One of the most important pieces of anti-discriminatory legislation has been the proposed federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). Although transgender activists worked on the bill's wording with its congressional sponsors and with members of the lesbian and gay community, due to concerns by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) trans-inclusive language was removed shortly before the bill was introduced in Congress in 1994. Thus, while the bill asked for protections based on sexual orientation, it lacked any language that would provide workplace rights for transgendered people.

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Similar exclusionary practices also occurred at the state level during the mid-1990s. For instance, in 1995 transgender activists in Oregon were dismayed to learn that their lesbian and gay colleagues had excised trans-inclusive provisions from a bill at the last minute.

In response, transgender activists spent the late 1990s lobbying HRC and other lesbian and gay organizations to reconsider their exclusion of transgendered people in policy formation. These efforts resulted in an increase in transgender inclusivity, and in 2003 ENDA was finally modified by its sponsors to cover transgendered people.

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

Although until recently rejected by most sexologists as a distinct sexual identity, bisexuality is gradually becoming recognized and studied as such.

Although bisexuals have played an important part in the glbt movement for equality, they often had to hide their bisexuality; more recently, however, the bisexual movement has been accepted as part of the larger glbt movement and bisexual organizations now flourish.

Cross-dressers have often been misunderstood and maligned, especially in societies with rigid gender roles.

A cultural institution among lesbians, women's music festivals are community-based events that celebrate women's space as much as women's music.

Stylistically diverse and continually evolving, women's music has broadened over time, but it remains committed to lesbian visibility and feminist values.

Both parades and marches have served to render the glbtq community visible; whereas marches typically attempt to effect political change, parades and pride events affirm identity and community.

Patriarchy, literally "the rule of the fathers," is a social system in which men hold positions of power and women are oppressed and glbtq people are treated negatively.

Fears and misconceptions about transgendered and intersexed athletes abound.

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

The Women's Liberation Movement, which flourished during the 1970s, constitutes the largest and most widely publicized social movement of women in history.

Radical feminist philosopher, theologian, and linguist, Mary Daly is an outspoken lesbian-feminist separatist who has provoked outrage by challenging established ideas and institutions that she considers destructive to women's power and creativity.

The first national lesbian political and social organization in the United States, the Daughters of Bilitis was a significant part of the pre-Stonewall lesbian and gay rights movement.

An important organization of the early post-Stonewall era, the Gay Activists Alliance, which flourished from 1969 to 1974, strove to give gay men and lesbians visibility in American politics.

A quadrennial sporting and cultural event designed for the glbtq community, the Gay Games has become a lucrative attraction for host cities.

Virginia Charles Prince has been a pioneer in organizing social and support groups for heterosexually-identified male cross-dressers.

A legendary veteran of the Stonewall Riots, Sylvia Rivera is notable for helping to spark the event that ushered in the modern-day Gay Rights Movement.

The confrontations between police and demonstrators at the Stonewall Inn in New York City the weekend of June 27-29, 1969 mark the beginning of the modern glbtq movement for equal rights.