Timeline of LGBT history

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This timeline of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) history details notable events in the Common Era West.

• 20th century in gay rights:
  • 1900s - 1910s - 1920s - 1930s - 1940s - 1950s - 1960s - 1970s - 1980s - 1990s
• 21st century in gay rights:
  • 2000s

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[edit] 12,000 BC

Near the end of the Upper Paleolithic Era, human beings have left artifacts and works of art suggesting an appreciation of homo eroticism. Examples include a few cave paintings and hundreds of phallic "batons" among which is a graphically carved double dildo from Gorge d'Enfer (in present-day France) that seems to have been crafted for two women to use together.

[edit] 5,000 BC

Examples of homo eroticism in European Mesolithic art include a rock engraving found in Addaura, Sicily, in which men and women dance around two cavorting male figures, both of whom have erections.

Source: Timeline of more History

[edit] 25th/24th century BC

• Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum's tomb is built in Egypt during the fifth dynasty. It is believed that the two men may have been lovers, making this the first recorded homosexual relationship.^[1]

[edit] 7th century BC

• 630 BCE Dorian aristocrats in Crete adopt formal relations between adult princes and adolescent boys, with the double aim to educate the youths and curb population growth. The practice, associated with gymnasia and athletic nudity, quickly spreads throughout much of ancient Greece, influencing sports, literature, politics, philosophy, art and warfare, and leading, according to some, to a flowering of culture known as the Greek miracle.^[2][3]

[edit] 6th century BC

• 600 BCE - The term Lesbian and Lesbos is used for the first time^{[citation needed]} - See Etymology of "lesbian" [1]

[edit] 4th century BC

• 338 BCE 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 defends their honor.

[edit] 1st century AD

• 54 - Nero becomes Emperor of Rome. Nero married two men in legal ceremonies, with at least one spouse accorded the same honours as an empress.[2] This, however, was an action criticized by contemporary commentators.

[edit] 4th century AD

• 342 - The sons of Constantine, Constans and Constantius II, pass a law read variously by historians as outlawing gay prostitution, outlawing gay marriage, and most severely, outlawing homosexuality altogether.

[edit] 6th century AD

• 529 - Justinian's Code outlaws homosexuality in the Byzantine Empire. However, the populations of Constantinople and other Byzantine cities are very much opposed to Justinian I and Theodora on this issue, including the Christian laity. The public resists attempts by both Justinian and Theodora to prosecute their rivals with the law.

• 589 - In early medieval Visigothic Spain, after the conversion from Arianism to Catholicism, there is great persecution of scapegoats in an attempt to unite the Hispano-Roman majority with the Visigothic minority. These scapegoats include most notably gays and Jews. Homosexuality is criminalized. However, outside of Spain, homosexuality remains completely legal, and even relatively accepted, in almost all of Europe.

[edit] 9th century AD

• 800-900 - During the Carolingian Renaissance, there is a large amount of complex gay poetry. There is no Carolingian law prohibiting homosexuality.

[edit] 11th century AD

• 1000-1100 - An eleventh century Byzantine legal treatise makes it clear that gay unions are well-known and legal in early medieval Byzantine society.
• 1000-1100 - In Scandinavia, cult transvestitism persisted for centuries. As well, only sons who inherited their fathers’ land could marry in early medieval Scandinavia. The others had to leave the land, and they joined warrior societies. Women, expected to remain strictly chaste, and punished severely for violating this rule, were unavailable. Thus, in these warriors clubs, pederasty was practiced as an institutionalized way of life, and a viable alternative to the untouchable women.
• 1051 - St. Peter Damian composed the Book of Gomorrah, in which he luridly described several varieties of gay sex, and said that they were quite common, especially among priests. In this regard he was quite correct; nevertheless, he had no luck convincing his contemporaries that homosexuality was a grave problem that had to be stopped. While Pope Leo IX saw homosexuality as a "grave sin", he was nevertheless reluctant to come down as harshly as Peter Damian wanted him to.
• 1100 - Ivo of Chartres attempts to convince Pope Urban II of the dangers of homosexuality. Ivo charged that Raoul/Ralph, Archbishop of Tours, had the king of France install John as bishop of Orleans. John was well-known as Ralph’s lover, and had even had relations with the king himself, which the king openly bragged about. Urban, however, did not see this as a major problem. John ruled effectively as bishop for almost forty years and Ralph was well-known and well-respected, and continued to be so.

[edit] 12th century AD

• 1102 - The Council of London took measures to ensure that the public, quite tolerant of homosexuality at the time, knew that it was sinful, marking a significant shift in church attitudes towards homosexuality, which previously had been more or less indifference, or very mild condemnation. Many priests were homosexuals, likely one of the causes of the change in attitude, as moral reformers such as Bernard of Cluny called for change.

