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Declaration of Independence
The British colonists on July 4, 1776 declared their independence from Britain with the signing of the Declaration of Independence. -
Seneca Falls Convention
The Seneca Falls Convention was the first women's rights convention held in Seneca, New York in July 1848. -
13th Amendment
The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. -
14th Amendment
The amendment addresses citizenship rights and equal protection of the laws, and was proposed in response to issues related to former slaves following the American Civil War. -
15th Amendment
The Fifteenth Amendment prohibits the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." -
Colorado Becomes First State to Grant Women the Right to Vote
A referendum on women's suffrage was held in the U.S. state of Colorado on November 7, 1893 to ratify a proposed constitutional amendment, allowing women the right to vote. This was the first time in U.S. history that a state referendum had passed women's suffrage into law. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson upheld the constitutionality of state laws requiring racial segregation in public facilities under the doctrine of "separate but equal." -
Founding of the NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination." -
19th Amendment
The Nineteenth Amendment prohibits any United States citizen from being denied the right to vote on the basis of sex. -
Executive Order 10450
Executive Order 10450 harged the heads of federal agencies and the Office of Personnel Management, supported by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), with investigating federal employees to determine whether they posed security risks. -
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. -
One, Inc. v. Olesen
One, Inc. sued the U.S. government after the Post Office refused to deliver its magazine on the grounds that it was "obscene." A trial court ruled for the Post Office, and an appeals court affirmed that finding. The Supreme Court overturned the appeals court's decision in a brief ruling, effectively ruling the Post Office had to deliver One, Inc. -
Illinois Becomes First State to Repeal Sodomy Laws
In 1961, Illinois became the first state in the nation to adopt the recommendation of the American Law Institute and pass a comprehensive criminal code revision that repealed the law against sodomy. The code also abrogated common-law crimes and established an age of consent of 18. However, the code also made it a crime to commit a "lewd fondling or caress of the body of another person of the same sex" in a public place. -
24th Amendment
The Twenty-fourth Amendment prohibits both Congress and the states from conditioning the right to vote in federal elections on payment of a poll tax or other types of tax. -
Civil RIghts Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibited racial discrimination in voting. -
Stonewall Inn Riots
A series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations by members of the gay community against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. They are widely considered to constitute the single most important event leading to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBT rights in the United States. -
Title IX
Title IX says, "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance." -
APA Removes Homosexuality as a Mental Disorder
In 1973 the American Psychiatric Association’s Board of Trustees removed homosexuality from its official diagnostic manual. -
"Don't Ask Don't Tell"
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was the law prohibiting gays and lesbians from serving openly in the United States military. -
Defense of Marriage Act
A United States federal law that allows states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages granted under the laws of other states. Until Section 3 of the Act was ruled unconstitutional in 2013, the Defense of Marriage Act in conjunction with other statutes, had barred same-sex married couples from being recognized as "spouses" for purposes of federal laws, effectively barring them from receiving federal marriage benefits. -
Massachusetts Legalizes Gay Marriage
Same-sex marriages began in Massachusetts on May 17, 2004, as a result of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that it was unconstitutional under the Massachusetts constitution to allow only opposite-sex couples to marry. It was the first U.S. state to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. -
Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010
The Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 is a landmark United States federal statute enacted in December 2010 that established a process for ending the Don't ask, don't tell policy, thus allowing gays, lesbians, and bisexuals to serve openly in the United States Armed Forces. It ended the policy in place since 1993 that allowed them to serve only if they kept their sexual orientation secret and the military did not learn of their sexual orientation.
