LGBTQ Issues, ACK-WOL
The gay rights movement originally focused on the rights of homosexual men and women, but it has since come to advocate equal rights for bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals in addition to gay men and lesbians. The movement began in the late 19th century and has continued into the 21st century. Organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD, and the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, along with individual activists such as Harvey Milk, Audre Lorde, and Larry Kramer, increased the movement's visibility and contributed to its efforts to promote human rights and fight discrimination against LGBTQ persons. The issues of primary importance for the movement have included repealing antisodomy laws, combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic, securing marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples, and lobbying governments for nondiscriminatory policies in employment, housing, and other areas of life.
LGBTQ Issues Encyclopedia Articles By Title
J.R. Ackerley was a British novelist, dramatist, poet, and magazine editor known for his eccentricity. Ackerley’s......
ACT UP, international organization founded in the United States in 1987 to bring attention to the AIDS epidemic.......
bisexuality, in human sexuality, sexual interest in and attraction to members of one’s own and the opposite sex.......
Chaz Bono American actor and author known for his activism concerning LGBTQ+ rights. Bono is further known for......
Cory Booker is an American politician who was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 2013 and began representing......
Bowers v. Hardwick, legal case, decided on June 30, 1986, in which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld (5–4) a Georgia......
Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, legal case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled (5–4) on June 28, 2000, that the......
Bob Brown is an Australian politician who served as a member of the Australian Senate (1996–2012) and as leader......
Bob Casey, Jr. is an American politician who was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 2006 and began representing......
Thad Cochran was an American politician who represented Mississippi in the U.S. Senate from 1978 to 2018. He was......
Combahee River Collective, Black, feminist, lesbian, socialist group primarily based in Boston, Massachusetts.......
Daughters of Bilitis (DOB), one of the first lesbian organizations to be established. Founded in San Francisco......
Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), federal law in force from 1996 to 2013 that specifically denied to same-sex couples......
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT), byname for the former official U.S. policy (1993–2011) regarding the service of homosexuals......
Andrea Dworkin was an American feminist and author, an outspoken critic of sexual politics, particularly of the......
Lili Elbe was a Danish painter who was assigned male at birth, experienced what is now called gender dysphoria,......
Deb Fischer is an American politician who was elected as a Republican to the U.S. Senate in 2012 and began representing......
Focus on the Family, American Christian ministry devoted to promoting conservative political and religious principles......
Barney Frank is an American Democratic politician who served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1981–2013) and......
Bill Frist is an American politician and physician who served as a U.S. senator (1995–2007) from Tennessee. A Republican,......
Gay Pride, annual celebration, usually in June in the United States and sometimes at other times in other countries,......
gay rights movement, civil rights movement that advocates equal rights for LGBTQ persons (i.e., for lesbians, gays......
gender dysphoria (GD), formal diagnosis given by mental health professionals to people who experience distress......
GLAAD, organization created in 1985 that is devoted to countering discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual,......
Joseph Hansen was an American writer, author of a series of crime novels featuring the homosexual insurance investigator......
Harry Hay was an American gay rights activist who believed that homosexuals should see themselves as an oppressed......
Gordon B. Hinckley was the 15th president (1995–2008) of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly......
Magnus Hirschfeld was a German physician who was an important theorist of sexuality and a prominent advocate of......
Hollingsworth v. Perry, legal case, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court on June 26, 2013, that had the practical......
homosexuality, sexual interest in and attraction to members of one’s own sex. The term gay is frequently used as......
Human Rights Campaign (HRC), U.S. political advocacy organization promoting equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual,......
Jim Inhofe was an American Republican politician who represented Oklahoma in the U.S. Senate from 1994 to 2023.......
International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA), worldwide federation of individuals......
Mark Kirk is an American politician who was elected as a Republican to the U.S. Senate in 2010 and represented......
Larry Kramer was an American playwright, screenwriter, and gay rights activist whose confrontational style of advocacy,......
Mikhail Alekseyevich Kuzmin was a Russian poet and prose writer, composer, critic, and translator who was one of......
