This timeline was commissioned by and appears here courtesy of the Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest.
| Washington State Events | National Events | |
| 1851 | Arthur Denny colonizing party lands at Alki Point | |
| 1873 | Comstock Laws passed, prohibiting circulation of “obscene” materials | |
| 1893 | WA State unanimously passes anti-sodomy law; Great Northern transcontinental railroad line reaches Seattle | |
| 1897 | Klondike gold rush brings predominantly male population to Seattle; local economy booms | |
| 1898 | First known drag performance in Seattle by nationally recognized female impersonator Edward Stewart | |
| 1903 | First recorded raid of a gay bathhouse occurs in New York City, resulting in several sodomy convictions | |
| 1909 | Sodomy code made more specific | |
| 1910 | Emma Goldman speaks out in favor of homosexual rights | |
| 1914 | WA voters pass Prohibition via Initiative 3 | |
| 1919 | Eighteenth Amendment prohibits sale and production of alcohol | |
| 1924 | First homosexual rights organization, Society for Human Rights, founded in Chicago | |
| 1933 | Joseph Bellotti opens the Casino Pool Hall, a dance club allowing same-sex dancing | National Prohibition ends |
| 1934 | Bellotti opens the Double Header, which may be the oldest continuously operating gay bar in the country, above the Casino | |
| 1941-45 | World War II creates opportunities for military men and working women with homosexual tendencies to meet and form communities in several cities, most notably New York and San Francisco | |
| 1946 | The Garden of Allah founded | |
| 1947 | Dr. Walter Freeman arrives at Western State Hospital, Steilacoom, performing 13 lobotomies | |
| 1950 | Purging of homosexuals from the federal government begins the “Lavender Scare;” Homophile organization, Mattachine Society, founded in Los Angeles | |
| 1955 | Lesbian organization Daughters of Bilitis formed in San Francisco | |
| 1950s | Lesbian bars first established in Seattle | |
| 1958 | US Supreme Court rules in One, Inc. v. Olesen that the First Amendment protected the right of One, Inc. to publish ONE: The Homosexual Magazine | |
| 1961 | Illinois overturns its sodomy law, the first U.S. state to do so | |
| 1965 | Seattle Aquarian Church founder Keith Rhineheart convicted of sodomy | |
| 1960s | Massive growth of gay bars in Seattle as a result of police payoff system | |
| 1966 | MacIver Wells exposes police payoff system | |
| 1967 | First gay organization in Seattle, the Dorian Society founded; Peter Wichern on the cover of Seattle magazine | Homophile League founded at Columbia University as first gay organization on a college campus |
| 1969 | The Dorian Society opens a de facto gay community center in a house on Capitol Hill; Seattle Counseling Services for Sexual Minorities begins in the Dorian house | Stonewall Riots in New York City, memorialized as birth of the Gay Liberation Movement despite earlier riots in response to police raids in San Francisco (1965) and Los Angeles (1967) |
| 1970 | First Gay Pride celebrations take place, commemorating the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots | |
| 1971 | First Gay Community Center opens near Pioneer Square; Lesbian Resource Center opens in the University District; Paul Barwick and John Singer apply for marriage license | |
| 1973 | City Council passes an employment nondiscrimination ordinance protecting homosexuals | |
| 1974 | Seattle Gay News begins publication | American Psychological Association removes homosexuality from its list of “mental disorders.” |
| 1975 | City Council passes a housing nondiscrimination ordinance protecting homosexuals | |
| 1976 | State sodomy law repealed | |
| 1977 | Mayor Wes Uhlman declares first city-recognized “Gay Pride Week,” Catholic Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen endorses Uhlman’s declaration | Miami-Dade County residents overturn county’s ordinance protecting gay people from housing discrimination; Harvey Milk elected to San Francisco Board of Supervisors |
| 1978 | Initiative 13 defeated; Washington Supreme Court decides Madeleine Isaacson and Sandra Schuster can maintain custody of their children, the first successful lesbian mothers’ custody case in the United States. | Harvey Milk assassinated; Briggs Initiative fails in California, along with Initiative 13 in Seattle |
| 1979 | Seattle Gay Clinic founded | Approximately 100,000 march in First March on Washington D.C for Gay and Lesbian Rights |
| 1980 | Greater Seattle Business Association forms to encourage the growth of gay businesses; Violence against gay men prevalent | San Francisco resident Ken Horne first known AIDS patient in the U.S.; Human Rights Campaign founded; Democratic Party adopts a gay rights platform |
| 1982 | First AIDS case reported in King County; Northwest AIDS Foundation and Chicken Soup Brigade founded; Greater Seattle Business Association declares itself organizer of Pride Parade, angering more politically oriented members of the community | Wisconsin first state to ban discrimination on the basis of sexuality; Laguna Beach, CA elects first openly gay mayor |
