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Since coming to the defense of The Children's Hour, a play that was banned in 1936 for a suggested lesbian relationship, the ACLU has been protecting the rights of LGBT Americans. The ACLU's work challenges discrimination in the courts and legislatures -- case by case, law by law -- to change antigay policies.
As the efforts to win full civil rights and equality for LGBT people continue, the ACLU marks its 70 years of important legal victories. The ACLU began a full LGBT rights docket 50 years ago. The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and AIDS Project was founded 20 years ago.
The following is a timeline of major events and legal cases in our civil rights struggle, a measure of how far we've come and where we need to go.
1936
Defense of The Children’s Hour against censorship for lesbian content
1956
Defense of San Francisco Bay Area gay bar (Hazel’s Inn) raided by police
Defense of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl against obscenity charges for gay content
1963
Defense of gay man fired by U.S. Government (Scott v. Macy)
Sodomy law challenge (Enslin v. Walford)
1965
Challenge to police raid on San Francisco event sponsored by the Council on Religion and the Homosexual
1966
Challenge to Florida law outlawing gay bars (Inman v. Miami)
1967
Challenge to Los Angeles ordinance making it illegal for performers to “impersonate a person of the opposite sex.”
Challenge to deportation of gay man (Boutilier v. INS)
Sodomy law challenge (Delaney v. Florida)
1970
Challenge to policy on gays in the military (Schlegel v. US)
1971
Challenge to anti-gay security clearance rules (Gayer v. Laird)
First challenge to law restricting marriage to persons of the opposite sex (Baker v. Nelson)
1973
Defense of Washington teacher fired for being gay (Gaylord v. Tacoma)
Defense of San Francisco Bay Area gay man denied a security clearance (Rock v. Department of Defense)
1975
Defense of gay federal employee fired for being “flamboyant” (Singer v. U.S.)
1976
Defense of gay father denied visitation with his children (Voeller v. Voeller)
1977
Challenge to university’s refusal to recognize lesbian/gay student group (Mississippi Gay Alliance v. Mississippi State University)
1978
Lawsuit against the Briggs Initiative, a measure to ban gay people from teaching in California’s public schools (California Federation of Teachers v. Eu)
1980
New York high court strikes down sodomy law (People v. Onofre)
1981
Defense of San Francisco gay weekly paper against libel suit filed by police
1982
Suit for bereavement leave for San Francisco gay man whose partner died (Brinkin v. Southern Pacific)
1983
Privacy defense of membership lists of gay rights organizations involved in a boycott (Solidarity v. Coors)
1984
U.S. Supreme Court strikes down Oklahoma law targeting teachers who support gay rights (NGLTF v. Oklahoma)
1986
U.S. Supreme Court upholds Georgia sodomy law (Bowers v. Hardwick)
1987
Court requires Catholic university to recognize gay student group (Gay Rights Coalition v. Georgetown University)
U.S. Supreme Court rules disability discrimination laws apply to people with contagious diseases, including AIDS (Schoolboard v. Arline)
1988
Challenge to Dannemeyer Initiative, which would have quarantined people with AIDS (California Medical Association v. Eu)
Federal courts rule that federal law protects people with AIDS from discrimination (Chalk v. District Court; Doe v. Centinella Hospital)
1989
Federal court overturns discharge of gay man from the military (Watkins v. U.S.)
