60 Powerful Steps Forward For Equality

A time line of the most moving moments and photos of the year for gay rights.

1. Jan. 4: Olympia, Washington

Washington Governor Chris Gregoire announces that she wants Washington to become the seventh state in the nation to make gay marriage legal. Gov. Gregorie had previously supported efforts to expand domestic partner rights for gay couples but had not come out in favor of full marriage rights.

Image by Elaine Thompson / AP

2. Jan. 12: Orlando, Florida

Tim Galatas and Giulio Giunta embrace after officially registering as a domestic couple during the launch of the Orlando, Florida, new domestic partner registry. The registry gives non-married couples, both gay and heterosexual, some of the same rights as married couples in matters such as hospital visitation and health-care decisions.

Image by Phelan M. Ebenhack / AP

3. Jan. 23: Olympia, Washington

Jane Abbott Lighty greets Sen. Ed Murray after finding out they had enough votes in the state Senate to legalize gay marriage.

Image by Ted S. Warren / AP

4. Jan. 26: Augusta, Maine

Ali Vanderzanden, the political director for Equality Maine, celebrates with a friend after collecting 105,000 signatures, which was enough to force a second referendum on gay marriage in the state.

Image by Robert F. Bukaty / AP

5. Jan. 28: Mumbai, India

Indian supporters of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community participate in the Queer Azadi March in Mumbai. In July 2009, the Delhi High Court decriminalized gay sex between consenting adults by declaring a colonial-era ban on homosexuality unconstitutional.

Image by PUNIT PARANJPE / Getty Images

6. Feb. 1: Seattle, Washington

Kara Haney and her partner of eight years react as they find out the Washington State Senate passed a bill that would legalize gay marriage in their state.

Image by Joushua Trujillo / AP

7. Feb. 7: San Francisco, California

Frank Capley-Alfano and Joe Capley-Alfano kiss as they celebrate the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that the voter-approved Proposition 8 measure violates the civil rights of gay men and lesbians.

Image by Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

8.

Opponents of Proposition 8 break down in tears as they celebrate outside of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Image by Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

9. Feb. 8: Olympia, Washington

Rep. Jamie Pedersen is congratulated by his colleagues after the House voted to legalize gay marriage in Washington state.

Image by Elaine Thompson / AP

10. Feb. 13: Olympia, Washington

Washington Governor Christine Gregoire raises her arms after she signed into law a measure that legalizes same-sex marriage in Washington state.

Image by Elaine Thompson / AP

11. Feb. 17: Annapolis, Maryland

Openly gay legislators Rep. Maggie McIntosh and Rep. Anne Kaiser hug after the Maryland House passed a gay marriage bill.

Image by Patrick Semansky / AP

12.

Rep. Luke Clippinger reacts alongside fellow delegates after the House passed Maryland’s gay marriage bill.

Image by Patrick Semansky / AP

13. Feb. 22: Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii

Sgt. Brandon Morgan hugs his partner, Dalan Wells, in a helicopter hangar at a Marine base in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, upon returning from a six-month deployment to Afghanistan. This photo is among the first showing a gay active duty serviceman in uniform kissing his partner at a homecoming.

Image by David Lewis / AP

14. March 1: Annapolis, Maryland

Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley signs the Civil Marriage Protection Act into law, making Maryland the eighth state to legalize gay marriage.

Image by Patrick Semansky / AP

15. March 2: Bremerton, Washington

Sean Sutton greets his boyfriend of two years with a kiss after Jewell, a sailor, returned from a seven-month deployment aboard the USS Stennis.

Image by Joe Dyer / AP

16. April 29: Tokyo, Japan

Gay people carry a rainbow flag as they march on the street during the Tokyo Rainbow Pride. Some 1,000 gays, lesbians, and their supporters took part in the parade.

Image by TORU YAMANAKA / Getty Images

17. May 9: Valparaiso City, Chile

A gay couple, Maximiliano Hott and Jorge Aravena, kiss after the Chilean Senate approved an anti-discrimination bill in Valparaiso city. According to local media, the new law establishes that every Chilean, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals, will be guaranteed protection under the law.

Image by Eliseo Fernandez / Reuters

18. May 9: Washington, D.C.

President Barack Obama comes out in support for gay marriage. President Obama is the first U.S. president in history to support the issue.

