America Moved On From Its Gay-Rights Moment—And Left a Legal Mess Behind

Half a decade after the Supreme Court’s same-sex-marriage decision, the justices and Congress are still trying to figure out what federal law should say about LGBTQ rights.

The LGBTQ Health Clinic That Faced a Dark Truth About the AIDS Crisis

America has rarely treated all people with HIV equally.

How Schools Reinvigorated the Stonewall Revolution

Since the creation of high-school LGBTQ clubs, their mere existence has made life easier for queer youth.

The Unfulfilled Promise of LGBTQ Rights in South Africa

The country has some of the most progressive laws in the world, but refugees fleeing homophobia elsewhere often find a country that is morally conservative, hostile, and profoundly violent.

How the Memory of Stonewall Lives On in a Meme

The question “Who threw the first brick?” has become a way to celebrate gay icons and to inject joy into a sobering historical moment.

Creating the First Visual History of Queer Life Before Stonewall

Making a landmark documentary about LGBTQ Americans before 1969 meant digging through countless archives to find traces of a forgotten subculture.

How Stonewall Reversed a Long History of Justifying Police Surveillance

Entrapment schemes targeting gay men continue across the country, but the Stonewall resistance changed their meaning.

How One Mom Changed Other Parents’ Minds About Their Children’s Sexuality

For nearly 40 years, Paulette Goodman has been helping people accept their LGBTQ children.

The Struggle for Gay Rights Is Over

For those born into a form of adversity, sometimes the hardest thing to do is admitting that they’ve won.

Before Stonewall, There Was a Bookstore

Networks of activists transformed Stonewall from an isolated event into a turning point in the struggle for gay power.

Tracing the Internal Queer Revolution

Riots and parades have made LGBTQ people visible. But a new anthology of writings from before, during, and after Stonewall shows the inward changes as more essential.

The Forgotten History of Gay Entrapment

Routine arrests were the linchpin of a social system intended to humiliate LGBTQ people.

Celebrating My (Gay) Divorce

Marriage equality means divorce equality—and I feel pride, as well as sadness, about my split from my husband.

The Photographer Who Captured 20th-Century Queer Life

Joan E. Biren’s images from the ’70s and ’80s—which appear in the new exhibit “Art After Stonewall”—reflect an effort to document and encourage lesbian love.

Cruising in the Age of Consent

Gay men once developed codes to ensure safety in the hunt for sex. Can they help #MeToo do the same?

The Queasy Double Message of Taylor Swift’s ‘You Need to Calm Down’

The singer’s pro-gay single strangely compares her struggles with fame to more dangerous kinds of persecution.

The British Empire's Homophobia Lives On in Former Colonies

Activists argue it is homophobia, not homosexuality, that has been imported from the West.

The Three-Letter Word That Triggered a Revolution

Fifty-five years ago, a congressman made a single addition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that changed everything.

Why Drag Is the Ultimate Retort to Trump

RuPaul versus the White House

How Gay Marriage Became a Constitutional Right

The untold story of the improbable campaign that finally tipped the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Gay Guide to Wedded Bliss

Research finds that same-sex unions are happier than heterosexual marriages. What can gay and lesbian couples teach straight ones about living in harmony?

An Amazing 1969 Account of the Stonewall Uprising

Despite progress, the circumstances that gave rise to the rebellion that began the contemporary gay rights movement haven't changed as much as we might think.