US passport holders become able to select their own gender for their passport, including new gender marker X, without requiring medical documentation

Defensive lineman for the Las Vegas Raiders, Carl Nassib, becomes the first NFL player to come out as gay

Assistant secretary for health in the Department of Health and Human Services, Dr. Rachel Levine, becomes the first out transgender individual confirmed by the senate

Delaware District 1 Senate race is awarded to Sarah McBride, the first trans state senator in the US

Serving New York's 15th and 17th districts, Ritchie Torres and Mondaire Jones become the first Black and gay men elected to congress

Mauree Turner becomes the first nonbinary state legislator and first Muslim lawmaker in Oklahoma as they win the race for Oklahoma State House for the 88th District

The US Supreme Court rules in favor of Gavin Grimm in his case against his former school for discrimination based on gender identity, stating that segregating transgender students is in violation of Title VII

President Biden's Administration rules that Title VII, Civil Rights Act of 1964, protects LGBT+ employees from discrimination, overturning President Trump's Administration's 2017 ruling

Billy Porter becomes the first openly gay Black man to be awarded an Emmy for best lead actor

New York becomes the sixth state to ban the legal use of the "gay and trans panic" defense strategy that allows defendants to blame violence or murder on LGBTQIA+ victims

President Trump's Department of Justice files brief stating that Title VII, a civil rights amendment established in 1964 prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin in the work place, does not include discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity

Laverne Cox becomes the first transgender woman to win an Emmy as Executive Producer for her documentary Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word

Obergefell v. Hodges rules full marriage equality nationwide

The Department of Justice announces that Title IX’s ban on gender discrimination in programs of education and federal assistance includes transgender individuals

California becomes the first state to ban the legal use of the "gay and trans panic" defense strategy that allows defendants to blame violence or murder on LGBTQIA+ victims

Gay marriage legalized again in California after becoming illegal in 2008

The FDA approved the use of Truvada for preventing contraction of HIV (PrEP)

President Obama signs the first federal law protecting transgender people, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes and Prevention Act. This legislation extended hate-crime protections to include gender & gender identity, disability, and sexual orientation based crimes

Same-sex marriage becomes illegal again in California

California becomes the second state in the US to legalize gay marriage

Timothy Brown becomes first person cured of HIV

Massachusetts becomes the first state to legalize same-sex marriage

In Lawrence v. Texas the US Supreme Court rules anti-sodomy laws unconstitutional, essentially legalizing gay sex

Vermont becomes first state to legalize same-sex unions allowing couples the same benefits of married couples, but without using the term “marriage”

The American Counseling Association Governing Council publicly opposes conversion therapy and states that homosexuality is not a mental health disorder

President Clinton signs Defense of Marriage Act to deny same-sex couples federal benefits in the event gay marriage becomes legal and allow states to disregard queer marriages from other states

Intersex Society of North America founded by Bo Laurent to grow awareness and support intersex individuals

Minnesota enacts statewide law banning discrimination against Trans and queer people, becoming the first state to do so

Famed Black lesbian poet Audre Lorde named the New York State Poet Laureate

The Supreme Court ruling Bowers v. Hardwick allows states to pass their own sodomy laws targeting homosexuals

Wisconsin passes first civil rights bill for gays and lesbians prohibiting discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations

The first cases of AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), originally called “Gay-Related Immune Deficiency”, or GRID, are recorded, infecting around 84.2 million and killing 40.1 million people to this day

The first March on Washington for Gay and Lesbian Rights occurs with over 100,000 participants

Harvey Milk becomes another openly gay person elected to public office in California

Elaine Noble, an openly lesbian
politician, is elected to serve in the Massachusetts House of Representatives

Kathy Kozachenko of Ann Arbor City Council in Michigan becomes first openly gay person elected to public office in the US

LGBTQIA+ rights movement begins with the Stonewall Riots, led by trans women Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera

Illinois becomes first US State to decriminalize homosexuality

The first national lesbian rights group, Daughters of Bilitis, is founded in San Francisco

The US gains its first queer magazine, ONE: The Homosexual Magazine

Anne Frank writes her famous diary, detailing her attraction to women and love for her best friend

Trans man Zapatista Colonel Amelio Robles Ávila fights in the Mexican Revolutionary war, becoming a key leader in the Mexican Revolution

First public defense of lesbian civil rights occurs in Germany by Anna Rüling

Chevalier d'Eon, a French diplomat, spy to King Louis XV, and trans woman, started rumors and eventually convinced the Court of the King's Bench that she was actually a woman that had been masquerading as a man her whole life, allowing her to live as her true self in court

Rabbi Kalonymus Ben Kalonymus writes a descriptive poem about being transgender

The Book of Leviticus is written, taking inspiration from the Book of Avesta, criminalizing homosexual acts punishable by death

Greek poet Sappho on the island Lesbos writes stunning poems describing her love for women

Vendidad becomes first religion to criminalize homosexuality, punishable by death, in the Book of Avesta on the basis of “wasting sperm” and the belief that anal sex is “unsanitary,” beginning a long line of homophobia that exists to this day

The Code of Hammurabi of Ancient Mesopotamia uses the term “salzikrum,” meaning “Male-Daughter,” as a term for people assigned female at birth that exhibit what they perceived to be “male” mannerisms, including having relationships with women

Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum of Ancient Egypt are described today as the first known & recorded queer couple in history