[edit] 13th century AD

• 1250-1300 - "Between 1250 and 1300, homosexual activity passed from being completely legal in most of Europe to incurring the death penalty in all but a few contemporary legal compilations." - John Boswell, Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality (1980)

[edit] 14th century AD

• 1327 - The deposed King Edward II of England is allegedly sodomized to death with a red-hot poker. Edward II, a well-known homosexual had a history of conflict with the nobility, who repeatedly banished his former lover Piers Gaveston, the Earl of Cornwall.

[edit] 16th century AD

• 1533 - King Henry VIII begins the English common law tradition of sodomy laws, proclaiming sodomy, then-defined as any non-procreative/non-reproductive Sexual activity, a crime. This includes masturbation, anal, and oral sex - regardless of the gender or genders involved.

[edit] 17th century AD

• 1624 - Richard Cornish of the Virginia Colony is tried and hanged for sodomy.
• 1649 - The first known conviction for lesbian activity in North America occurs in March when Sarah White Norman is charged with "Lewd behaviour" with Mary Vincent Hammon in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

[edit] 18th century AD

• 1726 - Mother Clap's molly house in London is raided by police, resulting in Clap's death and the execution at Tyburn of all the men arrested
• 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 1795-1798.
• 1791 - France decriminalizes sexual acts between men.
• 1795 - Belgium, Luxembourg, and Tuscany decriminalize homosexual acts.

[edit] 19th century AD

• 1811 - The Netherlands legalises homosexual acts.
• 1813 - Bavaria decriminalizes sexual acts between men.
• 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.
• 1835 - For the first time in history, Poland, under the Tsarist rule then, makes homosexuality illegal.
• 1836 - The last known execution for homosexuality in Great Britain.
• 1852 - Portugal decriminalizes homosexual acts.
• 1858 - The Ottoman Empire (Turkey, Iraq) decriminalizes sodomy; Timor-Leste legalise homosexuality^{[citation needed]}
• 1861 - In England, the penalty for conviction for sodomy is reduced from hanging to imprisonment.
• 1863 - In Britain the Offences Against the Person Act is amended to remove the death sentence for "buggery" (which had not been used since the 1830s). 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 pamphlet written by Karl-Maria Kertbeny (1824-1882).
• 1871 - Homosexuality is criminalized throughout Germany by Paragraph 175 of the Reich Criminal Code; Guatemala and Mexico decriminalize homosexual acts.
• 1880 - Japan decrimiminalized homosexual acts.
• 1886 - In England, the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885, outlawing sexual relations between men (but not sexual relations 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.
• 1895 - The trial of Oscar Wilde results in his being prosecuted under the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885 for "gross indecency" and sentenced to two years in prison.

• 1897 - Magnus Hirschfeld founds the Scientific Humanitarian Committee on May 14 to organize for gay rights and the repeal of Paragraph 175.
• 1897 - George Cecil Ives organizes the first gay rights group in England, the Order of Chaeronea.

[edit] 20th century AD

[edit] 1900s

• 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.

[edit] 1910s

• 1910 - Emma Goldman first begins speaking publicly in favor of gay rights.

• 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".

[edit] 1920s

• 1920 - The word Gay is used for the first time in reference to homosexual in the Underground.
• 1921 - In England an attempt to make lesbianism illegal for the first time in Britain's history fails.
• 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 gay rights organization in America is founded in Chicago — The Society for Human Rights. The movement exists for a few months before being shut down by the police. Palestine (West Bank only), Panama, Paraguay and Peru legalize homosexuality. Gaza crimilizes all sex acts between men.
• 1928 - The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall is published in the United States. This sparks great legal controversy and brings the topic of homosexuality to public conversation.
• 1929 May 22 - Katharine Lee Bates, author of America the Beautiful dies.
• 1929 October 16 - a Reichstag Committee votes to repeal Paragraph 175. The Nazis' rise to power prevents the implementation of the vote.

[edit] 1930s

• 1930 - The new Danish Criminal Code decriminalizes homosexuality.
• 1932 - The new Polish Criminal Code decriminalizes homosexuality in the whole of Poland.
• 1933 - The National Socialist German Workers Party bans homosexual groups. Some 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.
• 1934 - Uruguay decriminalizes homosexuality.
• 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.

[edit] 1940s

• 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.
• 1946 - "COC" (Dutch acronym for "Center for Culture and Recreation"), the earliest homophile organisation, 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 Edith Eyde in Los Angeles.
• 1948 - "Forbundet af 1948" ("League of 1948"), a homophile group, is formed in Denmark.

