1951: The Supreme Court of California rules in Stoumen v. Reilly that the mere congregation of homosexuals at a bar was not sufficient grounds for suspending the bar’s liquor license. The ruling came in the case of the Black Cat Bar, a San Francisco gay bar that was the target of a 15-year campaign by state and local authorities to shut it down.

1963: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (or “The Great March on Washington”) takes place. It becomes one of the largest political rallies for human rights in United States history. Organized in large part by Bayard Rustin, who built and led the team of activists and organizers who publicized the march and recruited the marchers, coordinated the buses and trains, provided the marshals, and set up and administered all of the logistic details of a mass march in the nation’s capital. NAACP chairman Roy Wilkins did not want Rustin to receive any public credit for his role in planning the march because he was a known homosexual.  More on Rustin through this story from NPR.

1982: In San Francisco, almost 50,000 people attend the opening of the first Gay Games.