1953: President Dwight Eisenhower signs Executive Order 10450, banning homosexuals from working for the federal government or any of its private contractors. The Order lists homosexuals as security risks, along with alcoholics and neurotics.

1972: Testifying before Congress, J. Edgar Hoover assures the House Appropriations Committee that there are no gay activists in the Bureau, saying “We don’t allow any types of activists in the FBI, gay or otherwise. I ask not for average personnel but for those above average in character, education, and personal appearance.”

1994: The Interim Constitution of South Africa comes into force, including a clause explicitly prohibiting discrimination (both government and private) on the basis of sexual orientation. A subsequent court decision in 1998 will establish that the crime of sodomy was legally invalid from this date.