The year 1968 was full of political unrest and innovation. The year began with the horrific Tet Offensive, which spurred anti Vietnam War protests. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated.

In 1970, Americans celebrated its first Earth Day and Congress passed the first National Environmental Policy Act and as a result the EPA was created. The US invaded Cambodia and was embroiled in the Vietnam War. Protestors shut down several universities and in May, students were shot at Kent State and Jackson State Universities.

In 1971 LGBTQ News, across the US folks were protesting and demonstrating against police brutality and entrapment of homosexuals. The Gay Rights Bill was proposed in New York City, the first of its kind in the nation. The gay rights bill was meant to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in housing, employment, and public accommodations. After 15 years of grassroots activism and strident opposition, the bill, known as local law Intro. 2, passed in City Council in 1986 by a vote of 21 to 14, making New York the 51st city in the country to pass such a measure.

In 1972 Title IX was enacted as a follow-up to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prevent discrimination based on sex in education. The 1964 Act was passed to end discrimination in various fields based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in the areas of employment and public accommodation. However the 1964 Act did not prohibit sex discrimination against persons employed at educational institutions.

1975, the landmark year that marked the end of the United States involvement in Vietnam and the birth of the Microsoft computer. It was also the year that birthed the Rubik's Cube, the Betamax video cassette player, Big Red Chewing Gum, Country Time Lemonade, Famous Amos Cookies, and Miller Lite Beer.

In politics, Margaret Thatcher, the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, becomes the longest-serving Prime Minister of the 20th century.Republican Ronald Reagan completed his second term as US president and George HW Bush, Vice President under Ronald Reagan, defeated Democrat Michael Dukakis In May of 1988 as a bloody climax to two years of fighting between the Indian government and Sikh separatists, Indian army troops fight their way into the besieged Golden Temple compound in Amritsar–the holiest shrine of Sikhism–and kill at least 500 Sikh rebels.

In politics, 1990 saw the Reunification of Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall in Nov. 1989. The Baltic states declared independence from the Soviet Union. While under an Apartheid government, Nelson Mandela was released unconditionally after spending 27 years in a South African prison.

In the year before Leslie Feinberg printed and circulated a pamphlet titled "Transgender Liberation: A Movement Whose Time Has Come", Mike started his transmasculine transition. It was 1991. Lou Sullivan, gay transman, author and activist passed away at age 40 in 1991.

In 1992, Leslie Feinberg printed and circulated a pamphlet titled "Transgender Liberation: A Movement Whose Time Has Come". Top movies were “Batman Returns” , “Home Alone 2” and “Lethal Weapon 3”. Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins won the Oscar’s for leading Actors in the movie, “Silence of the Lambs”, and Thelma & Louise won best screenplay.

The American Medical Association declared its opposition to treatments intended to cure homosexuality. Deborah Batts became the first openly gay or lesbian federal judge; she was appointed to the U.S. District Court in New York.

In 1995, the state Mississippi becomes the last state to approve the abolition of slavery as it ratifies the 13th amendment. The thirteenth amendment was nationally ratified in 1865, but was not initially accepted by all states at the time. The drug, Saquinavir, was approved by the FDA and improved the treatment for persons living with HIV and AIDS. 

1996 Tranniversary: Kai & Daniel

Performers like the Fugees, Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Alanis Morrisette, and The Backstreet Boys were playing on the radio.

1997 was the year that Madeline Albright became the first female Secretary of State in US History and Tony Blair became the prime minister of the UK. Bill Clinton had just begun his second term as president, and the world mourned the death of Princess Diana, who was killed in a fatal car crash that year while traveling through Paris. 1997 also saw the passing of Mother Teresa, who died that year in Calcutta at the age of 87, as well as the Notorious BIG who was killed in a drive by shooting in LA.

Scientists announced the first successful cloning of a mammal, a sheep named Dolly, spurning a new wave of future panic and a lot of bad sci-fi plots.

1998 started out with Bill Clinton denying having sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky. In March of that year, Jackal took his first shot of testosterone, the same month Viagra was approved for erectile dysfunction.

LGBTQ: Many advances were made this year as anti-discriminatory legislation based on sexual orientation was passed in several states including: California, Iowa, Nevada and Ohio. The government of the Canadian province of Ontario gave same-sex couples the same rights as married couples. The first Celebrate Bisexuality Day was organized by Michael Page, Gigi Raven Wilbur, and Wendy Curry. Civil Union/Registered Partnership laws went into effect in the State of California in France. Chile decriminalized homosexuality. The Fourth Court of Appeals in San Antonio, Texas, ruled in Littleton v. Prange, that a post-operative transgender woman remained legally male and therefore her marriage to a biological male was invalid.

The first trans pride flag was displayed at the Pride Parade in Phoenix, Arizona, and Hilary Swank won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Boys Don’t Cry, the movie based on the brutal true story of Brandon Teena, a transman who was brutally murdered in 1993.

On September 11, 2001 Al-Quaeda terrorists attacked the US using highjacked aircrafts to bring down the twin towers in NYC. They crashed two planes into the World Trade Center, a third aircraft into the Pentagon in Arlington, VA, and a fourth plan went down in a field in rural Pennsylvania.

In 2002, New York City expanded the definition of “gender” to include protections for transgender and gender non-conforming people in employment, housing, and public accommodations in the NYC Human Rights Law. Sweden legalized adoption for same-sex couples, Switzerland voted to give same-sex couples the same legal rights as opposite-sex married couples and homosexuality was decrimialized in China.

The Supreme Court of the US struck down all remaining US sodomy laws in Lawrence v. Texas. Ruled by a vote of 6-3 that a Kansas law criminalizing gay or lesbian sex was unconstitutional declaring the importance of constitutional liberty and privacy consistent with the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

2004 was a leap year, and the year President George W. Bush beat out John Kerry to win re-election. Martha Stewart was convicted of felony charges for lying to federal prosecutors and sentenced to five months in prison, and Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook from his Harvard dorm room. 2004 was also the year NASA's Spirit rover landed safely on Mars. In sports news, Athens hosted the 28th Olympics, in which US swimmer Michael Phelps set the world record for most medals won by a single competitor at the Games.