Lawrence v. Texas, legal case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled (6–3) on June 26, 2003, that a Texas state......
Patrick Leahy is an American politician who was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 1974 and represented......
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community (LGBTQ community), in any country, region, city, or other......
lesbianism, the tendency and orientation of a human female to be emotionally and usually sexually attracted to......
Joe Manchin is an American politician who was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 2010 and began representing......
Chelsea Manning is a U.S. Army intelligence analyst who provided the Web site WikiLeaks with hundreds of thousands......
Robert Mapplethorpe was an American photographer who was noted for austere photographs of flowers, celebrities,......
Mattachine Society, a secret homophile organization founded in Los Angeles in 1950–51 by, among others, onetime......
Maurice, novel by E.M. Forster, published posthumously in 1971. Because of the work’s homosexual theme, the novel......
Bob Menendez is an American politician who was appointed as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate from New Jersey in 2006......
Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC), worldwide Protestant denomination founded in 1968 and focusing its outreach......
Harvey Milk was an American politician and gay-rights activist. After graduating from the New York State College......
Lisa Murkowski is an American politician who was appointed as a Republican to the U.S. Senate from Alaska in 2002......
Nabozny v. Podlesny, case in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on July 31, 1996, ruled that......
National LGBTQ Task Force, American nongovernmental organization founded in 1973 that advocates for the civil rights......
Obergefell v. Hodges, legal case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled (5–4) on June 26, 2015, that state bans......
Mike Pence is the 48th vice president of the United States (2017–21) in the Republican administration of Pres.......
Sandro Penna was an Italian poet who celebrated homosexual love, particularly pederasty, with lyrical elegance.......
Troy Perry is an American religious leader, gay rights and human rights activist, and founder of the Universal......
PFLAG, American organization representing the interests of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ)......
Rob Portman is an American politician who was elected as a Republican to the U.S. Senate in 2010 and represented......
Respect for Marriage Act, U.S. federal legislation, passed by Congress in December 2022, that defines marriage,......
Sylvia Rivera was an American civil rights activist who advocated for gay rights and was particularly influential......
V. Gene Robinson was the ninth Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire (2004–13) and the first openly gay bishop in the......
Frederick William Rolfe was an English author and eccentric, best known for his autobiographical fantasy Hadrian......
Romer v. Evans, legal case in which the U.S. Supreme Court on May 20, 1996, voided (6–3) an amendment to the Colorado......
same-sex marriage, the practice of marriage between two men or between two women. Although same-sex marriage has......
José Sarria was a Latino American drag performer and political activist who was the first openly gay person to......
Dan Savage is an American writer who rose to prominence in the 1990s via his frank and ribald syndicated sex-advice......
Tim Scott is a Republican U.S. senator from South Carolina. He was appointed to the office in 2013 and won a special......
Franjo Seper was a Croatian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who was prefect of the Sacred Congregation for......
Jeff Sessions is an American lawyer and politician who served as U.S. attorney general (2017–18) in the administration......
Matthew Shepard was an American college student who was severely beaten because of his sexual orientation and was......
Stonewall riots, series of violent confrontations that began in the early hours of June 28, 1969, between police......
John Addington Symonds was an English essayist, poet, and biographer best known for his cultural history of the......
George Takei is an American actor, writer, and activist best known for playing the part of Lieutenant Sulu in the......
John Thune is an American politician who was elected as a Republican to the U.S. Senate in 2004 and began representing......
Thom Tillis is an American politician who was elected as a Republican to the U.S. Senate in 2014 and began representing......
Wolfgang Tillmans German photographer whose images of the everyday span from street photography to portraiture......
United States v. Windsor, legal case, decided on June 26, 2013, in which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Section......
George Weinberg was an American psychotherapist who coined the term homophobia to describe the extreme aversion......
Edmund White is an American writer of novels, short fiction, and nonfiction whose critically acclaimed work focuses......
Monique Wittig was a French avant-garde novelist and radical feminist whose works include unconventional narratives......
Wolfenden Report, a study containing recommendations for laws governing sexual behaviour, published in 1957 by......