Whether we could meet, play, publish, marry, serve, get health care or simply be left alone at home has always been decided by politicians and judges, especially in the United States, where I live. This timeline puts that record side by side: wins and gains on the left, losses on the right, with who led each one.
how to read this
Party labels show the party of the official who acted, at the time they acted. Judges have no party, so court rulings are labeled "Supreme Court" and we name the president who appointed the justices. Many laws passed with votes from both parties, and where that is true the card says so.
The other side of the record. Republican officials have more often led the losses and Democratic officials the wins, but neither party has a clean record. Wherever a Democrat did harm or a Republican helped, the card tells you.
Very few U.S. laws name intersex, asexual or aromantic people. Where a policy affects them, we say so. The status of pending bills and lawsuits is given at the time of writing (October 2026) and may have changed since. This is history and commentary, not legal advice.
the party of small government?
For more than forty years, the Republican Party has called itself the party of limited government. Ronald Reagan said in his 1981 inaugural address that "government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." Yet on sex, the same party has asked government to do more, not less: to police what adults read, watch, publish and do in private, to decide what young people may learn, and to define who counts as a man or a woman.
Much of that comes from the party's alliance with the religious right. Starting with Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority in 1979 and Reagan's embrace of evangelical leaders in 1980, groups like the Christian Coalition, the Family Research Council, the Alliance Defending Freedom and the Heritage Foundation have pushed the party to turn one religious view of sexual morality into law. You can hear it in the language: Chief Justice Burger upholding sodomy laws because of "millennia of moral teaching," Jesse Helms banning AIDS materials that "encourage" gay sex, the Meese Commission and Project 2025 treating sexual media as a moral sickness to be prosecuted.
Faith itself is not the problem, though certainly part of it. Many LGBTQ+ and kink people are religious, many clergy and congregations have fought for our rights, and Democrats from Jimmy Carter on have spoken openly about their faith. Some Republicans, like Barry Goldwater, warned their own party against this. The problem is using the power of government to force one religion's rules about sex onto everyone, which is not only the opposite of small government, but an affront to the constitutional law that the United States was founded on.
the pattern: vague words, wide nets
Almost none of these laws say "BDSM" or "fetish." They don't need to. They use words that are never defined: indecent, patently offensive, prurient, lewd, harmful to minors, promote or facilitate, perverted. The bills are sold as protecting children or stopping trafficking, and then the vague words let officials and nervous platforms apply them to adults who were never the stated target. That hurts us in four ways:
- Nobody can tell where the line is. The same photo can be legal in one county and a crime in the next.
- The fear does the work. Platforms, payment processors, hosts and venues delete far more than the law requires. Most of the damage comes from this "chilling effect," not from prosecutions.
- Enforcement is selective. Vague laws let officials choose whom to go after, usually queer, kinky, trans or sex-working people.
- The cleanup comes years later. Courts narrow or strike down vague laws only after years of lawsuits, when the websites, events and communities are already gone.
Look for The vague words on the cards below.
the timeline
-
1953lossRepublican
The Lavender Scare
President Dwight Eisenhower signed Executive Order 10450, making "sexual perversion" grounds for firing federal workers.
Thousands of gay and lesbian employees lost their jobs over the next two decades.
The vague words"sexual perversion" was never defined, so investigators decided who counted.
The other side of the recordIn the 1960s both parties enforced these rules, along with sodomy laws and bar raids. The partisan split starts in the 1970s.
-
1961winDemocrat
Illinois decriminalizes sodomy
Governor Otto Kerner signed a new criminal code (effective 1962), making Illinois the first state to repeal its sodomy law.
It proved private consensual sex between adults could be legal.
The other side of the recordIt was part of a bipartisan code rewrite based on the Model Penal Code.
-
1967winDemocrat
A government study on sexual material
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Public Law 90-100 creating the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography.
Its 1970 report found no reliable evidence that sexual material harms adults, and is still the most serious government study of the question.
-
1970lossRepublican
Nixon rejects the evidence
On October 24, 1970, President Richard Nixon said he "categorically" rejected the commission's "morally bankrupt conclusions."
It set the pattern for fifty years: policy on sexual material driven by morality politics, not evidence.
