Florida
  • Trans Rights: Australia becomes the first country in the world to recognise a 'non-specified' gender,^[118] when the New South Wales Government recognises Norrie May-Welby as being neither male or female. Norrie has since been forced to choose a gender.^[119]
  • End to ban of gay people in the military: Serbia
    • Passed: USA (See Don't Ask Don't Tell)
  • End to ban of trans people in the military: Australia
  • Decriminalisation of homosexuality: Fiji^[120]
  • Marches and Prides: the first ever legal gay pride parade in Russia, held in St. Petersburg

• 2011
  • Same sex marriages laws:
    • Passed and comes into effect: New York
    • India's first married lesbian couple: LGBT rights in India (July 2011)
  • Civil Union/Registered Partnership laws:
    • Comes into effect: Ireland (without adoption rights)^[121]
    • Passed and comes into effect: Isle of Man (with joint adoption), US State of Illinois (with joint adoption rights), Liechtenstein, Rhode Island
    • Passed: US State of Delaware (comes into effect Jan 2012) and Hawaii (comes into effect Jan 2012)
  • Decriminalisation of homosexuality: Mozambique
  • End to ban on gay people in the military: USA (see Don't Ask, Don't Tell)
  • Tony Briffa, believed to be the world’s first intersex mayor, elected in the City of Hobsons Bay in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, at the end of November.^[122]
  • Elio Di Rupo, first openly-gay male head of government, becomes Prime Minister of Belgium, December 6.

• 2012
  • Same sex marriages laws:
    • Court Order: Alagoas
  • Civil Union/Registered Partnership laws:
    • Comes into effect: US State of Delaware and Hawaii

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: LGBT history by century

• LGBT history
• Table of years in LGBT rights
• Timeline of sexual orientation and medicine
• History of human sexuality
• List of pre-Stonewall LGBT actions in the United States
• Timeline of LGBT history in Britain
• Timeline of LGBT history in Canada

Footnotes

References

• Archer, Bert (2004). The End of Gay: And the Death of Heterosexuality. Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 1560256117.
• Bullough, Vern L. (2002). Before Stonewall: Activists for Gay and Lesbian Rights in Historical Context. New York, Harrington Park Press, an imprint of The Haworth Press. ISBN 1560231939.
• Chauncey, George (1995). Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890–1940 (Reprint ed.). Basic Books. ISBN 0465026214 
• Fone, Byrne R. S. (2000). Homophobia: a history. New York: Metropolitan Books. ISBN 0805045597. 
• Hogan, Steve and Lee Hudson (1998). Completely Queer: The Gay and Lesbian Encyclopedia. New York, Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 0805036296.
• Miller, Neil (1995). Out of the Past: Gay and Lesbian History from 1869 to the Present. New York, Vintage Books. ISBN 0099576910.
• Percy III, William Armstrong (1996). Pederasty and pedagogy in archaic Greece. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0252022092 

External links

• Extended Chronicle of gay history
• History of Gay Rights
• Gay Movie History
• ILGA's Legal Wrap-up 2006
• Our Story (Another Timeline)
• 365gay History on this day...
• LGBT History Month, United Kingdom
• The Development of Homosexuality in Australia
• Timeline of more History

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