Out of the margins, into the mainstream
(Page 4 of 4)
Cardaras says her concern is not whether states call her ceremony a civil union or a marriage - she wants the benefits, and the recognition. "I just want to be like everyone else," she says.
Even in a country where opinion has shifted radically in recent years, it remains to be seen whether that wish will be granted.
1969 A riot following a police raid of the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York, becomes the symbolic start of the American gay rights movement.
1973 The newly formed National Gay Task Force and Lambda Legal Defense Fund successfully lobby the American Psychiatric Association to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders.
1981 The first cases of a mysterious immune deficiency among gay men are documented by the Center for Disease Control. Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or AIDS, gets its name the next year.
1982 Wisconsin is the first state to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
1988 Gay Americans celebrate the first national "Coming out day" Oct. 11.
1989 Denmark becomes the first country to recognize a registered partnership status for same-sex couples. Over the next decade, Norway, Sweden, Greenland, Iceland, and the Netherlands also move to grant partnership status to same-sex couples.
1990 President Bush signs the Hate Crimes Statistics Act, making antigay violence punishable under federal law.
1993 President Clinton signs a new policy into law on gays in the military. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" says gays and lesbians can serve if they conceal their sexual orientation.
A March on Washington brings between 800,000 and 1.2 million marchers to the capital, one of the largest gatherings in the nation's history.
1996 Clinton signs the Defense of Marriage Act, denying federal recognition to same-sex marriages and allowing states to do the same; 37 states go on to pass DOMAs.
The US Supreme Court strikes down Colorado's Amendment 2, which denied gays and lesbians protections against discrimination.
1997 Comedian Ellen DeGeneres comes out as gay on her TV show "Ellen," which is killed the following season. Some blame homophobia, others a lack of funny material.
1998 Wyoming youth Matthew Shepard is beaten, tied to a fence, and left to die in Laramie, a case that draws massive news coverage and fuels debate about hate crimes legislation.
Two Dutch men become the first same-sex couple in the world to legally marry.
2000 Vermont creates "civil unions," establishing a relationship that affords same-sex couples some of the legal protections of heterosexual marriage.
The American version of "Queer As Folk," a popular British TV show known for its frank depictions of gay sex, debuts on Showtime.
2001 The Netherlands becomes the first country to grant same-sex couples the right to marry.
With its gay title character and flamboyant sidekick, TV sitcom "Will & Grace" wins three Emmys and carves a solid niche in the Nielsen Top 20.
2003 June 10: North America's first legal same-sex marriage takes place in Canada.
June 26: The US Supreme Court strikes down Texas's sodomy ban, ruling that couples have a right to privacy.
" Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" wins top ratings as one of three major gay-themed cable shows.
Nov. 17: The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court finds it unconstitutional to bar same-sex couples from marrying, and gives the state legislature six months to amend state laws to allow gays to wed.
Sources: American Civil Liberties Union, CQ Researcher, Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal, Prof. Kees Waaldijk. Congressional Quarterly Researcher (April 1995), The Boston Phoenix.
