Module G LGBTQ History Timeline 21st Century

We are in the midst of the LGBTQ+ civil rights movement and are all witnessing history being made. Much of the progress related to civil rights has come from historic landmark decisions by the United States Supreme Court. It seem unimaginable that adults would not be allowed to engage in consensual sexual acts with any other adult, but that "right" is still fairly new and didn't come until 2003. Take a look at all that has happened in just the last two decades.

2003 – Lawrence v. Texas (Supreme Court Decision)
Ruled by a vote of 6-3 that a Kansas law criminalizing gay or lesbian sex was unconstitutional declaring the importance of constitutional liberty and privacy consistent with the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Also overturned the court decision in Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) stating that the court had made the wrong decision.

2008 (November) – Proposition 8 passes with a 52% yes vote in California declaring that marriage is between a man and a woman.

2010 – The U.S. Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed the repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” so that gay and lesbian people could serve openly in the military. One person present at the signing ceremony in the White House was Frank Kameny who had been released from military service in 1958 because of discriminatory policies against gay and lesbian people.

Optional: Read more at U.S. History Naval Institute Blog / Timeline of Military Gay History (Links to an external site.)

2013 – Hollingsworth v. Perry / California Proposition 8 (Supreme Court Decision)
By a vote of 5-4 agreed that the Supreme Court could not overrule the decision of the California Supreme Court and that the petitioners were not legally able to file this claim. In addition, it ruled that the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment does not prohibit the state of California from defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Proponents of Proposition 8 in California appealed a lower court decision that ruled that Proposition 8 was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court would not hear the case, which meant that Proposition 8 was held unconstitutional and that same-sex couples could legally be married in California.

2013 – U.S. v. Windsor / Repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act – DOMA (Supreme Court Decision)
By a vote of 5-4 ruled that defining marriage as just between a man and a woman is unconstitutional under the Fifth Amendment guarantee of equal protection. The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was passed by the U.S. Congress in 1996 and stated that marriage or legal unions are between one man and one woman. This decision ruled the congressional law as unconstitutional and that states have the authority to define marital relationships. This decision was rendered the same day as the decision in Hollingsworth v. Perry.

2015 – Obergefell v. Hodges (Supreme Court Decision)
The Court voted 5-4 that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. This decision mandated that states must allow same-sex couples to legally marry.

Source: lgbtqhistory.org Our Family Coalition