2.  1700s – The penalty for being gay was death. Thomas Jefferson, in 1779, proposed a law that would require castration of gay men.  They have had a long history of mistreatment by police (being harassed, arrested, beaten) for being gay. You could be charged with a felony for being gay.

3.  The NYPD raided a bar in Greenwich Village and started arresting employees and gay patrons.  A crowd of 2000 plus lesbian, gay, and transgender supporters at the bar went after the police. The police had to hide inside the club. Three days of rioting took place.

4.  “All groups must be protected from discrimination….”

5.  Made it so you couldn’t be charged with a crime for engaging in same-sex intercourse

6.  Clinton’s initiation. Supposed to be a compromise so the military couldn’t keep going on witch hunts to “catch” gay people.  At the time, per Reagan's Defense Directive 1332.14, it was military policy that "homosexuality is incompatible with military service" and persons who engaged in homosexual acts or stated that they are homosexual or bisexual were discharged

7. Beyond the official ban, gay personnel were often the target of various types of harassment by their comrades, intended to compel them to resign or confess to investigators. An infamous version of this harassment was called a blanket party; at night several service members would cover the face of their victim with a blanket then beat the victim. Often these beatings were severe and occasionally even fatal, as in the case of Allen R. Schindler, Jr..harassmentblanket partyAllen R. Schindler, Jr.

8. Obama is working on loosening up the “Don’t ask, don’t tell policy.

10. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

11. Is it a civil rights issue? Is it an Equal Protection under the law issue?