1977: Soap premieres on ABC with then unknown Billy Crystal playing Jodie Dallas, one of TV’s first prominent and sympathetic gay characters.

1996: In the U.S. Congress, a bill that would ban employment discrimination against lesbians and gay men is defeated by one vote.

1997: The newly crowned Miss America, Kate Shindle, vows to dedicate her term to youth HIV prevention. When schools rein her in, she later tells Poz magazine, “Sometimes I feel like I’m banging my head against the wall.”

2010: Chief of the Defense Force of Australia Angus Houston issues an order lifting the ban on transgender personnel.