The other side of the recordThe Senate voted 60 to 5 to reject the report, with votes from both parties.
-
1973lossSupreme Court
Miller v. California sets the obscenity test
A 5 to 4 majority, written by Chief Justice Warren Burger and including all four Nixon appointees, defined obscenity by "contemporary community standards."
The most conservative county a file can reach gets to define what is obscene. BDSM material has been the first target of obscenity cases ever since, and almost every later law here builds on this test.
The vague words"prurient interest," "patently offensive," "contemporary community standards." None has a fixed meaning.
The other side of the recordKennedy appointee Byron White joined the majority.
-
1974winDemocrat
The first federal gay rights bill
Representatives Bella Abzug and Ed Koch introduced the Equality Act of 1974.
It began the push for job and housing protections that later shielded people outed at work.
-
1975winDemocrat
California legalizes consensual adult sex
The Consenting Adult Sex Act by Willie Brown and George Moscone passed on a tie-breaking vote by Lt. Governor Mervyn Dymally and was signed by Governor Jerry Brown.
San Francisco and Los Angeles leather and kink communities could organize openly.
The other side of the recordThe same year, under President Gerald Ford (R), the Civil Service Commission ended its ban on employing gay men and lesbians.
-
1977winDemocrat
First White House meeting
On March 26, 1977, President Jimmy Carter's aide Midge Costanza hosted gay and lesbian leaders. In 1980 the Democratic platform became the first to oppose discrimination based on sexual orientation.
-
1978lossRepublican
The Briggs Initiative
State senator John Briggs put Proposition 6 on California's ballot to fire gay teachers and anyone who supported them. Voters rejected it.
It made "protecting children" the main weapon against queer people in public life, a tactic now used against trans students, drag and Pride.
The other side of the recordFormer Governor Ronald Reagan (R) publicly opposed it and helped defeat it.
-
1980lossRepublican
Reagan and the religious right join forces
Rev. Jerry Falwell founded the Moral Majority in 1979 to fight "moral decline," naming gay rights, pornography and sex education. On August 22, 1980, at a Dallas gathering of evangelical leaders, Ronald Reagan told them: "I know you can't endorse me, but I want you to know that I endorse you."
It began the alliance between the Republican Party and conservative churches that has shaped the party's positions on sex, sex education, AIDS and LGBTQ rights ever since. The same president said in his inaugural address that "government is the problem."
The other side of the recordIn 1981, Republican Sen. Barry Goldwater, "Mr. Conservative," warned on the Senate floor that he would fight religious groups "every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of conservatism."
-
1981lossRepublican
Abstinence-only sex education begins
Senators Jeremiah Denton and Orrin Hatch wrote the Adolescent Family Life Act, signed by Ronald Reagan.
Generations grew up without education on consent, negotiation, condoms or testing, the foundations of safer sex and safer kink.
-
1981–87lossRepublican
Silence on AIDS
President Reagan gave no major speech on AIDS until May 31, 1987, after more than 20,000 deaths. His press secretary joked about it at briefings.
The gay leather and kink scene was devastated, and its bars and back rooms closed while prevention education was blocked.
-
1982winDemocrat
Wisconsin passes the first state gay rights law
Rep. David Clarenbach led the bill banning discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The other side of the recordIt was signed by Governor Lee Dreyfus (R).
-
1982–90winDemocrat
Fighting for AIDS funding and care
Rep. Henry Waxman held the first AIDS hearing in 1982, and in 1990 Sen. Ted Kennedy led passage of the Ryan White CARE Act, which still funds HIV care.
The other side of the recordRyan White was co-sponsored by Orrin Hatch (R) and signed by George H.W. Bush (R), who also signed the ADA protecting people with HIV.
-
1986lossRepublican
The Meese Commission names BDSM
Attorney General Edwin Meese's pornography report singled out "sexually violent" material, including S/M, as the most harmful kind. A federal obscenity unit followed in 1987.
The government officially named consensual BDSM imagery the worst sexual material. Fetish publishers faced prosecutions designed to bankrupt them.
The vague words"sexually violent material" lumped consensual S/M together with depictions of rape, with no line between consent and coercion.