Image by The White House / Getty Images

19. May 9: New York City

Patrons walk by the Stonewall Inn, a historic gay bar in Greenwich Village, after President Barack Obama announced his support for gay marriage.

Image by Spencer Platt / Getty Images

20. May 9: San Francisco, California

A man raises a glass of champagne for a celebratory toast to President Barack Obama’s support of same-sex marriage.

Image by STEPHEN LAM / Reuters

21. May 10: New York City

Whitney Holt talks with her pregnant partner just before getting married at the city clerk’s office in New York. Both traveled to New York from Tennessee to get married one day after the president announced his support for gay marriage.

Image by Seth Wenig / AP

22. May 12: Havana, Cuba

Two Cuban men kiss during a march against homophobia.

Image by STR / Getty Images

23. May 12: Sydney, Australia

Participants in a pro-marriage equality rally march through the streets of Sydney. Australian Attorney-General Nicola Roxon said the “time is coming” for change, as protesters marched across the nation.

Image by Greg Wood / Getty Images

24. May 19: Harare, Zimbabwe

Members of a gay rights organization in Zimbabwe make a poster to celebrate the International Day Against Xenophobia and Transphobia. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has often called for gays and lesbians to be punished for their behavior, which he said was worse than pigs and dogs.

Image by TSVANGIRAYI MUKWAZHI / AP

25.

Image by TSVANGIRAYI MUKWAZHI / AP

26. May 20: Ukraine

A group of unidentified people beat Svyatoslav Sheremet, the head of gay rights group. Sheremet was attacked after meeting with members of the media to inform them that a scheduled gay parade was canceled due to threats of violence from neo-Nazis and other hate groups. The attackers ran off when they realized members of the media were documenting the attack.

Image by Anatolii Stepanov / Reuters

27. May 23: Tbilisi, Georgia

Christian activists led by Orthodox priests attack participants during a gay rights parade.

Image by VANO SHLAMOV / Getty Images

28. May 27: St. Petersburg, Russia

A man protesting against a gay pride parade attacks a gay rights activist in Russia.

Image by MAXIM SHEMETOV / Reuters

29.

A man attacks a gay rights activist during a gay pride parade in St. Petersburg.

Image by MAXIM SHEMETOV / Reuters

30. June 2: Ljubljana, Slovenia

A group of people take part in a pride parade in Ljubljana, the biggest city in Slovenia.

Image by SRDJAN ZIVULOVIC / Reuters

31. June 2: Riga, Latvia

People hold signs during the Baltic Gay Pride parade. The annual event is meant to promote gay rights in this ex-Soviet state, now a member of the European Union, where negative views of homosexuality are common.

Image by ILMARS ZNOTINS / Getty Images

32. June 18: Sao Paulo, Brazil

About 3 million people (!!!!!) took part in this year’s gay pride parade in Sao Paulo. This year’s theme was “Homophobia has cure.”

Image by YASUYOSHI CHIBA / Getty Images

33. June 20: New York City

Jason Welker and Scott Everhart kiss during their wedding ceremony at a comic book shop in Manhattan. The couple was celebrating the first gay nuptials in the superhero world in a new edition from Marvel Comics.

Image by Andree Lateef / Reuters

34. June 23: Berlin, Germany

A man take part in Berlin’s annual Christopher Street Day in Berlin. Russia has been in the news in 2012 for their laws banning “gay propaganda.”

Image by John Macdougal / Getty Images

35. June 23: Santiago, Chile

A gay couple holds a sign that says “I am not gay, my boyfriend is” during a demonstration for a law for equal rights in Santiago, Chile.

Image by Martin Bernetti / Getty Images

36. June 24: New York City

A protestor holds signs against gay marriage during the 2012 New York Gay Pride parade in New York.

Image by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / Getty Images

37. June 30: Singapore

A female participant holds up sign during a demonstration to increase awareness and understanding of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in Singapore. The event was the fourth annual gathering held in support of the freedom to love.

Image by Suhaimi Abdullah / Getty Images

38. June 30: Madrid, Spain

A participant takes part in the gay and lesbian pride parade Spain. The sign says: “Luke, I’m…your mother.”