[edit] 1950s

• 1950 - The 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 American homophile group, is founded in New York; 190 individuals are fired in the United States from government positions for their sexual preferences, kicking off the Lavender scare.

• 1951 - Greece decriminalizes homosexuality.
• 1952 - Dale Jennings successfully uses the defense of entrapment against charges of solicitation; ONE, Inc. is founded in California.
• 1954 - June 7 - Alan Turing dies from cyanide poisoning, 18 months after being given libido-reducing hormone treatment for a year as a punishment for homosexuality; Arcadie, the first homophile group in France, is formed.
• 1955 - Daughters of Bilitis founded in San Francisco, California.
• 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 gay men are as well adjusted as non-gay 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.

[edit] 1960s

• 1961 - Czechoslovakia and Hungary decriminalize sodomy.
• 1962 - Illinois becomes first U.S. state to remove sodomy law from its criminal code.
• 1963 - Israel decriminalizes de-facto 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).
• 1966 - The National Planning Conference of Homophile Organizations is established (to became NACHO - North American Conference of Homophile Organizations - in 1967).
• 1967 - Chad decrimilizes homosexuality; The Sexual Offences Act 1967 decriminalises 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 gay and lesbian bookstore, opens in New York City; "Our World" ("Nuestro Mundo"), the first Latino-American gay group, is created in Argentina; A raid on the Black Cat Bar near Los Angeles, CA fuels gay rights organizations.
• 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; Homosexual behavior legalized in Canada with an Age of Consent of 21 for sodomy, and 14 for non-sodomy; Poland decriminalizes homosexual prostitution; The Canadian Prime Minister is quoted as saying: "The government has no business in the bedrooms of the nation"; "FREE", the first gay student group, is formed in the United States at the University of Minnesota; An Australian arm of the Daughters of Bilitis forms in Melbourne and is considered Australia's first gay rights organisation.

[edit] 1970s

• 1970 - The first Gay Liberation Day March is held in New York City; The first Gay Freedom Day March is held in Los Angeles; The first Gay-in held in San Francisco; CAMP (Campaign Against Moral Prosecution) is formed in Australia.
• 1971 - Society Five (a gay rights organisation) is formed in Melbourne Victoria; 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.^[4][5] The Netherlands changes the gay 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."
• 1972 - Sweden becomes first country in the world to allow transgendered people to legally change their sex, and provides free hormone therapy; Hawaii legalizes homosexuality; In Australia, the Dunstan Labor government introduces a consenting adults in private type defence in South Australia. This defence was initiated as a bill by Murray Hill, father of former Defence Minister Robert Hill, and later repealed the state's sodomy law in 1975; Norway decriminalizes homosexuality; Ann Arbor, Michigan becomes the first city in United States to pass a gay rights ordinance.
• 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 legalises homosexuality; In West Germany, the age of consent is reduced for homosexuals to 18 (though it is 14 for heterosexuals).
• 1974 - Kathy Kozachenko becomes the first openly gay or lesbian American elected to public office when she wins a seat on the Ann Arbor, Michigan city council; Ohio repeals sodomy laws. Robert Grant founds American Christian Cause to oppose the "gay agenda", the beginning of the modern Christian Right in America.

• 1975 - Elaine Noble becomes the second out 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.
• 1976 - Robert Grant founds the Christian Voice to take his anti-gay-rights crusade national in United States; The Homosexual Law Reform Coalition and the Gay Teachers Group are started in Australia; The Australian Capital Territory decrimilizes homosexuality between consenting adults in private and equalizes the age of consent; and Denmark equalizes the age of consent.
• 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-gay-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 legalised homosexuality.
• 1978 - San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone are assassinated by former Supervisor Dan White; The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras for the first time; The rainbow flag is first used as a symbol of gay and lesbian pride; Sweden establishes a uniform age of consent.
• 1979 - The first national gay rights march on Washington, DC is held; Harry Hay issues the first call for a Radical Faerie gathering in Arizona, and Cuba and Spain decriminalize homosexuality.