New York courts recognize gay families (Braschi v. Stahl)
1990
Consent decree establishes prisoners with HIV have right to equal treatment and access to prison programs (Gates v. Deukmeijian)
CIA agrees to stop discriminating against gay employees (Dubbs v. CIA)
1991
Minnesota courts recognize domestic partnership in guardianship case (In Re Kowalski)
California court overturns Concord anti-gay rights initiative (BANGLE v. City of Concord)
1992
Kentucky Supreme Court strikes down sodomy law (Commonwealth v. Wasson)
New York courts allow adoption by gay partner (Adoption of Evan)
1995
Virginia court gives custody to boy’s grandmother over objections of lesbian mom (Bottoms v. Bottoms)
1996
Federal court rules FBI illegally fired San Francisco doctor with HIV who did physicals on agents (Doe v. Attorney General)
U.S. Supreme Court strikes down Colorado constitutional amendment which would have prevented lesbians and gay men from being protected by civil rights laws (Romer v. Evans)
Federal Defense of Marriage Act enacted
1997
South Carolina drops its ban on insuring people with HIV (Doe v. SCHIP)
Federal court strikes down state law against lesbian and gay student groups (GLBA v. Alabama)
New Jersey becomes first state to expressly authorize joint adoption by gay couples (Galluccio v. New Jersey)
U.S. Supreme Court strikes down law restricting gay materials on the Internet (ACLU v. Reno)
1998
Federal court in Utah reinstates lesbian high school coach (Weaver v. Nebo School District)
Federal court in New York upholds “don't ask, don't tell” (Able v. U.S.)
Oregon court finds state’s health insurance policy, which denies benefits to domestic partners, violates the state constitution (Tanner v. OHSU)
1999
Maryland court strikes down sodomy law (Williams v. Glendenning)
Mississippi high court permits son’s visitation with gay father and partner (Weigand v. Houghton)
Nevada becomes 11th state to pass a gay employment rights law
Challenge to dismissal of high-level state transgender employee is successfully settled (Doe v. Kansas)
2000
New Jersey Supreme Court extends legal doctrine of “psychological parent” to parents in same-sex relationship (V.C. v. M.J.B.)
Transgender Northern California high school teacher successfully defeats efforts to take away her teaching credential (Warfield v. California Commission on Teacher Credentialing)
Federal appeals court rules that HIV+ candidate for police department has the right to be “protected from discrimination founded on fear, ignorance or misconceptions.” (Holiday v. City of Chattanooga)
The Religious Liberty Protection Act, which would have set up religious defenses to civil rights actions, is derailed
2001
Federal court strikes down challenge on religious grounds by Pat Robertson-funded legal group to Louisville’s law banning sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination (Hyman v. Louisville)
Federal appeals court upholds San Francisco law requiring any company that does business with the city to recognize domestic partnerships (ATA v. San Francisco)
New York high court holds that housing policy which favors married students discriminates against lesbians and gay men (Levin v. Yeshiva University)
Federal appeals court rules that public officials cannot compel minors to disclose their sexual orientation to family members (Sterling v. Borough of Minersville)
2002
Federal appeals court issues decision allowing gay man to sue the police for failing to protect him because of his sexual orientation (Swidrisky v. Houston)
Federal appeals court rejects claim that decision to allow transgender woman to use women’s room violates freedom of religion. (Cruzan v. Minneapolis)
Unprecedented settlement (calling for district-wide reforms) of Northern California case involving harassment of LGBT high school students (Loomis v. Visalia Unified School District)
First state appeals court ruling that constitutional equality rights prohibit firing of public employee because of her sexual orientation (Davis v. Pullman Memorial Hospital)
2003
Effort by rural Kentucky school district to avoid recognizing a gay student club by banning all extra-curricular clubs fails (Boyd County High School Gay-Straight Alliance v. Board of Education)
Federal appeals court requires school officials to take effective, preventive measures when they learn that LGBT students are being harassed (Flores v. Morgan Hill Unified School District)
Successful defense of Arkansas student outed by school officials and then disciplined (in part by being forced to read the Bible) for talking about being gay (McLaughlin v. Pulaski County Special School District)
California enacts legislation providing the best domestic partnership protections in the nation except for Vermont U.S. Supreme Court strikes down all remaining sodomy laws, ruling that same-sex relationships deserve the same respect accorded heterosexual relationships (Lawrence v. Texas) North Dakota Supreme Court overrules a decades-old decision stripping gay parents of custody rights after a divorce (Damron v. Damron)
