1982: A federal judge rules that the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s policy of excluding foreign gays from entering the United States is unconstitutional and violates guarantees of free speech and free association.

1984: U.S. News & World Report reports that gay men and lesbians, with an estimated seventeen million potential voters, now make up the seventh largest voting bloc in the United States after women, evangelical Christians, the young, the elderly, blacks, and union members.