[edit] 1980s

• 1980 - The Democratic National Convention becomes the first major political party in America to endorse a gay rights platform plank; Scotland decriminalizes homosexuality; David McReynolds becomes the first openly GLBT individual to run for President of the United States, appearing on the Socialist Party U S A ticket.
• 1981 - Victoria, Australia and Colombia decriminalize homosexuality with a uniform age of consent; The Moral Majority starts its anti-gay 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.
• 1982 - 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 gay discrimination; New South Wales becomes the first Australian state to outlaw discrimination on the basis of actual or perceived homosexuality.
• 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) and Portugal decriminalizes homosexuality.
• 1984 - The lesbian and gay association "Ten Percent Club" is formed in Hong Kong; Massachusetts voters reelect representative Gerry Studds, despite his coming out 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 gay politician in the UK parliament. The Argentine Homosexual Community (Comunidad Homosexual Argentina, CHA) is formed uniting several different and preexisting groups.
• 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.
• 1986 - Homosexual Law Reform Act passed in New Zealand, legalizing sex between males over 16
• 1987 - ACT UP stages its first major demonstration, seventeen protesters are arrested; U.S. Congressman Barney Frank comes out; Homomonument, a memorial to persecuted gays and lesbians, opens in Amsterdam.
• 1988 - Sweden is the first country to pass laws protecting gays and lesbians regarding social services, taxes, and inheritances. 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).
• 1989 - Western Australia legalizes male homosexuality; 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 and the right to marriage in a church).

[edit] 1990s

• 1990 - OutRage!, an LGBT rights direct action group, forms in the UK; Czechoslovakia equalizes the age of consent and Jersey legalizes homosexual acts.
• 1991 - Bahamas, Hong Kong, Ukraine and Queensland in Australia decriminalize sodomy; The red ribbon is first used as a symbol of the fight against HIV/AIDS.
• 1992 - The World Health Organization removes homosexuality from its ICD-10; Australia allows homosexuals to serve in the military for the first time; Isle of man, Estonia and Latvia legalize homosexuality; Iceland, Luxembourg and Switzerland all equalize the age of consent; Nicaragua recriminalizes homosexuality.
• 1993 - Brandon Teena is raped and murdered; The third gay rights march on Washington, DC is held; Sodomy laws are repealed in Norfolk Island and the Republic of Ireland; Gibraltar and Russia decriminalizes consensual male sodomy (with the exception of the Chechen Republic); Lithuania legalizes homosexuality; Norway enacts registered partnership civil union laws that grant same-sex couples the same rights as married couples, except for the right to adopt or marry in a church.
• 1994 - Bermuda, Serbia (including Kosovo) and South Africa legalize homosexuality; The United Kingdom reduces the age of consent for gay men to 18; The AMA denounces supposed cures for homosexuality; Canada grants refugee status to homosexuals fearing for their well-being in their native country; Paragraph 175 is repealed in Germany; Israel’s supreme court defines gay-couple’s rights as the same as any common-law-couple’s rights.
• 1995 - Sweden legalizes registered partnerships; The Supreme Court of Canada rules that sexual orientation is a prohibited ground of discrimination under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms; Albania and Moldova decriminalize homosexuality.
• 1996 - The age of consent is equalised in Burkina Faso; Iceland legalizes registered partnerships; Hungary recognizes same-sex partners; Romania decriminalizes homosexuality that is not scandalous; Macedonia decriminalizes homosexuality.
• 1997 - South Africa becomes the first country to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in its constitution and comes into force; The UK extends immigration rights to same-sex couples akin to marriage; Fiji becomes the second country to explicitly protect against discrimination based on sexual orientation in its constitution; Laws prohibiting private homosexual acts are finally repealed in Tasmania, Australia, the last Australian state to do so, as well as in Ecuador; Russia equalizes the age of consent.
• 1998 - Matthew Shepard is slain; The Employment Equality Act is introduced in Ireland, covering wrongful dismissal based on the grounds of sexual orientation; Sexual orientation is read into the IRPA, Alberta's human rights act, through Vriend v. Alberta; Ecuador is the third country in the world to explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation; Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan legalize homosexuality; Croatia and Latvia equalize the age of consent. Cyprus decriminalizes homosexuality;
• 1999 - California adopts a domestic partnership law; France enacts civil union laws; The "Queer Youth Alliance" is founded in the UK; Israel’s supreme court recognizes a lesbian partner as another legal mother of her partner’s biological son; Finland equalizes the age of consent.

