Today in LGBT History: Marching for Our Rights In Washington, D.C. circa 1965

As we are a week away from another historic moment in gay rights history with the April 28th Supreme Court Cases on Marriage Equality, we are reminded by ABC news of another milestone in gay history that happened around this same time of year in 1965.

Paul Kuntzler said that when he and nine other people picketed the White House 50 years ago today, protesting the government’s treatment of gays and lesbians, he could not imagine how far the gay rights movement would come in five decades.

That protest on April 17, 1965, is believed to [be] the first gay rights demonstration, advocates say.

PHOTO: Protesters march in the first gay rights protest outside the White House in Washington, April 17, 1965. [credit ABC News]

The group was mostly fighting for gays and lesbians to keep their government jobs. Fifty years later, Kuntzler, who spent his life working for gay rights, is astonished by how the country has evolved and the strides the community has made.

[snip]

[Kuntzler] added: “We could not conceive then the astonishing progress we would eventually make as a community. The idea that gay people, gay men and women, could work openly in the government and serve in the military. It was beyond our imagination.

“The concept of gay marriage — we didn’t even conceive of the idea. Now the Supreme Court is getting ready to rule and it’s legal in 37 states including D.C.”

Read the full article [with VIDEO]

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