This GLBT series chronicles important historical events that have identified, defined, and legally established the rights of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities. This new edition in the Great Events series chronicles important historical events that have identified, defined, and legally established the rights of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities. In the last ten years alone, the world has witnessed significant events that have broken down barriers, both socially and legally, making enormous strides to end discrimination against the LGBTQ community. Just some of these events include: 2011 - "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is repealed; 2012 - Barack Obama becomes the first sitting US president to publicly support the freedom for LGBT couples to marry; 2013 - The US Supreme Court rules that legally married same-sex couples are entitled to federal benefits; 2015 - The Supreme Court rules that states cannot ban same-sex marriage; 2016 - Pentagon lifts the ban on transgender people serving openly in the US military. In-depth, yet accessible essays provide a summary of the event and discuss the event's significance and historical impact. Entries are supplemented with sources for further reading, cross-references to other material in the series, maps, quotations from primary source documents, timelines, and hundreds of photographs and illustrations. - Publisher.