DC's LGBTQ+ History: US Supreme Court

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As the most influential court in the United States, Americans have long understood the importance of the US Supreme Court and many view it as a final avenue to right a legal wrong. LGBTQ+ Americans, like other minority groups, have relied on the federal courts for protecting and expanding their civil rights and liberties. This has especially been the case when the US Congress and individual state legislatures have failed to act.

The LGBTQ+ rights movement first gained national attention in the postwar decades of the 1950s and 1960s, thanks to individuals like Dr. Franklin Kameny. During these years, discrimination against LGBTQ+ Americans was widespread and widely accepted, as illustrated by the Lavender Scare; and up until 1973, the American Psychiatric Association classified homosexuality as a mental illness. However, things started to change, ever so slowly, as LGBTQ+ Americans started to enter the mainstream through popular culture and continued political activism centered around the AIDS crisis and gays in the military.

However, there were legal setbacks that the LGBTQ+ community had to face. In 1986, the US Supreme Court, in Bowers v. Hardwick, upheld state anti-sodomy laws (in this case, Georgia’s). Ten years later, the court ruled that the Boy Scouts of America could bar gays from joining the organization (Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, 1996). There were also some wins, including in Romer v. Evans (1996). In that case, an amendment in Colorado was overturned by the high court. Lambda Legal, an LGBTQ+ rights organization, says, “This landmark victory was the single most positive Supreme Court ruling in the history of the gay rights movement when it was decided. The Court’s ruling made clear that lesbians, gay men and bisexuals have the same right to seek government protection against discrimination in the United States as any other group of people.”

Within a decade, Bowers v. Hardwick was overturned in Lawrence v. Texas (2003). Simultaneously, same-sex civil unions and marriages started to gain traction, with Massachusetts legalizing same-sex marriage in 2004. Another significant legal victory for the movement occurred in U.S. v. Windsor (2013). This decision overturned a key section of the Defense of Marriage Act, which had been passed by Congress in 1996. Until it was struck down, the federal law’s definition of marriage, as between a man and a woman, had limited federal benefits – “legal recognition of relationships, access to a partner’s employment benefits, rights of inheritance, joint tax returns and tax exemptions, immigration or residency for noncitizen partners, next-of-kin status, protection from domestic violence, and the right to live together in military or college housing,” just to list a few – to heterosexual couples.

Finally, two years later, Obergefell v Hodges (2015) legalized same-sex marriage nationwide – a remarkable development for the LGBTQ+ movement. As soon as the 5-4 decision was announced on that summer day, people rushed to the front of the US Supreme Court building to celebrate a huge win after many years of heartache and hope. There would be losses and wins in the coming years, but on that day LGBTQ+ Americans could celebrate just how far the movement had come in a short time.

This is a stop on the DC’s LGBTQ+ History Tour.

For more information about DC's LGBTQ History, please see the Historic Context Statement for Washington’s LGBTQ Resources.