-
1986lossSupreme Court
Bowers v. Hardwick
The Court upheld Georgia's sodomy law 5 to 4. Chief Justice Burger (Nixon appointee) cited "millennia of moral teaching."
For 17 years, private consensual sex could be a crime, used to deny custody and jobs.
The other side of the recordThe opinion was written by Byron White, a Kennedy (D) appointee. Republican appointees Blackmun and Stevens dissented.
-
1986–88winRepublican
Surgeon General Koop speaks plainly
Reagan's Surgeon General C. Everett Koop issued a frank AIDS report in 1986 and mailed Understanding AIDS to every U.S. household in 1988.
He called for condoms and honest sex education against strong opposition in his own party.
-
1987lossRepublican
The Helms Amendment
Sen. Jesse Helms banned federal AIDS money for materials that "promote or encourage" gay sex.
HIV prevention for gay, bi and kink men was stripped of the frank language that worked, at the peak of the epidemic.
The vague words"promote or encourage, directly or indirectly." Almost any honest safer-sex material "indirectly" encourages sex.
The other side of the recordIt passed 94 to 2 with most Democrats voting yes. The two no votes were Moynihan (D) and Weicker (R).
-
1989–90lossRepublican
Mapplethorpe and the NEA
Helms and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher attacked NEA funding over Robert Mapplethorpe's leather and S/M photographs. Cincinnati prosecuted a museum over the show; a jury acquitted.
Leather and S/M art became a national political target, and many museums and funders stopped showing it.
The vague wordsThe 1989 funding ban covered work that "may be considered obscene, including but not limited to, depictions of sadomasochism, homoeroticism, the sexual exploitation of children…", putting consensual kink in the same list as child abuse.
The other side of the recordThe Supreme Court upheld the NEA's later "decency" clause in 1998, with the Clinton administration defending it.
-
1989lossRepublican
The Christian Coalition
After Pat Robertson ran for the 1988 Republican presidential nomination, he founded the Christian Coalition, led by Ralph Reed. It handed out millions of voter guides through churches and became a major force in Republican primaries.
Opposing gay rights, sex education and "obscenity" became a test Republican candidates had to pass.
-
1990winDemocrat
Immigration ban on gay people ends
Rep. Barney Frank led the effort to remove "sexual deviation" as a reason to bar immigrants, in the Immigration Act of 1990.
The other side of the recordSigned by George H.W. Bush (R).
-
1992lossRepublican
"Culture war" and Colorado's Amendment 2
Pat Buchanan declared a "cultural war" at the Republican convention. Colorado voters then banned all LGB anti-discrimination laws, defended in court by Attorney General Gale Norton.
The other side of the recordGovernor Roy Romer (D) opposed Amendment 2. The Supreme Court struck it down in 1996 (see Romer).
-
1993lossDemocrat
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
President Bill Clinton signed the policy after Sen. Sam Nunn (D) led opposition to lifting the military ban.
More than 13,000 service members were discharged under it before its repeal in 2010.
The other side of the recordFormer Republican Sen. Barry Goldwater opposed the ban, writing in 1993: "You don't need to be 'straight' to fight and die for your country. You just need to shoot straight."
-
1993–2000winDemocrat
Clinton's protections
Created the Office of National AIDS Policy (1993), banned denying security clearances for sexual orientation (1995), and banned anti-gay discrimination in the federal workforce (1998).
Before 1995, being gay or kinky was routinely treated as a "blackmail risk."
-
1996lossRepublican
The Defense of Marriage Act
Written by Rep. Bob Barr and Sen. Don Nickles, DOMA denied same-sex couples more than 1,000 federal rights.
The other side of the recordIt passed with big Democratic support (85 to 14 in the Senate) and Bill Clinton (D) signed it. Then-Senator Joe Biden voted yes.
-
1996lossBoth parties
The Communications Decency Act
Sen. J. James Exon (D) wrote rules making it a crime to send "indecent" material online where minors might see it. Clinton signed it.
It would have made sexual speech between adults online a crime.
The vague words"indecent" and "patently offensive." The Supreme Court struck them down in 1997 because they were too vague.
The other side of the recordSection 230 of the same law, by Ron Wyden (D) and Chris Cox (R), protects online communities to this day.
-
1996winSupreme Court
Romer v. Evans
The Court struck down Colorado's Amendment 2. Justice Anthony Kennedy (Reagan appointee) wrote the opinion.
-
1997winSupreme Court
Reno v. ACLU
The Court struck down the CDA's "indecent" and "patently offensive" rules, written by Justice John Paul Stevens.
It established that the internet gets full First Amendment protection, the legal basis for every queer and kink community online.
-
1998lossRepublican
The Child Online Protection Act
Rep. Michael Oxley and Sen. Dan Coats wrote COPA to criminalize "harmful to minors" material on commercial sites.
Courts blocked it for ten years and it never took effect, but it became the blueprint for today's age-verification laws.
The vague words"harmful to minors," judged by "community standards," applied to the whole internet.
The other side of the recordBill Clinton (D) signed it.
-
1998lossRepublican
"Like alcoholism"
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott called homosexuality a sin and compared it to alcoholism and kleptomania.
-
2000winDemocrat
Vermont civil unions
Governor Howard Dean signed the first state law creating civil unions.
-
2003winSupreme Court
Lawrence v. Texas
The Court struck down every remaining sodomy law. Justice Kennedy (Reagan appointee) wrote it, joined by Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg and Breyer.
It is the most important legal protection for private consensual adult sex, including kink, in U.S. history.
The other side of the recordTexas, which defended its law, was led by Republicans. Its sodomy law is still on the books.
-
2004–06lossRepublican
The Federal Marriage Amendment
President George W. Bush backed a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. It failed, but 11 states passed their own bans in 2004 alone.
The other side of the recordVice President Dick Cheney (R) said "freedom means freedom for everyone."
-
2005–08lossRepublican
The Obscenity Prosecution Task Force
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales created a DOJ task force. U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan prosecuted Karen Fletcher for a members-only site of written fantasy stories, with no pictures; she pleaded guilty in 2008.
Even text-only fetish fiction could be prosecuted. Kink writers took down archives out of fear.
-
2009–12winDemocrat
Obama's first term
The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act (2009); the HIV travel ban lifted, the Affordable Care Act, hospital visitation rights, the first National HIV/AIDS Strategy and the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (2010); abstinence-only funding cut; DOMA no longer defended (2011); Barack Obama backs marriage (2012).
The other side of the recordThe HIV travel ban was first removed from law by a 2008 bill signed by George W. Bush (R), whose PEPFAR program saved millions. Eight Republicans voted for DADT repeal. Obama opposed marriage equality until 2012.
-
2011winDemocrat
Obscenity task force shut down
Under Attorney General Eric Holder, the DOJ disbanded the Obscenity Prosecution Task Force.
Federal prosecutions of consenting adults' sexual material almost stopped for the rest of the decade.
-
2011–13lossRepublican
House Republicans defend DOMA
Speaker John Boehner hired outside lawyers, at public expense, to defend DOMA after the administration stopped. They lost in Windsor (2013).
The other side of the recordDemocratic leaders Pelosi and Hoyer voted against defending it.
-
2012winDemocrat
First ban on conversion therapy for minors
California Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 1172 by Ted Lieu.
The other side of the recordNew Jersey's 2013 ban was signed by Chris Christie (R).
-
2013–16winDemocrat
Marriage and Obama's second term
Windsor (2013) and Obergefell (2015) brought marriage equality, argued for by the administration. Federal contractor protections (2014), trans student guidance, the Stonewall National Monument and open trans military service (2016) followed.
The other side of the recordBoth marriage opinions were written by Anthony Kennedy (Reagan appointee).
-
2015–16lossRepublican
"Religious freedom" and bathroom laws
Governors Mike Pence (Indiana RFRA, 2015), Pat McCrory (North Carolina HB2, 2016) and Phil Bryant (Mississippi HB 1523, 2016) signed laws letting businesses refuse LGBTQ people or forcing trans people out of bathrooms. The 2016 Republican platform condemned Obergefell.
The vague wordsHB2 enforced "biological sex" as shown on a birth certificate, a rule that ignores trans and intersex people entirely.
The other side of the recordUtah Governor Gary Herbert (R) signed LGBT job and housing protections in 2015.
