At the Mafia-owned Stonewall Inn, after regular raids on gay bars in the city, an early morning raid escalated into a riot that ended with a badly burned Stonewall Inn. The site is a part of the Greenwich Village Historic District. The riots are often cited as the flash point that galvanized gay rights activists to greater visibility and action across the nation.

Following the birth of the civil rights movement, lesbian women in Louisville felt underrepresented and joined forces with gay men to form Louisville Gay Liberation Front.

In what appears to be the second legal case in the nation for marriage equality, two lesbian women file suit after applying for and being denied a marriage license in Jefferson County. Judge J. Lyndon Schmid found against the couple.

Police raided a party at Gay Lib House, the home of the Louisville Gay Liberation Front, arresting 30 on disorderly conduct and drug charges.

Alienated by the fact that all officers of the local gay alliance were men, the group split; women in Louisville formed Lesbian Feminist Union.

Following his election to president of the local chapter of Dignity, a national organization of gay and lesbian Catholics and Episcopalians, Sam Dorr resigned from his job at First National Bank as branch manager over disputes about his role in Dignity.

Local activist David Williams established an archive in 1982 specializing in items of interest to the LGBT community. Since June of 2001, the archive has been available at the University of Louisville. Many items relating to LGBT Pride events can be found in the archive. The Williams-Nichols Institute is the corporate sponsor of the archive, and regularly participates in LGBT Pride events in Louisville.

Sponsored by GLUE, Gays and Lesbians United for Equality, the 1982 Otter Creek picnic was one of the first activities also involving the Louisville Gay Alliance. Among other things, LGA started a Gay and Lesbian Hotline later this year.

GLUE formed Comm Ten, a community center that was opened at 1321 South Preston Street. Comm Ten also served as the location for the First Unitarian Church and Metropolitan Community Church congregations, after their church building burned down in 1985. The Center was sold in 1988. Today, the site houses Volunteers of America’s Louisville Family Housing Services Campus.

The first gay march, March for Justice, was organized by Pam McMichael and Carla Wallace. At least a hundred supporters marched down Jefferson Street to City Hall. Subsequently, three mothers who participated in the march went on to organize the local chapter of PFLAG.

Louisville Youth Group held its first event to promote healthy choices for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth and provide safe places for those rejected by friends and family.

Pam McMichaels and Carla Wallace, organizers of the March for Justice, founded the Fairness Campaign at the fourth annual march.

The New Lambda, Inc., was incorporated on the first of May in 1995. The organization hosted the Louisville Pride Picnics throughout the 90s and into 2000. It was renamed Kan-Do Inc in 1998, before dissolving in 2001.

The Fairness Ordinance promoted by the Fairness Campaign and C-FAIR passed the Louisville Board of Alderman providing employment protection based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Louisville Pride Picnic was renamed this year, marking the beginning of a wider focus on the entire region. In the name of this and subsequent events, Kentuckiana replaces Louisville. This was also the first year the local pride event was held downtown on the Belvedere, where LGBT pride events are still held today.

The first pageant for amateur drag queens was held this year, with a theme of Community.

In June of 2001, the annual Kentuckiana Pride Festival landed on the map in Louisville, Kentucky. The first pride festival did not have a theme. This was also the first event at which pride organizers sold shirts.

The second annual Kentuckiana Pride Festival marks the first pride festival in Louisville to have a theme to go along with it. Through 2016, every festival has had a theme.

The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples had a right to marry under the Massachusetts Constitution.

The first gay pride parade was hosted by KPF, Inc., in downtown Louisville on June 18, 2004. The route followed by the first parade was very similar to the one followed in recent years: from Preston and Market streets, up Floyd street, then from Main street to the Belvedere. In the same year, Kentuckiana Pride Festival expanded to a two-day event on Friday and Saturday.

Voters passed an amendment to the Kentucky Constitution that barred any legal status that is substantially similar to marriage for same-sex couples.

Kentuckiana Pride Foundation, Inc., was incorporated in 2008, and took over assets from its predecessor, KPF, Inc.

Momentum in the drag king community built up over the past few years. It finally caught up with Kentuckiana Pride, and the foundation hosted its first amateur drag pageant for drag kings in 2008.

We celebrated our 10th anniversary on the Belvedere, this year, with the theme of People Respecting Inclusiveness, Diversity, and Equality.

The foundation held its first prom at Prime Lounge. The theme was A Night in Wonderland.

The Supreme Court ruled against bans on same-sex marriage, allow same-sex couples to wed throughout the country.

Frustrated by difficulties coordinating between organizations making up Louisville’s LGBT nonprofit sector, Rachel Lighter of Transwomen National and Anna Giangrande of Louisville Youth Group called together a mass meeting to propose a fix: a coalition to promote interorganizational partnerships and organize Louisville’s next LGBT community center. Over the next year and a half, a core group formed to solidify the coalition’s strategy, with community activists joining representatives from five nonprofit organizations in Louisville: Transwomen National, Louisville Youth Group, Kentuckiana Pride Foundation, IDEAS xLab, and Louisville Trans Man.