In 2004 the Log Cabin Republicans fielded a gay man, Leonard Lanzi--a former executive director of the Boy Scouts in Santa Barbara, who had been forced to leave the organization because of its discriminatory policies--to run against Kuehl. She won handily and is currently serving her last Senate term allowable under the California term-limits law.

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In the Senate Kuehl chairs the Natural Resources and Water Committee, the Budget Subcommittee on Resources, Water, and Energy, the Select Committee on School Safety, and the Select Committee on the Health Insurance Crisis in California, and sits on several others. During her distinguished career she has written over 130 bills that have been passed into law. She has also spoken in favor of bills to legalize gay marriage, which have so far been unsuccessful.

Kuehl has also been a strong supporter of National Coming Out Day, a project designed to help glbtq people stand up and express their identity with pride. She was at the side of her friend and Broadside co-star Dick Sargent when he came out at a 1991 event. In 2003, as part of the celebration of National Coming Out Week, Kuehl had the honor of cutting the lavender ribbon at the grand opening of the LGBT Resource Center at her alma mater, UCLA.

American television sitcoms have consistently reflected the presence of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people, often in distorted and stereotyped ways, but occasionally in ways that acknowledge our humanity and complexity.

In the l980s, domestic violence advocates turned their attention to violence directed at, and within, the glbtq community, but much work still needs to be done.

In the United States, glbtq candidates have achieved some significant successes at the ballot box in the last three decades, running for and winning local, state, and national elections.

The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) is a national organization in the United States dedicated to creating safe school environments for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students.

Lesbian and gay couples have been fighting for the freedom to marry since the dawn of the modern glbtq struggle for equality; despite some success abroad, progress toward same-sex marriage in the United States has been slow.

The Boy Scouts of America, formed to rehabilitate masculinity in the early twentieth century, has constantly seen itself as under attack or at least challenged by homosexuality or effeminacy, and its official policy excluding homosexuals has recently led to several legal and social challenges.

The American glbtq movement for equality has largely allied itself with the Democratic Party.

Equality California (EQCA) is one of the largest and fastest growing statewide glbtq advocacy and civil rights organizations in the United States.

The largest glbtq political organization in the United States, the Human Rights Campaign has emerged as the leading national organization representing glbtq concerns.

Log Cabin Republicans, a gay and lesbian organization, is dedicated to the principle that equal treatment under the law for gay men and women is consistent with the principles and values of the Republican Party.

Most widely remembered as "the second Darrin" on the television sitcom Bewitched, actor Dick Sargent remained closeted for most of his career, but came out in 1991 and embraced gay activism as a "new mission in life."