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In a prescient New Republic essay written in 1989, conservative author and blogger Andrew Sullivan called for marriage equality for LGBTQI+ people.
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who serve as the “eyes and ears” of their native communities. In 2013, the campaign welcomed its first two global engagement fellows, young activists from outside the U.S.
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Since 1980, its more than 3 million members and supporters have led campaigns to defeat bans on same-sex marriage and immigration by HIV-positive people. The Human Rights Campaign has a long track record. “It’s hard to be angry with a person who loves his or her children,” Horowitz said. Coming from a place of love and family helps PFLAG members influence leaders. “When we speak with members of Congress, we change minds,” said Horowitz, whose daughter came out as a lesbian the night before her college graduation. Emotions ran high in Indianapolis after the 2015 Supreme Court decision. As part of their advocacy work, members contact government representatives to push for changes, such as laws to prevent hate crimes. Horowitz, a past president of the PFLAG national board. “Being an ally might be something as simple as saying, ‘That joke you just told about a gay person isn’t funny,'” said Rabbi David M. PFLAG, the nation’s largest family and ally organization, has championed the cause for almost five decades. The movement enjoys increasing support from family members and straight “allies” who champion the rights of their LGBTQI+ friends and loved ones. Support from outside the LGBTQI+ community And activists push for LGBTQI+ families to receive the same immigration rights as other families and for LGBTQI+ refugees fleeing persecution to find asylum in the United States. Activists help homeless youth, 40% of whom identify as LGBTQI+. Today, hundreds of American activist organizations fight for laws and policies that support the LGBTQI+ community. Each June, the Stonewall demonstrations are commemorated with gay pride parades in cities from New York to Vienna to Shanghai. Hundreds of protesters converged, inspiring activist groups. The first major shift happened after June 1969, when a police raid of the Stonewall Inn, a New York gay bar, resulted in uprisings. The American Psychiatric Association considered homosexuality to be a mental illness until 1973. Laws forbidding homosexual activity were only gradually repealed - beginning with the state of Illinois in 1962. gay rights organization, the Society for Human Rights, did not form until 1924, and it was shut down a year later under intense political pressure. (© Paul Sancya/AP Images)īut a century ago, widespread acceptance of LGBTQI+ rights was unthinkable.
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Supreme Court that struck down bans on same sex marriage nationwide. Ann Sorrell, left, and Marge Eide - a couple for 43 years - embrace after exchanging vows in Ann Arbor, Michigan, June 2015, following a ruling by the U.S. Gay couples receive the same federal benefits as heterosexual couples and are entitled to protection under the law. The Supreme Court decision ensured that marriages performed in any state in the country are legal marriages. Thirty-seven others and the nation’s capital, Washington, followed. In 2004, Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage.