October is LGBT History Month. On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges concluded same-gender marriage is legal in the United States. “No longer this liberty be denied,” penned Justice Anthony M. Kennedy for the majority in the historic decision. “No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than they were.” Nevertheless, the Supreme Court’s decision was only one step forward in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender history. October is a month of reflection; it is important to note how far the community has come.

1948: Alfred Kinsey, founder of the Kinsey Scale, published Sexual Behavior in the Human Male. Kinsey’s research determined homosexual conduct is not limited to people who identify as homosexual. Kinsey’s work was a commencement to the identification of the bisexual community.

November 11, 1950: America’s first homophile organization was founded by Harry Hay, an advocate and activist. The Mattachine Society’s aim was to eliminate “discrimination, derision, prejudice and bigotry” and promote “ethical homosexual culture.”

September 21, 1955: San Francisco, California is home to the United States’ first lesbian civil and political rights organization, The Daughters of Bilitis.

June 28, 1969: A police force attempted to raid a popular gay bar at 1:00 AM; those at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, New York rioted. The three day riot is recognized as the ignition of America’s modern LGBT movement.

December 15, 1973: The American Psychological Association no longer classified homosexuality as a mental illness.

July 3, 1981: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) was categorized as Gay Related Immune Deficiency Syndrome (GRID). Biologist Bruce Voeller, the National Gay Task Force’s founder, successfully pressed to change GRID to AIDS.

December 18, 2010: President Obama repealed the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy which allowed homosexual people to serve openly in the military.

May 29, 2014: Laverne Cox of Orange Is the New Black is the first transgender woman to be featured on the cover of TIME magazine.

Regardless of sexual orientation, people deserve respect. Hawthorne High School has a Gay-Straight Alliance; come to Mrs. Wentworth’s room on Wednesdays. The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community has come a long way, but the war is far from over.