National Park Service announces effort to mark historic LGBT sites
The U.S. National Park Service will begin marking places of significance to the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell announced Friday at the Stonewall Inn, scene of the 1969 riots widely credited with starting the modern gay rights movement.
The shift comes after years of debate about how gay people fit into America’s historical narrative and whether they should be included in textbooks. In 2011, California state legislators passed a first-in-the-nation law requiring public schools to teach students about the contributions of gay Americans in state and U.S. history.
The announcement also comes amid rapid legal changes across America on the issue. Gay rights advocates have enjoyed a stunning series of court victories, as one state after another sees its same-sex marriage ban fall. The rulings followed the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision last June that struck down part of a federal anti-gay marriage law. It did not apply to bans that were then in place in roughly three dozen states; the high court is expected to eventually rule on that issue.
President Barack Obama decided in 2011 that his administration no longer would enforce the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which defined matrimony as between a man and a woman. That year, there were five states that allowed same-sex couples to wed. Now, it’s legal in 19 states, with lawsuits pending against every other state’s ban except North Dakota’s.
http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2014/05/national-park-service-announces-effort-to-mark-historic-lgbt-sites/
= new reply since forum marked as read
Harvey Milk's camera shop in the Castro, the White Horse in Oakland, Cafe Lafitte in Exile in New Orleans. (The last two each claim to be America's oldest gay bar.) And, of course, the site in Massachusetts where the first wedding was performed. 
Excellent!
