Civil Rights

LGBT 1969 – Stonewall Inn Riots* 1973 – American Psychiatric Association (APA) removes homosexuality from its official list of mental disorders 1977 – Harvey Milk wins a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (first openly gay elected official in US) 1980 – At the Democratic National Convention the party adds to its platform “All groups must be protected from discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, language, age, sex or sexual orientation.” 1993 – President Clinton institutes “Don’ Ask, Don’t Tell” policy for US military 2003 – Vermont recognizes civil unions between gay or lesbian couples 2004 – Massachusetts recognizes marriage between gay or lesbian couples 2010 – President Obama repeals “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”; homosexuals can serve openly in the military 2013 – Windsor v. US – Supreme Court rules that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) defining marriage between a man and a women (at the federal level) is unconstitutional* 2015 – Obergefell v. Hodges* - Supreme Court rules that the right to same sex marriage is guaranteed to all based on the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment (states cannot deny the right to marry)

Latino Rights 1945 – Mendez v. Westminster – California Supreme Court rules that segregation of Latino students is unconstitutional 1953 – Hernandez v. Texas – US Supreme Court rules that 14th Amendment equal protection rights applied to Mexican Americans 1965 – Cesar Chavez * & Dolores Huerta found the United Farm Workers (UFW) which become the largest farm workers union in the country; used boycotts, marches and protest to win better conditions for grape pickers* 1974 – Educational Opportunity Act – makes bi-lingual education widely available after court rulings prohibiting schools from denying education to students who could not speak English 1986 – Immigration Reform and Control Act – provides legal status to many undocumented workers 1990s/2000s – continued debate at both the state and federal level about the legal status and rights of undocumented immigrants 2003 – Latinos become the largest minority group in the United States; currently several states are minority-majority and several more are headed in that direction 2012 – President Barack Obama institutes DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) allowing illegal immigrants who arrived as children to received renewable deferred action from deportation 2016 – Donald Trump elected as president largely on the promise of building a wall along the Mexican border and instituting policies to deport illegal immigrants

Native American Rights 1924 – Native Americans are granted citizenship 1934 – Wheeler Howard Act (Indian New Deal) – allows tribes to organize their own self governments 1950s – US government dissolves over 100 tribes; thousands of Indians moved to cities 1968 – American Indian Movement (AIM) founded; believe that direct confrontation with the federal government is the way to secure Native American rights* 1973 – AIM occupies Wounded Knee for 71 days; only surrender to federal government with the agreement to investigate their grievances* 1975- Indian Self Determination Act – grants greater self control and government powers to Native American Indian tribes 1978 – Longest Walk Protest – AIM protestors walk from San Francisco to Washington, DC to protest threats to tribal sovereignty

Asian American Rights 1956 – Dalip Singh Saud, first Asian Indian American elected to House of Representatives 1959 – Daniel Inouye, first Japanese American elected to House of Representatives (and later to Senate in 1962) 1964 – Civil Rights Act of 1964 bans racial discrimination 1965 – National Origins Act raises immigration quotas for Asian countries to 20,000; finally equal to European quotas* 1975 – the fall of Saigon and wars/unrest in Cambodia and Laos result in thousands of immigrants from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos arriving in the United States until around 1990 1988 – the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 formally apologizes and offers restitution of $20,000 to people who were interned during World War II 1996 – Gary Locke is the first Asian American to be elected governor outside of Hawaii

Rights for People with Disabilities 1973 – Rehabilitation Act provided civil rights protections to people with disabilities for the first time; guarantees equal access to public services 1975 – Education for all Handicapped Children Act guarantees equal access to public schools for children with disabilities; mandates full inclusion in the least restrictive environment 1990 – Americans with Disabilities Act ensures equal treatment an equal access of people with disabilities to employment opportunities and public accommodations*