-
2016lossRepublican
Porn as a "public health crisis"
Utah Governor Gary Herbert signed a resolution declaring pornography a public health crisis, and the 2016 Republican platform adopted the same words.
It treats all sexual imagery, especially kink, as a disease, and became the stated reason for age-verification laws.
The vague words"pornography" is never defined. It is a label that can be stuck on anything sexual.
-
2017winDemocrat
North Carolina's partial HB2 repeal
Governor Roy Cooper signed a repeal deal.
The other side of the recordLGBTQ groups criticized it because it blocked new city protections until December 2020.
-
2017–21lossRepublican
First Trump administration
Donald Trump banned trans military service; his administration withdrew trans student protections, argued it was legal to fire people for being gay or trans, and rolled back ACA protections for trans patients.
Trans and gender-nonconforming people are a big part of kink communities, and each rollback made health care harder to get.
-
2018lossBoth parties
FOSTA-SESTA
Rep. Ann Wagner (R) and Sen. Rob Portman (R) wrote it; Trump signed it. Craigslist closed its Personals within days of the Senate vote.
Kink and queer people lost places to find and screen partners; sex workers lost tools to vet clients. Prosecutors used its new criminal charge once in three years. In 2023 an appeals court upheld it only by reading its key words narrowly. The websites never came back.
The vague words"promote or facilitate the prostitution of another person," plus "reckless disregard." Neither "promote" nor "facilitate" is defined.
The other side of the recordIt passed 97 to 2 in the Senate. Democrats Richard Blumenthal and Kamala Harris backed it. Only Ron Wyden (D) and Rand Paul (R) voted no.
-
2019winRepublican
Ending the HIV Epidemic
Trump launched a plan to cut new HIV infections 90% by 2030, and in 2020 his FDA shortened the blood-donation wait for gay and bi men.
-
2019–21winDemocrat
Equality Act and FOSTA pushback
The House passed the Equality Act in 2019 and 2021. Ro Khanna, Elizabeth Warren, Ron Wyden and Barbara Lee introduced the SAFE SEX Workers Study Act to measure FOSTA's damage.
The other side of the recordNeither has passed the Senate. Eight Republicans voted for the Equality Act in 2019.
-
2020winSupreme Court
Bostock v. Clayton County
The Court ruled that firing someone for being gay or trans is illegal sex discrimination. Justice Neil Gorsuch, Trump's appointee, wrote it.
-
2020lossBoth parties
The EARN IT Act
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D) introduced it and keep reintroducing it.
It pressures platforms to weaken encryption and over-remove adult sexual content.
The vague words"best practices," to be written later by a commission, not by Congress. Platforms could be punished for breaking rules that don't exist yet.
-
2020–nowlossRepublican
The wave of anti-trans state laws
Idaho's first trans sports ban (Gov. Brad Little, 2020), Arkansas's first ban on trans care for minors (2021), Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's order to investigate parents (2022), Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis's "Don't Say Gay" law (2022). The Supreme Court upheld Tennessee's care ban in Skrmetti (2025).
Trans young people lost care their doctors recommended, families moved or were investigated, and teachers were told to stay silent.
The vague wordsFlorida's law bans instruction that is not "age appropriate or developmentally appropriate," without saying what that is. Schools pulled books and Pride displays to be safe.
The other side of the recordRepublican Governors Asa Hutchinson (Arkansas) and Spencer Cox (Utah) vetoed anti-trans bills; both were overridden.
-
2021–24winDemocrat
Biden administration
Joe Biden applied Bostock across government and ended the trans military ban (2021); Rachel Levine became the first Senate-confirmed trans official; "X" passports (2022); the 988 "Press 3" line for LGBTQ+ youth; the Respect for Marriage Act (2022); the end of the blanket gay blood ban (2023); pardons for veterans convicted under the military sodomy law (2024).
The other side of the recordThe Respect for Marriage Act passed with 12 Republican senators. Biden voted for DOMA in 1996, and his party's leaders kept pushing KOSA and EARN IT.
-
2022lossSupreme Court
Thomas targets Lawrence and Obergefell
In Dobbs, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the Court "should reconsider" Lawrence and Obergefell.
Lawrence is what makes private kink legal. Texas and other states still have their old sodomy laws on the books.
