LGBTQ history in the United States

Key social advances of the 20th and 21st centuries included the decriminalization of homosexuality, the creation of domestic partnerships, anti-discrimination legislation at the state and local levels, advocacy for HIV/AIDS patients, and the legalization of gay marriage.

British anti-sodomy laws began when King Henry VIII created the The Buggery Act 1533, which meant a death penalty and confiscation of property to those convicted of buggery/sodomy.

[21] This began to result in diversity and conflicts in Biblical interpretation, which led Puritanism to fracture into episcopal, presbyterian, and congregational branches--with Congregationalists being the most direct descendant.

[48] Nineteenth-century Vermont residents Charity Bryant and Sylvia Drake, documented by Rachel Hope Cleves in her 2014 book Charity and Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America,[49] Susan Lee Johnson included the story of John Chaffee and Jason Chamberlain, a California couple who were together for over 50 years until Chaffee's death in 1903, in her 2000 book Roaring Camp: The Social World of the California Gold Rush.

What the eccentric artist painted was shocking to pious sympathies: a mural of the catamite Ganymede with Zeus in the depiction of an eagle, which was derived from Greek mythology.

The Pansy Craze offered actors, such as Gene Malin, Ray Bourbon, Billy De Wolfe, Joe Besser, and Karyl Norman.

May 15, 1901, Seward, Nebraska - d. March 22, 1999, Arizona)[61] wrote the song, We Men Must Grow a Mustache; Abe Lyman appeared on the sheet music.

[70] The California Supreme Court extended similar protection to Kenneth Anger's homoerotic film, Fireworks and Illinois became the first state to decriminalize sodomy between consenting adults in private.

Although the demonstrations were not the first time American homosexuals fought back against government-sponsored persecution of sexual minorities, the Stonewall riots marked a new beginning for the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world.

[note 2] Early homophile groups in the U.S. sought to prove that gay people could be assimilated into society, and they favored non-confrontational education for homosexuals and heterosexuals alike.

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.

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 outrageous street theater.

[89] During the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, LGBTQ communities were further stigmatized as they became the focus of mass hysteria, suffered isolation and marginalization, and were targeted with extreme acts of violence.

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 by Dan 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.

On May 17, 2004, Massachusetts became the first U.S. state and the sixth jurisdiction in the world to legalize same-sex marriage following the Supreme Judicial Court's decision in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health six months earlier.

[145] At the start of 2010, the Obama administration included gender identity among the classes protected against discrimination under the authority of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

[150] 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.

[152] 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.

Obama told an interviewer that:[156] 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,[157][158] Human Rights Campaign,[159] and the National Stonewall Democrats.

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

In the book, Axelrod revealed that President Barack Obama lied about his opposition to same-sex marriage for religious reasons in 2008 United States presidential election.

[178] Also in 2015, when President Obama declared May to be National 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.

[187] On June 12, 2016, 49 people, mostly of Latino descent, were shot and killed by Omar Mateen during Latin Night at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

[191][192] During the 2016 Republican National Convention, following the Orlando nightclub shooting, Donald Trump said "As your president, I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens, from the violence and oppression of hateful foreign ideologies".

[195] On November 13, 2016, during an interview with Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes, Trump said that he was fine with the Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision and that it was irrelevant whether he supported same-sex marriage or not because the law was settled.

[198][199][200][201] On October 13, 2017, Trump became the first sitting president to address the Values Voter Summit, an annual conference sponsored by the Family Research Council, which is known for its anti-LGBT civil rights advocacy.

[207][208] In Bostock v. Clayton County, 590 U.S. ___ (2020), , a landmark decision, the Supreme Court ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects employees against discrimination on account of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

[219] In the case 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis (2023), the Supreme Court ruled 6–3 that the state of Colorado cannot compel the designer to create work that violates her values.

[223] Alongside this, Trump has also made progress towards allowing people with negative views on LGBT individuals to adopt queer children, leading to possible Conversion Therapy scenarios.