Washington, D.C., June 26, 2013(01 of19)
Open Image ModalMichael Knaapen (left) and his husband John Becker (right) share an emotional moment outside the Supreme Court on Wednesday. (credit:AP Photo/ Charles Dharapak)
Washington, D.C., April 25, 1993(02 of19)
Open Image ModalA couple embraces on the street during the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation. More than 500,000 people attended what was, at the time, the largest gathering of gay rights activists in history. (credit:Porter Gifford/Liaison)
New York, N.Y., 1979(03 of19)
Open Image ModalReverend John Kuiper (right), the first gay man in America to win the right to adopt a child, walks with his partner Roger Hooverman (left) during a gay rights march on Fifth Avenue. (credit:Brian Alpert/Getty Images)
Washington, D.C., April 25, 1993 (04 of19)
Open Image ModalA member of the U.S. Army holds a sign during the 1993 gay rights march. (credit:Porter Gifford/Liaison/Getty Images)
New York, N.Y., June 8, 1977(05 of19)
Open Image ModalFormer U.S. representative Bella Abzug addresses a crowd of 3,000 during a rally in which demonstrators gathered to protest the repeal of a gay rights law in Dade County, Fla. (credit:AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis)
Washington, D.C., Oct. 11, 2009(06 of19)
Open Image ModalOn the day after President Obama vowed to repeal a ban on gays serving openly in the military, tens of thousands of activists marched on the Capitol to demand civil rights. (credit:Maria Belen Perez Gabilondo/AFP/Getty Images)
Washington, D.C., March 27, 2013(07 of19)
Open Image ModalEdith Windsor (center) acknowledges her supporters as she leaves the Supreme Court. Windsor, 83, challenged the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, which proved successful as the court deemed it unconstitutional in a 5-4 vote on June 26, 2013. (credit:Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
San Francisco, Calif., June 26, 1978(08 of19)
Open Image ModalSan Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk waves at supporters during the city’s seventh annual gay freedom parade. Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, was assassinated five months later. (credit:AP Photo, File)
Chicago, Ill., Feb. 14, 2001(09 of19)
Open Image ModalMichael Maltenfort (left) and Andy Thayer (right) are led away by police officers after allegedly trying to lock and chain the doors of the Marriage License Bureau inside City Hall. Both men had previously requested a marriage license before being denied. (credit:Tim Boyle/Newsmakers/Getty Images)
New York, N.Y., June 28, 1981(10 of19)
Open Image Modal50,000 marchers carry signs during New York’s annual Gay Pride Day parade. This year’s parade commemorated the 12th anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riot, when patrons at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York’s Greenwich Village, fought back during a police raid, starting three days of riots. The riots are considered a watershed moment in the modern fight for gay rights. (credit:AP Photo/G. Paul Burnett)
Decatur, Ga., Aug. 3, 2012(11 of19)
Open Image ModalJim Fortier (left) and Mark Toomajian (right) share a kiss outside a Chick-Fil-A, where two dozen gay rights activists gathered to protest the fast-food chain owner’s public opposition to marriage equality. (credit:AP Photo/David Tulis)
Washington, D.C., Oct. 11, 1987(12 of19)
Open Image ModalA group of terminally-ill AIDS victims participates in the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. An estimated 50,000 participants attended. (credit:AP Photo/Scott Stewart)
Los Angeles, Calif., Aug. 22, 1980(13 of19)
Open Image ModalLouise Fitzmorris (center-left) and Carol Brock (center-right) speak to members of the media after the U.S. Navy dropped charges of homosexual misconduct against the two sailors. (credit:AP Photo/David F. Smith)
San Francisco, Calif., Nov. 28, 1983(14 of19)
Open Image ModalGay activist Timothy Hough holds a sign and candle during a march commemorating the fifth anniversary of the deaths of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. (credit:AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
San Francisco, Calif., Nov. 6, 1998(15 of19)
Open Image ModalBruce Deming (left) and Jeff Byrne (right) hold their 8-month-old daughter Anna Byrne-Deming while applying for a marriage license at the County Clerk’s office. Senior legal process clerk Maggie Zevallos (right) denied the license in accordance with state law. (credit:AP Photo/Ben Margot)
Albany, N.Y., June 20, 2011(16 of19)
Open Image ModalActivists from both sides of the marriage equality debate engage each other in the halls of the Capitol building before senators eventually approved a same-sex marriage bill. (credit:AP Photo/Hans Pennink)
Laramie, Wyo., Oct. 12, 1999(17 of19)
Open Image ModalJerry Switzer (right) wipes tears from his eyes as he hugs Cathy Renna (center) during a visit to the fence where Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old gay student, was murdered in Laramie. (credit:AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
New York, N.Y., June 27, 1977(18 of19)
Open Image ModalAn activist carries a sign displaying his opinion of Anita Bryant, a Florida politician who fought to repeal a law that banned discrimination based on sexual orientation, during a march on New York’s Fifth Avenue. (credit:AP Photo/Carlos Rene Perez)
Seattle, Wash., Dec. 9, 2012(19 of19)
Open Image ModalTerry Gilbert (left) kisses his husband Paul Beppler (right) after wedding at Seattle City Hall. The couple was among the first gay couples to legally wed in the state of Washington. (credit:AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)