-
2022–nowwinDemocrat
Refuge states
California (Gavin Newsom, 2022), Minnesota (Tim Walz, 2023) and other Democratic-led states protect families seeking trans health care from out-of-state subpoenas and extradition.
-
2022–nowlossMostly Republican
Age-verification laws
Louisiana (2022, Rep. Laurie Schlegel), then Utah, Texas and others made adult sites verify every visitor's ID. The Supreme Court upheld Texas's law 6 to 3 in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton (2025). About half the states had such laws at the time of writing (October 2026).
Adults must hand ID or face scans to third parties to see legal kink content. One data breach can out someone. Many sites block whole states.
The vague words"sexual material harmful to minors," on any site where "more than one-third" of the content qualifies, with no clear way to count. A kink education site or fetish forum can't know if it is covered.
The other side of the recordSome passed with Democratic votes. All three dissenting justices were Democratic appointees.
-
2023lossRepublican
Drag and "adult performance" laws
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed laws restricting "adult" performances wherever a minor might see them. Florida's was blocked in court at the time of writing (October 2026).
Pride organizers canceled drag shows and asked leather, pup and fetish contingents not to march.
The vague wordsTennessee: "male or female impersonators who provide entertainment that appeals to a prurient interest." Florida: "lewd conduct" and "the lewd exposure of prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts." Neither defines what is "lewd."
-
2023lossHeritage Foundation
Project 2025
The foreword by Heritage president Kevin Roberts says "Pornography should be outlawed. The people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned."
By calling "transgender ideology" pornography, it would sweep in trans people and anyone who talks about them, plus kink education with explicit content.
The vague words"pornography" is stretched to include "the omnipresent propagation of transgender ideology," and librarians and teachers who "purvey" it would be registered sex offenders.
The other side of the recordProject 2025 is a think-tank plan, not the party platform, and Trump disowned it in 2024. Many of its authors, including Russell Vought, now hold senior posts.
-
2023lossRepublican
Speaker Mike Johnson
On October 25, 2023, House Republicans elected Mike Johnson Speaker, second in line to the presidency. As a lawyer for the Christian legal group Alliance Defense Fund, he wrote a brief in Lawrence v. Texas supporting states' power to criminalize gay sex, and in 2003 warned that decriminalizing it could lead to "drugs, prostitution and counterfeiting." In 2004 he called same-sex marriage a "dark harbinger of chaos."
One of the most powerful Republicans in government has argued that the state should be able to police what consenting adults do in private.
The other side of the recordJohnson said in 2023 that he would not try to overturn existing law on same-sex marriage.
-
2024lossRepublican
The 2024 Republican platform
Pledged to "keep men out of women's sports" and cut funding for schools promoting "radical gender ideology."
The other side of the recordIt dropped the party's long-standing opposition to same-sex marriage.
-
2024–nowlossBoth parties
The Kids Online Safety Act
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R) co-wrote it and said a priority was "protecting minor children from the transgender in this culture." The Senate passed it 91 to 3 in 2024. At the time of writing (october 2026), the House had passed its own package and the Senate was working on a stronger version.
Platforms hide LGBTQ+, kink and sexual-health content because hiding it is cheaper than defending it.
The vague wordsa "duty of care" to "prevent and mitigate" harms like anxiety and depression. Whoever enforces it decides what is "harmful."
The other side of the recordIts lead author is Richard Blumenthal (D). Most Democrats voted yes. Ron Wyden (D) and Rand Paul (R) opposed it.
-
2025lossRepublican
Second Trump administration
Executive orders recognizing only two sexes "at conception" ended "X" passports (the Supreme Court let this stand in Trump v. Orr), banned trans military service again and targeted trans care. Stonewall's website dropped "T" and "Q." NIH cut LGBTQ and HIV research grants, and CDC HIV prevention was targeted for elimination. The 988 "Press 3" line for LGBTQ+ youth ended July 17, 2025. The Navy renamed the USNS Harvey Milk.
Trans, nonbinary and intersex people lost accurate IDs, careers and care; queer youth lost a crisis line; HIV prevention lost funding.
The vague words"sex" defined as fixed "at conception," a definition with no place for intersex people.
