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A police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City, turned into a riot spanning three days, when the patrons of the bar decided to fight back. This event sparked a widespread movement for gay rights.
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The American Psychiatric Association Board of Trustees voted in favor of the motion to delete homosexuality from the list of mental disorders.
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Openly gay, Harvey Milk is elected as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors against 16 other candidates.
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Dan White kills Harvey Milk after resigning from his position as a city supervisor and then failing to regain his position again due to the clashing of his conservative views with the ever more liberal leaning Board of Supervisors.
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75,000 people gathered in the National March on Washington which is to date, the largest gathering in support of gay rights in this country.
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Vermont lagalizes same-sex civil unions, granting gay and lesbian couples all the same rights provided in traditional marriage but without calling it marriage.
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Just over thirty years after he was assasinated, Harvey Milk is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.
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The Clinton-era military policy that allows gays to serve in the military, on the condition that they remain quiet about their sexuality, is repealed, allowing gays to serve openly.
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President Barack Obama makes the statement, "It is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married".
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The 1996 Defense of Marriage Act is ruled unconstitutional in a 5 to 4 vote. It is reasoned that DOMA is a violation of the rights of gays and lesbians. It also interferes with state's rights to define their own marriage laws.
