World War II brought an influx of military personnel to the naval base and a boost to the island's economy.

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President Harry Truman, hardly a bohemian sort, was nevertheless attracted to Key West and made a home there his "Little White House" for vacations while he was in office. Nattily (if somewhat improbably) attired in colorful Hawaiian shirts, he strolled the island's streets.

The closure of the naval base in the 1960s led to another decline in Key West's economy, causing many residents to leave. Gay and lesbian business people would prove central to the island's return to prosperity.

The 1970s saw an influx of gay and lesbian entrepreneurs who opened many guesthouses, clubs, restaurants, and other businesses. The Key West Business Guild, one of the first gay chambers of commerce in the nation, was founded in 1978 to promote gay and lesbian tourism. The organization also offers a trolley tour that teaches visitors about the glbtq history and culture of the island.

In the 1970s, the glbtq community became a force in local politics. Richard Heyman (1935-1994) became one of the first openly gay elected officials when he was elected mayor in 1983.

Gay clubs have long been a mainstay of Key West's social scene. One of the oldest is La Te Da, originally known as La Terraza de Martí but which acquired its more familiar, playful moniker when drag performer Holly Woodlawn mangled the name.

Key West's celebration of iconoclasm is nowhere more evident than in its declaration of itself as the "Conch Republic." In April 1982, in response to the Mariel boatlift, the U. S. Border Patrol set up a blockade on highway U. S. 1 and required everyone on the road to provide proof of citizenship in order to proceed to the mainland. This was a significant inconvenience, and so when pleas for relief were rebuffed, Mayor Dennis Wardlaw immediately took action: he announced that Key West had seceded from the union, declared war on the United States but immediately surrendered, and requested foreign aid.

The Conch Republic--whose motto is "The Mitigation of World Tension through the Exercise of Humor"--still holds a festive annual celebration of its independence day. Key West businesses sell the Republic's flag, stamps, and currency, as well as passports and same-sex marriage licenses.

Key West loves a party and holds a number of annual festivals including FantasyFest, a ten-day event with masquerade balls, pet parades, pageants, and other events that raise money for AIDS charities; WomenFest, which draws thousands of lesbians for art, entertainment, and cultural events; the Queen Mother pageant for drag artists; and PrideFest, always a high point of the year.

In 2003 PrideFest celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of the rainbow flag in spectacular fashion. Designer Gilbert Baker was on hand as a three-ton, one and a quarter mile-long version of his creation stretched across the entire width of Key West from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. The flag had the eight stripes of Baker's original design, including pink and turquoise, two colors that had earlier been dropped because they were not available in commercially produced flag fabric at the time.

It is believed that approximately one third of male residents of Key West are gay, and a quarter of the women are lesbian. The city has an anti-discrimination ordinance and offers domestic partner benefits to its employees.

In 2004 the Key West City Commission passed a resolution that encouraged Florida and all other states to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere, condemned George W. Bush's call for a constitutional amendment against such unions, and supported the provision of domestic partner benefits by both public and private employers.

Key West resident Susan Kent summed up the philosophy of the community and sent a message to the rest of the world. "This island is unique," she said. "It's not tolerance, it's acceptance of diversity. You could do this too."

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

Boycotts, the refusal to patronize companies or institutions, have in recent decades been organized by glbtq rights advocates to protest discriminatory practices and policies.

Historically, cabarets and revues have been much more likely to mention or imply same-sex desire than the "legitimate" theater; and same-sex desire has been less frequently condemned in cabarets and revues than in mainstream plays.

Circuit Parties refer to an ongoing series of gay-themed events that take place in major metropolitan areas throughout the year.

Although one cannot speak of a gay community in Cuba, one can speak of a homoerotic environment for meeting and socializing in Havana that is constantly moving and reshaping itself.

Latina/o glbtq communities in the U.S. pursue multiple visions, diverse politics, and a variety of struggles for identity and liberation; their efforts have helped shape the meaning of what it means to be queer and Latina and Latino in the U.S. and transnationally.

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.

San Francisco has enjoyed a reputation as a "gay mecca" since World War II.

Since the late nineteenth century, transgendered people have advocated legal and social reforms that would ameliorate the kinds of oppression and discrimination they suffer.

Widely acknowledged as one of the finest twentieth-century American poets, Elizabeth Bishop encoded a lesbian identity in her poems.

Truman Capote's fiction and autobiographical works helped establish what might be called the quintessential homosexual writing style of the 1950s and 1960s.

Ernest Hemingway, himself sexually insecure, included negative, even abusive portrayals of gay men in his fiction.

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

Co-author of the book of the celebrated musical A Chorus Line, James Kirkwood also wrote five popular novels and two nonfiction books.

By challenging the United States Air Force's ban and gay and lesbian service members, Leonard P. Matlovich, Jr. became one of the glbtq community's most visible activists in the 1970s.

The fiction of the sexually ambiguous Carson McCullers offers uncomfortable resistance to the social ideal of neat heterosexuality.

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.

Jean O'Leary devoted her life to activism for gay and lesbian rights.

Designed by Gilbert Baker in 1978, the rainbow flag has become a popular (and sometimes controversial), internationally recognized symbol of gay and lesbian pride.

The multifaceted Gore Vidal is important in the gay literary heritage because of the straightforwardness with which he has pursued gay themes and included gay characters in his work.

American activist and scientist Bruce Voeller was a leader in both the gay rights movement and the fight against AIDS.

Conflicted over his own sexuality, Tennessee Williams wrote directly about homosexuality only in his short stories, his poetry, and his late plays.