LGBT Rights throughout History

In 1924 the first gay rights foundation is founded by Henry Gerber, the Society for Human Rights. The society publishes the first writing for homosexuals, Friendship and Freedom, but soon after political pressures force the society to disband. In 1948, Alfred Kinsey, developer of the Kinsey scale, reveals the his findings show that 37% of males have enjoyed homosexual activities at least once. This information shocked many conservative officials, and contributed to the awareness of the gay community. A setback occurred in 1950, when a Senate report called homosexuals “sex perverts” and declared homosexuality a mental illness. over 4,000 gay men were discharged from the military for their sexuality. 3 years later, president Eisenhower signs Executive Order 10450, banning homosexuals from working for the federal government or any of its private contractors. Landmark Supreme Court Case One Inc. vs Olsen was the first recorded case of the Supreme Court siding with LGBT rights. Illinois became the first state to decriminalize homosexuality in 1962, which is much too recently, when it repealed its sodomy laws. A riot at the Stonewall In breaks out, when police officers raid the bar trying to rid the town of "sexual deviants". The first Gay Pride Parade occurs in New York City in 1970, an event that would continue year after year and in expand to numerous cities and states. Three years later, the American Psychiatry Board finally takes homosexuality off of its list of mental disorders. Kathy Kozachenko makes history by becoming the first openly gay elected American official in Ann Arbor Michigan in 1974. In 1980, the Democrats become the first American political party to endorse gay rights. In 1987, hundreds of thousands of Americans demand that president Ronald Reagan address the AIDS epidemic. President Clinton signs the Defense of Marriage Act, declaring that marriage is between one man and one woman, setting back the gay rights movement. In 2003, Lawrence v Texas rules sodomy laws are unconstituonal. In 2010, the Senate officially repeals the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", allowing openly gay men and women to serve in the military. Finally, most recently the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that states can not ban same-sex marriage, that it is unconstitutional. While America still has a ways to go for social and political equality for the LGBT community, in the past 50 years we have made great progress towards and better and more equal America.