Massachusetts Supreme Court opens marriage law to same-sex couples (Goodridge v. Department of Public Health)
2004
Tennessee appellate court strikes down a family court order barring a gay dad from coming out to his own son (Hogue v. Hogue)
New York court rules that transgender people are protected from discrimination by existing state and local sex discrimination laws (Hispanic AIDS Forum v. Estate of Joseph Bruno)
Federal Marriage Amendment goes down to defeat in U.S. Senate
Housing authorities in New York and California are persuaded to allow domestic partners of tenants to live in Section 8 housing
Montana Supreme Court rules that University of Montana System must provide its LGBT employees equal benefits for their domestic partners (Snetsinger v. Montana University System)
2005
West Virginia high court takes custody of a child away from his grandparents and awards it to his nonbiological mother, applying the “psychological parent” doctrine to same-sex couples. The boy’s biological mother had died in a tragic car accident, thereby initiating the custody battle. (Burch v. Smarr) Rural school district in Missouri capitulates when the ACLU files suit, representing a student who was disciplined for wearing a gay-positive t-shirt to school. (Myers v. Webb City High School)
Illinois becomes the 15th state to prohibit sexual orientation discrimination and the 5th to outlaw gender identity discrimination
Board of Immigration Appeals grants spousal visa to El Salvadorean husband of male-to-female transgender native, rejecting the argument that their marriage cannot be recognized by immigration authorities because of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (Petition of Lovo-Lara)
Arkansas Board of Cosmetology rules that a person with HIV cannot be banned from practicing cosmetology
California Legislature becomes the first legislative body in the U.S. to pass a law granting the right to marry to same-sex couples, which was later vetoed by the governor.
Kansas Supreme Court frees Matthew Limon, sentenced to 17 years in prison for having consensual sex (when he was 18) with another teenage boy with whom he lived in a home for developmentally disabled youth. If Limon had had sex with a teenage girl, his sentence would have been no more than 15 months. (Kansas v. Limon)
Maine enacts a law banning sexual orientation discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, credit, and education. The law survives a challenge at the ballot box in November.
Federal judge rules that constitutional religious freedom rights do not give parents and students the right to choose not to participate in court-ordered LGBT sensitivity training programs (Morrison v. Boyd County Board of Education)
Alaska high court extends domestic partner benefits to lesbian and gay government employees, despite constitutional provision limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples (Alaska Civil Liberties Union v. Alaska and Anchorage)
2006
A lawsuit on behalf of a 17-year-old teenager, repeatedly disciplined for showing affection with her girlfriend at school and outed to her mother by the principal, results in a decision upholding the right of minors to control the dissemination of personal information about them (Nguon v. Garden Grove Unified Board of Education)
California Department of Corrections reverses its policy of banning HIV-positive inmates from having spousal family visits, in response to demand letter from ACLU
After considering extensive social science evidence on the impact of gay parenting, the Arkansas high court strikes down a state rule that banned gay people, and anyone living in a household with a gay adult, from being foster parents (Howard v. Child Welfare Agency Review Board)
Washington passes a law outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity – the 17th state to do so for gay people, and the 7th state to protect its transgender community
Maryland circuit court rules that denying same-sex couples the right to marry is sex discrimination, violating the state constitution’s Equal Rights Amendment (Deane & Polyak v. Conaway)
In response to a Missouri trial court overturning a policy of the state Department of Social Services of not placing children with lesbian or gay foster parents, the DSS decides to replace its policy with one that does not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation (Johnston v. Missouri Department of Social Services)
Federal judge orders rural Georgia school district to recognize high school gay support club PRIDE, deciding that the district’s banning of all noncurricular clubs was an impermissible attempt to discriminate against PRIDE (Pacer v. White County School District) The first case in the country to specifically address the treatment of LGBT youth in juvenile facilities is settled in Hawaii. The state agrees to new policies protecting LGBT youth from harassment in the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility, and to paying over $600,000 to compensate the plaintiffs and to cover the costs of a training program for HYCF staff (R.G. v. Koller)