At Levi's direction, the Pride Agenda joined a coalition of glbtq groups assembled by Governor Andrew Cuomo in March 2011 to work on securing marriage equality as one of the new governor's chief priorities.

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The coalition raised money and agreed on a concerted and coherent strategy to increase public support for marriage equality. As a result of the campaign, polls in early June 2011 showed that almost 60% of New Yorkers supported same-sex marriage.

The state Assembly once again passed the marriage equality bill, but the Republican-controlled state Senate remained an obstacle; it was not even certain that the chamber would permit a vote. However, after intense lobbying by Governor Cuomo and the coalition, the Senate majority leader agreed to allow the marriage equality bill to come to a vote.

On June 24, 2011, after the adoption of an amendment specifying religious exemptions, the marriage equality bill was passed by a vote of 33 to 29. That very night Governor Cuomo signed the bill into law.

With marriage equality having been achieved, the passage of the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), which would prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of gender identity and expression, becomes the Empire State Pride Agenda's top legislative priority.

Anti-discrimination statutes and ordinances have made a real difference in the lives of millions of glbtq individuals.

"Domestic partnership" is the generic term for a variety of forms of legal and institutional recognition of same-sex couples that fall short of same-sex marriage.

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.

Hate Crimes are crimes towards persons or groups motivated by the victim's race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

Off and on over two centuries, New York City has also reigned as the capital of homosexual, transgender, and queer life in America.

Political scientists have generated insights important to the study of sexuality through research into glbtq participation in formal politics, studies of sexuality as a category of power, and reconceptualizations of the relationship between sexuality and politics.

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.

Sodomy laws, which provided the legal basis for police harassment of sexual minorities, were conclusively overturned by the United States Supreme Court in 2003, after more than half a century of efforts at reform.

Although work remains to be done, the expansion of protection from workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation stands as one of the significant accomplishments of the American lesbian and gay civil rights movement.

Using bold images and confrontational tactics, ACT UP worked to promote awareness of AIDS and challenge the complacency of politicians and government officials in the early years of the epidemic.

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.

The oldest continuously operating national glbtq interest group, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has played a significant role in the development of the glbtq movement for equal rights.

The short-lived militant group Queer Nation, which emerged in 1990, made a lasting impact on sexual identity politics in the United States.