[edit] 21st century AD

[edit] 2000s

(See individual year page for more info)

• 2000 - The UK ban on homosexuals serving in the armed forces is abolished and Clause 2A is repealed in Scotland; the former USSR-states of Azerbaijan and Georgia legalize homosexual acts; Gabon decriminalize homosexuality, the age of consent is equalised in the UK, Belarus, and Israel; The German Bundestag officially apologizes to gays and lesbians persecuted under the Nazi regime, and for "harm done to homosexual citizens up to 1969"; Vermont becomes the first U.S. state to legalize civil unions; Israel recognizes same-sex relations for immigration purposes for a foreign partner of an Israeli resident.
• 2001 - The state of Arizona in the United States repeals its sodomy law; Albania and Liechtenstein equalize the age of consent; Same-sex marriage is legalized in the Netherlands, making it the first country to do so; Germany enacts registered partnership legislation; Protesters disrupt the first Pride march in Belgrade and the rest of all the UK territories legalize homosexuality.
• 2002 - Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Moldova, Romania and Western Australia all equalize their age of consent; Romania repeals article 200 which used to punish "scandalous sodomy"; Sweden legalizes adoption for same-sex couples; Zurich extends marriage-like rights to same sex couples; Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn is assassinated by Volkert van der Graaf; Homosexuality is decriminalized in China; Actor Jade Esteban Estrada debuts solo performance of ICONS: The Lesbian and Gay History of the World, Vol. 1 in Columbus, Ohio. A Civil Unions law is passed in the Buenos Aires (Argentina) Legislature, becoming the first latinoamerican city to legalize same-sex unions.
• 2003 - Belize recriminalizes homosexuality; Section 28 repealed in England and Wales; The U.S. Supreme Court strikes down remaining state sodomy laws; Armenia decrimilizes male homosexual sodomy; Lithuania, the Northern Territory and New South Wales all equalize their age of consent; Same-sex marriage in Belgium legalized; Germany's Supreme Court upholds the country's civil union.
• 2004 - Cape Verde and Marshall Islands legalize homosexuality; Portugal is the fourth country in the world to protect people from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in their Constitution; Massachusetts legalizes same-sex marriage while eleven other U.S. states ban the practice through public referenda; Domestic partnerships are legalized in New Jersey; Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil accepts civil unions; Australia bans same-sex marriage, while New Zealand passes a civil union bill; Luxembourg introduces civil partnerships; Same-sex marriages in Belgium get adoption rights and are equal to marriage.

• 2005 - New Zealand is the first nation in the world to outlaw hate crime and employment discrimination on the basis of gender identity; Puerto Rico repeals anti-sodomy law; Hong Kong age of consent equalized through legal ruling;^[6] Uganda and Latvia amend their constitutions to prohibit same-sex marriage; Same sex marriage is legalized in Spain and Canada (together with adoption); Andorra recognizes same-sex partners in "Stable Unions"; Two gay male teenagers, Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni, are executed in Iran; Switzerland votes in favor of extending rights for registered same-sex couples; South Africa's Supreme Court rules that it is unconstitutional to ban gay marriages, legalizing same-sex marriage effective 1 December 2006; 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. UK introduces civil partnerships with rights all but equal to marriage; Maine adds sexual orientation and gender identity to existing anti-discrimination laws.
• 2006 - Serbia and Isle of Man equalized the age of consent;^[7] Illinois outlaws sexual orientation discrimination; Washington adds sexual orientation to its existing anti-discrimination laws; Missouri legalizes homosexuality between consenting adults;^[8] The first gay pride march in Moscow ends with violence; The first regional Eastern European Pride is held in Zagreb, Croatia; The United States Senate fails to pass the Federal Marriage Amendment; The International Conference on LGBT Human Rights is held in Montreal; The Czech Republic and Slovenia introduce civil partnerships; Mexico City introduces civil unions; South Africa legalizes same-sex marriage; The Israeli High Court orders Israeli law to recognize same-sex marriages performed abroad; Fiji legalizes consensual homosexuality^[9] and Germany includes gender identity in anti-discrimination law;^[10] South Australia the only state left in Australia to enact most laws that includes all couples;^[11] Another section 28 "successfully repealed" in Isle of Man^[12] and the Faeroe Islands make sexual orientation discrimination illegal by a narrow vote of 17:15.^[13] Human Rights Campain, 2006 Summary of legislative issues in each state of USA

• 2007 - Registered partnership takes effect in January in Switzerland; In February the age of consent equalized in Jersey;^[14][15] In New Jersey civil unions law comes into effect and in March in Coahuila, Mexico; The Equality Act 2006 comes into force for the UK (with provisions protecting people from discrimination in goods and services on the grounds of sexual orientation and establishing the Commission for Equality and Human Rights).

[edit] See also

• History of human sexuality
• Category:LGBT history
• The Development of Homosexuality in Australia
• Timeline of lesbian and gay history
• Welcome to ILGA-Europe's website!
• Another homosexuality timeline
• Norfolk Island Legislation
• Timeline of more History

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Extended Chronicle of gay history
• Gay Student Rights
• History of Gay Rights
• Gay Movie History
• ILGA's Legal Wrap-up 2006
• Professor James T. Sears Historical Overview
• Our Story (Another Timeline)
• 365gay History on this day...