-
2025lossRepublican
The Interstate Obscenity Definition Act
Sen. Mike Lee and Rep. Mary Miller introduced a federal obscenity definition that drops "community standards" and "patently offensive." It had not passed at the time of writing (October 2026).
It could make sharing much explicit kink content a federal crime, even between consenting adults.
The vague words"actual or simulated normal or perverted sexual acts" with "the objective intent to arouse." "Perverted" is never defined, and kink is what critics have always called perverted.
-
2025winBoth parties
The TAKE IT DOWN Act
Sen. Ted Cruz (R) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D) wrote it, and Trump signed it, making it a federal crime to publish intimate images without consent, including deepfakes.
It protects kink people from revenge porn and outing.
The other side of the recordDigital-rights groups warn its 48-hour takedown rule can be abused to remove lawful adult content.
-
2025winSupreme Court
Marriage stays
On November 10, 2025, the Court declined Kim Davis's petition to overturn Obergefell.
Nothing matches those filters.
what this record shows
Republican officials have more often led the losses: obscenity crackdowns that named BDSM as the worst content, decades of silence on HIV and sex education, platform laws that erased our meeting places, bans on trans health care, and now age-verification and obscenity bills aimed at adult content itself. Democratic officials have more often led the wins: privacy, anti-discrimination, HIV care, marriage, military service and accurate IDs.
Much of the Republican record comes from a party that promises to keep government out of people's lives, while using religion and morality to put government into the most private part of them. Freedom that stops at the bedroom door isn't small government.
But online-speech laws in particular, the CDA, FOSTA-SESTA, EARN IT and KOSA, have been bipartisan, and some of our biggest wins came from Republican-appointed judges and Republicans who broke with their party. When a lawmaker won't define the words in a bill, it is fair to ask who they plan to use those words against. Read the bill, check the vote, and ask every candidate where they stand.
Most importantly, VOTE. In every election.
sources
Court cases: Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973); Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 U.S. 186 (1986); Romer v. Evans, 517 U.S. 620 (1996); Reno v. ACLU, 521 U.S. 844 (1997); NEA v. Finley, 524 U.S. 569 (1998); Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003); United States v. Windsor, 570 U.S. 744 (2013); Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. 644 (2015); Bostock v. Clayton County, 590 U.S. 644 (2020); Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, 597 U.S. 215 (2022); Woodhull Freedom Foundation v. United States (D.C. Cir. 2023); Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton (2025); United States v. Skrmetti (2025); Trump v. Orr (2025). Read them at supreme.justia.com and oyez.org.
Federal laws and bills: Public Law 90-100 (1967); the Helms amendment in Public Law 100-202 (1987); Ryan White CARE Act, Public Law 101-381 (1990); Communications Decency Act and Defense of Marriage Act (1996); Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Act (2009); DADT Repeal Act (2010); FOSTA-SESTA, Public Law 115-164 (2018); Respect for Marriage Act, Public Law 117-228 (2022); TAKE IT DOWN Act (2025); Interstate Obscenity Definition Act, S. 1671 (2025). Text and votes at congress.gov.
Executive orders: 10450 (1953), 12968 (1995), 13087 (1998), 13672 (2014), 13988 and 14004 (2021), 14075 (2022), 14168, 14183, 14187 and 14201 (2025), at federalregister.gov.
Reports: Report of the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography (1970); Attorney General's Commission on Pornography: Final Report (1986); Surgeon General's Report on AIDS (1986); U.S. GAO, GAO-21-385 (2021) on FOSTA prosecutions; Heritage Foundation, Mandate for Leadership (2023), foreword; Center for Democracy & Technology, "What Woodhull Won't Change"; KFF, HIV programs in the HHS budget.
Religion and politics: Ronald Reagan, First Inaugural Address (January 20, 1981) and remarks at the National Affairs Briefing, Dallas (August 22, 1980); Sen. Barry Goldwater, Senate remarks (September 15, 1981) and "Ban on Gays Is Senseless Attempt to Stall the Inevitable," Washington Post (June 10, 1993); NBC News, report on Speaker Mike Johnson's past LGBTQ statements (October 2023).
Trackers: the ACLU's map of anti-LGBTQ bills and the Movement Advancement Project at lgbtmap.org.
