Amendment I.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The struggle of lesbians and gays for equal rights has moved to the center for the American stage. Lesbians and gays are battling for civil rights in Congress, in courtrooms and in the streets; well known figures are discussing their sexual orientation in public such as the recent "coming out" of Ellen DeGeneres, gay characters are featured in movies and on prime time television shows. One movie includes, "Chasing Amy." Despite these advances into the American mainstream, however, lesbians, gay men and bisexuals continue to face discrimination in all areas of life. No federal law prevents a person from being fired or refused a job due to the basis of their distinguished sexual preferences. Very often in the news, it speaks of nation's largest employer- the U.S. military- very openly discriminates against gays and lesbians. Mothers lose child custody just because of their lesbian background, and gay people are denied the right to marry eachother.
One state even tried to fence lesbians and gay men out of the process used to pass laws. In 1992, Colorado enacted Amendment 2, which repealed existing state laws and barred future laws protecting lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals from discrimination. The United States Supreme Court struck it down in the landmark June 1996 Romer vs. Evans decision.
We must conclude that Amendment 2 classifies homosexuals not to further a proper legislative end but to make them unequal to everyone else. This Colorado cannot do. A State cannot so deem class a persons a stranger to its laws.
-Justice Anthony Kennedy ,Majority Opinion in Romer v. Evans
The modern gay rights movement began dramatically in June 1969 in New York City's Greenwich Village. When, in a typical "raid", police tried to arrest them merely for being present in a gay bar, eventually patrons of the Stonewall Inn fought back. Using grass-roots and litigation strategies used by other 20th Century activists for social change, the gay rights movement has accomplished very significant progress. Here are some of the outcomes of this ongoing struggle:
Nine states, the District of Columbia,
over 200 municipalities, and hundreds of businesses and universities prohibit
discrimination in employment regardless of their sexual orientation. "Domestic Partnership" programs
in dozens of municipalities and hundreds of private institutions, including
some of the country's largest corporations and universities, recognize
the partners of lesbian and gay employees. 
Sodomy laws, typically used to justify discrimination against gay people
even though they happen to apply to everyone had once existed in all 50
states, now only 19 states left has them. But as lesbians and gay men have become empowered, anti-gay hostility has become more unroofed and vicious :
Although unrelated to an individual's
ability, sexual orientation is still the basis for employment decisions
whether to take in a person for a job in both the public and private sectors
outside the states and cities where civil rights laws protect lesbians
and gays. A homophobic backlash has sparked
a rise in "hate crimes," including murder against those perceived to be
gay. High school lesbian/gay clubs and
gay organizations on some college campuses are denied official recognition,
access to funding and campus services. During the McCarthy Era in the late 1940's and 1950's, anti-gay bigotry was rampant; at least 1,700 federal workers who were suspected of being lesbian or gay and were branded "perverts" and "subversives," were eventually fired. Today, the federal government is still continuing to completely rid itself of this bigotry, maintaining explicitly discriminatory policies in the military. In 1986, after more than two decades of support for lesbian and gay struggles, the American Civil Liberties Union established a national Lesbian and Gay Rights Project to fight for equal rights for lesbians and gay men.
Constitutional basis for lesbian and gay rights rests on several fundamental constitutional principles:
Equal protection of the law is guaranteed by the
Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments and reinforced by hundred of local, state,
and federal civil rights laws. Although the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified at
the end of the Civil War designed to ensure legality for African-Americans,
Congress wrote it as a general guarantee of equality, and the courts have
interpreted the Equal Protection Clause to prohibit discrimination on the
basis of gender, religion and disability. 
The right to privacy, or "the right to be left alone,"
is guaranteed by the Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments. In
1965, Grisvold vs. Connectticutt struck down a state law that prohibited
even married couples from obtaining contraceptives, citing "zones of privacy,"
in 1967, Loving vs. Virginia decriminalized interracial marriage. All of
these Supreme Court decisions underscore the principle that decisions about
intimate relationships are personal and should be left up to the individual. Freedom of speech and association are protected under
the First Amendment. This Amendment protects the right to organize and
urge government to end discrimination, to recognize lesbian and gay relationships,
and to adopt laws prohibiting discrimination in the private sector. It
also includes the rights to form social and political organizations, to
socialize in bars and restaurants, to march or protest peacefully, to produce
art with gay themes and to speak out publicly about gay and lesbian issues.