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LGBT history dates back to the first recorded instances of same-sex love and sexuality of ancient civilizations, involving lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) peoples and cultures around the world.

What survives after many centuries of persecution—resulting in shame, suppression, and secrecy—has only in more recent decades been pursued and interwoven into more mainstream historical narratives.

Before the American Civil War and the massive population growth of the Post-Civil War America, the majority of the American population was rural. Homosexuality remained an unseen and taboo concept in society, and the word "homosexuality" was not coined until 1868 by German-Hungarian KAROLY MARIA KERTBENY (who advocated decriminalization).During this era, homosexuality fell under the umbrella term "sodomy" that comprised all forms of nonproductive sexuality (masturbation and oral sex were sometimes excluded). Without urban sub-cultures or a name for self-definition, group identification and self-consciousness was unlikely.

In June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn in New York City. Protests and demonstrations begin, and it later becomes known as the impetus for the gay civil rights movement in the United States. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, there has been a growing movement in a number of countries to regard marriage as a right which should be extended to same-sex couples.

Legal recognition of a marital union opens up a wide range of entitlements, including social security, taxation, inheritance and other benefits unavailable to couples not married, in the eyes of the law. Restricting legal recognition to opposite-sex couples prevents same-sex couples from gaining access to the legal benefits of marriage.

Though certain rights can be replicated by legal means other than marriage (for example, by drawing-up contracts), many cannot, such as inheritance, hospital visitation and immigration. Lack of legal recognition also makes it more difficult for same-sex couples to adopt children.

On November 2, 1969, CRAIG RODWELL, his partner FRED SARGEANT, ELLEN BROIDY, and LINDA RHODES proposed the first pride march to be held in New York City by way of a resolution at the Eastern Regional Conference of Homophile Organizations (ERCHO) meeting in Philadelphia.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Pride (Promote Respect, Inclusion, and Dignity for Everyone) Month is currently celebrated each year in the month of June to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan. The Stonewall Uprising was a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States. In the United States the last Sunday in June was initially celebrated as GAY PRIDE DAY, but the actual day was flexible. In major cities across the nation the "day" soon grew to encompass a month-long series of events. 

In 1994 the annual observance of LGBT History Month began in the US, and it has since been picked up in other countries. This observance involves highlighting the history of the people, LGBT rights and related civil rights movements. It is observed during October in the United States, to include National Coming Out Day on October 11. 

In the United Kingdom, it is observed during February, to coincide with a major celebration of the 2005 abolition of Section 28, which had prohibited local authorities from promoting homosexuality.

Today, celebrations include pride parades, picnics, parties, workshops, symposia and concerts, and LGBTQ Pride Month events attract millions of participants around the world. Memorials are held during this month for those members of the community who have been lost to hate crimes or HIV/AIDS.

The purpose of the commemorative month is to recognize the impact that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals have had on history locally, nationally, and internationally.

The first country to legalize same-sex marriages was the Netherlands (2001), while the first marriages were performed in the Amsterdam city hall on April 1, 2001. As of June 2019, same-sex marriages are legal nationally in twenty-six countries:

The Netherlands (2001),

Belgium (2003), 

Spain and Canada (2005),

South Africa (2006), 

Norway and Sweden (2009), 

Portugal, Iceland and Argentina (2010)

Denmark (2012), 

Brazil, France, Uruguay, New Zealand (2013)

United Kingdom, without Northern Ireland (2015),

Luxembourg (2014),

Ireland (2015),

Colombia (2016), 

Finland, Germany, Malta (2017), 

Australia (2018) and in Austria, Taiwan and Ecuador (2019)
In Mexico, same-sex marriage is recognized in all states, but performed only in Mexico City, where it became effective on March 4, 2010.

Same-sex marriage was effectively legalized in the United States on June 26, 2015 following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell. Prior to Obergefell, lower court decisions, state legislation, and popular referendums had already legalized same-sex marriage to some degree in 38 out of 50 U.S. states, comprising about 70% of the U.S. population. Federal benefits were previously extended to lawfully married same-sex couples following the Supreme Court's June 2013 decision in the United States .

June 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of annual LGBTQ+ Pride traditions. The first Pride march in New York City was held on June 28, 1970 on the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. Primary sources available at the Library of Congress provide detailed information about how this first Pride march was planned, and the reasons why activists felt so strongly that it should exist. Looking through the LILI VINCENZ and FRANK KAMENY PAPERS in the Manuscript Reading Room, researchers can find planning documents, correspondence, flyers, ephemera and more from the very first Pride marches in 1970.

This, the very first U.S. Gay Pride Week and March, was meant to give the community a chance to gather together to, "...commemorate the Christopher Street Uprisings of last summer in which thousands of homosexuals went to the streets to demonstrate against centuries of abuse....from government hostility to employment and housing discrimination, Mafia control of Gay bars, and anti-Homosexual laws" (Christopher Street Liberation Day Committee Fliers, Franklin Kameny Papers).

The concept behind the initial Pride march came from members of the Eastern Regional Conference of Homophile Organizations (E.R.C.H.O), who had been organizing an annual July 4th demonstration (1965-1969) known as the "Reminder Day Pickets," at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. At the E.R.C.H.O  Conference in November 1969, the 13 homophile organizations in attendance voted to pass a resolution to organize a National annual demonstration, to be called Christopher Street Liberation Day.

As members of the MATTACHINE SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON, FRANK KAMENY and LILLI VINCENZ participated in the discussion, planning, and promotion of the first Pride along with activists in New York City and other homophile groups belonging to E.R.C.H.O.

By all estimates, there were upwards of 3-5,000 marchers at the inaugural Pride in New York City, and today NYC marchers number in the millions. Since 1970, LGBTQ+ people have continued to gather together in June to march with Pride and demonstrate for equal rights.

The flag of the LGBTQ community is now a widely known symbol of the community all over the globe. The question now is: How exactly did it come about?

It goes back to 1978, when the artist GILBERT BAKER, an openly gay man and a drag queen, designed the first rainbow flag. Baker later revealed that he was urged by HARVEY MILK, one of the first openly gay elected officials in the U.S., to create a symbol of pride for the gay community. Baker decided to make that symbol a flag because he saw flags as the most powerful symbol of pride.

As he later said in an interview, “Our job as gay people was to come out, to be visible, to live in the truth, as I say, to get out of the lie. A flag really fit that mission, because that’s a way of proclaiming your visibility or saying, ‘This is who I am!’”

Baker saw the rainbow as a natural flag from the sky, so he adopted eight colors for the stripes, each color with its own meaning; hot pink for sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, turquoise for art, indigo for harmony, and violet for spirit.

The São Paulo Gay Pride Parade in Brazil is South America's largest event, and starting in 2006 with 2.5 million people and is listed by Guinness World Records as the world's largest Pride parade.