RELIVE THE DECADE: My comprehensive LGBT news of the decade review!

I'm going to turn each headline into a link, but until I have the time for that... here it is just as is: my review of the LGBT decade!

The American LGBT Decade 2000-2009:

"Technically we're still a bit over 365 days until the end of the decade--we began in year 1 not year zero--but who wants to miss the boat on a trend? The last ten years have been a roller-coaster ride for the American LGBT community, but luckily, we seem to be ending off better than we started.

The end of the nineties saw some of the most celebrated moments in gay history: the coming-out of Ellen and Elton, and the premier of Will and Grace. We also we horrified as a community by the headline-grabbing brutal murder of Matthew Shepard, which eventually led--eleven years later--to the creation of a Federal hate crimes law that protects LGBT people. The decade that brought us 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' and DOMA would soon be topped by the decade that brought us Dumbledore and GaGa.

2000: The decade began on a high note, despite George W. Bush's election, and Mississippi's enactment of a gay adoption ban. While in the United Kingdom, the ban on gay soldiers was lifted, and Israel began to let same-sex partners sponsor one another for citizenship, over here in the United States, Vermont became the first state to legalize same-sex Civil Unions. Openly gay Richard Hatch becomes the first winner of Survivor. Savage Garden's Darren Hayes comes out. The Millenium March for LGBT rights in Washington DC draws 600,000 people to a day of concerts and Melissa Etheridge. President Clinton addresses the crowd via video."

Read the rest of The American LGBT Decade 2000-2009 on Out & About Illinois's website!