In a few short decades, the LGBTQ community in the U.S. survived police persecution, societal rejection, McCarthyism and the AIDS epidemic to emerge as a political force that couldn't be ignored.
Radicalized by ongoing legal discrimination and the poor government response to the AIDS epidemic, scrappy activists grew determined to elect LGBTQ leaders to local, state and federal offices.
The LGBTQ community is in the cross-hairs of America's culture wars, but that doesn't stop brave leaders from winning public office and making progress on LGBTQ rights in red states and blue states.
As more Americans are introduced to LGBTQ people on their TV screens, via the internet or within their family, out candidates run and win key races across the country.
In federal, state and local bodies, LGBTQ officials wield the gavel, and more LGBTQ leaders of color, bisexual and transgender officials are elected than ever before.
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