| 1983 | Seattle allocates funds for AIDS research and services; St. James Cathedral holds mass for attendees of national Dignity (organization of gay Catholics) Conference, Vatican places Seattle Archdiocese under observation | Massachusetts Representative Gerry Studds becomes the first openly gay member of Congress |
| 1984 | Seattle City Council passes ordinance prohibiting harassment of sexual minorities. | Berkeley, CA becomes the first city to recognize domestic partners of municipal employees. |
| 1985 | King County adds sexual minorities as a protected class against employment discrimination; Mayor Charles Royer establishes the Mayor’s Lesbian and Gay Task Force. | |
| 1986 | Northwest AIDS Foundation begins safe sex campaign; “Marital status” added to Seattle’s Fair Employment Practices Ordinance. | US Supreme Court upholds Georgia sodomy law in Bowers v. Hardwick |
| 1987 | Cal Anderson appointed state representative from Seattle’s 43rd District, becoming first openly gay member of the Washington Legislature; People of Color Against AIDS Network (POCAAN) founded; King County forbids discrimination against HIV-positive county employees. | AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACTUP) formed in New York City; Second March on Washington for Gay and Lesbian Rights features AIDS Memorial Quilt |
| 1989 | Seattle chapter of ACTUP founded; Seattle Department of Human Rights finds that cohabitating, unmarried partners must receive benefits based on the 1986 amendment to the Fair Employment Practices Ordinance; City Council approves the creation of the Seattle Commission for Lesbians and Gays. | |
| 1990 | Health benefits extended to domestic partners of municipal employees; Initiative 35, which would have overturned health benefits for domestic partners, fails. | Queer theory matures in academia alongside radical activists; Queer Nation founded |
| 1991 | Sherry Harris elected to City Council, first openly lesbian African-American to win elected office in the US; Lambert House established as a drop-in center for gay youth, first of its kind in the U.S. | |
| 1992 | Bailey/Boushay House opens as a residential care center for AIDS patients; Bisexual and Transgender added to Pride Parade (Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender Pride Parade/March and Freedom Rally); Entre Hermanos founded to promote AIDS awareness among Latino gays | |
| 1993 | Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell becomes the official policy of the U.S. military | |
| 1994 | City of Seattle begins a a domestic partnership registry for anyone residing in the city. | |
| 1995 | Cal Anderson dies of complications related to AIDS; King County defines “domestic partnership” in the County Code and extends benefits to partners of county employees. | |
| 1996 | Defense of Marriage Act signed by President Clinton, banning homosexual couples from federal marriage benefits | |
| 1998 | Matthew Shephard murdered in Laramie, Wyoming, prompting movement for hate crimes protection for LGBT people; Hawaii and Alaska become first states to explicitly ban same-sex marriage | |
| 1999 | Seattle City Council adds gender identity to its nondiscrimination ordinances. | |
| 1999 | California passes first statewide domestic partnership law | |
| 2000 | Vermont passes first civil union law for gay couples | |
| 2003 | Lincoln Park on Capitol Hill renamed Cal Anderson Park; King County requires contractors with the county to provide benefits to domestic partners. | US Supreme Court declares ban on sodomy unconstitutional, overturning Bowers v. Hardwick, in Lawrence v. Texas |
| 2004 | Massachusetts Supreme Court declares ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, making Massachusetts the first state to legalize same-sex marriage | |
| 2006 | Gay rights bill passes the WA legislature; King County adds “gender identity” to its definition of “sexual minorities”; King County requires private employers in unincorporated King County to extend benefits to domestic partners. | |
| 2007 | Domestic partnership for same-sex couples becomes legal in WA | |
| 2008 | California Supreme Court makes California the second state to legalize same-sex marriage; Proposition 8 reversed the court’s decision | |
| 2009 | Matthew Shephard Act expands hate crimes protections to cover sexual orientation | |
| 2010 | Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repealed | |
| 2012 | Referendum 74 passed in Nov. 6 elections, making same-sex marriage legal in Washington State; King County Council pledges support for statewide marriage equality | |
| 2013 | California’s Proposition 8 overturned by the Supreme Court of the United States | |
| 2012 | President Barack Obama endorses gay marriage | |
| 2013 | Seattle elects the first openly gay mayor, Ed Murray | |
| 2015 | United States Supreme Court decided that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry by a 5-4 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. |