Image by Dominique Faget / Getty Images

39. July 21: San Diego, California

For the first time ever, U.S. service members had march in a gay pride event decked out in uniform.

Image by Gregory Bull / AP

40. Aug. 3: Decatur, Georgia

Jim Fortier and Mark Toomajian kiss as they join about two dozen members of gay rights groups protesting outside the Decatur, Georgia, Chick-fil-A restaurant.

Image by Phil Skinner / AP

41. Aug. 11: Port Orchard, Washington

Derrick Peacock and Pablo Monroy row away after their wedding ceremony. Monroy, 24, a cavalry scout with the Army National Guard, and Peacock, 25, are the faces of a new generation of gays and lesbians entering a world that has radically changed in the quarter-century span of their lives.

Image by Peter Haley / AP

42.

Derrick and Pablo Monroy dance with their mothers.

Image by Peter Haley / AP

43. Aug. 11: Taoyuan, Taiwan

Fish Huang and her partner You Ya-ting pose for a photo during their same-sex Buddhist wedding ceremony in Taoyuan. The two women tied the knot in Taiwan’s first same-sex Buddhist wedding, a move rights groups hope will help make the island the first society in Asia to legalize gay marriage.

Image by SAM YEH / Getty Images

44. Sept. 2: Salt Lake City, Utah

Over 300 active Mormons marched in the gay parade as part of the Utah Pride Festival.

Via: facebook.com

45.

Practicing Mormon Chad Smith and his daughters Kathryn and Olivia.

Image by Jim Urquahart / Reuters

46.

Via: facebook.com

47. Sept. 13: Golden, Colorado

Ricky Watson of Littleton, Colorado, wipes tears from his eyes after he thanked President Obama for repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” at a campaign rally in Golden, Colorado. Watson was kicked out of the Air Force 25 years ago for being gay.

Image by KEVIN LAMARQUE / Reuters

48. Oct. 23: Marseille, France

Two women kiss in front of people taking part in an anti-gay marriage demonstration in Marseille, France.

Image by Gerard Julien / Getty Images

49. Nov. 6: Chicago, Illinois

Keesha Patterson of Ft. Washington, Maryland, proposes to her girlfriend, Rowan Ha, during the election night victory rally at President Barack Obama’s headquarters in Chicago. Maryland became one of the first states to ever vote in favor of gay marriage.

Image by Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

50.

I’m pretty sure she said yes.

Image by Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

51. Nov. 7: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Anthony Streiff, Alex Sand, and Nam Dorjee burst into tears after it was announced that voters had rejected a proposed amendment to Minnesota’s Constitution to ban gay marriage.

Image by Jean Pieri / AP

52. Nov. 7: Seattle, Washington

People celebrate early election returns favoring Washington state Referendum 74, which legalized gay marriage.

Image by Ted S. Warren / AP

53. Nov. 10: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Two men embrace at a gay pride parade in Argentina.

Image by MARCOS BRINDICCI / Reuters

54. Nov. 25: New Delhi, India

Supporters and members of the LGBT community attend the 5th Delhi Queer Pride parade in New Delhi.

Image by SAJJAD HUSSAIN / Getty Images

55. Dec. 6: Seattle, Washington

Jane Abbott Lighty (who we saw earlier this year) and Pete-e Petersen embrace after receiving the first same-sex marriage license in Washington state at 12:01 a.m.

Image by David Ryder / Getty Images

56.

Paul Harris wipes away a tear as he and his partner of 39 years speak to the media after being the first same-sex couple to receive a marriage license in Clark County, Washington.

Image by Zachary Kaufman / AP

57. Dec. 9: Seattle, Washington

Corianton Hale and Keith Bacon embrace after becoming the first couple to get married at Seattle City Hall in a mass wedding.

Source: Reuters

58.

Children hand flowers to newlyweds Liam and Richard Sauer-Wooden as the couple leave Seattle City Hall following their wedding there.

Image by Elaine Thompson / AP

59.

Newlyweds ascend Seattle City after being one of 138 couples to get married on the first OFFICIAL day of gay marriage in Washington state.

Source: Matt Stopera/Buzzfeed

60.

Couples dance their first dance to “At Last” by Etta James at a reception for newlywed couples in Seattle.

Source: Matt Stopera/Buzzfeed