September 10: One Day in History Shows Us Just How Complicated Progress Can Be
🏳️🌈 THIS DAY IN LGBTQ+ HISTORY
September 10:
LGBTQ+ history is complicated. Sometimes we win. Sometimes we lose. Sometimes the same government that gives our community protection in one area turns around and denies equality somewhere else. September 10 is one of those dates that reminds us that progress has never traveled in a perfectly straight line. Across different decades and different parts of the world, September 10 has been connected to employment protections, transgender recognition, marriage discrimination and the continuing fight to simply be treated equally.
On September 10, 1973, Seattle took an important step when its City Council passed an ordinance prohibiting employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. The measure passed by an 8–1 vote and represented the first time sexual orientation entered Seattle's legal record in this way. That might not sound revolutionary today, but imagine being gay or lesbian in the early 1970s and knowing that simply being discovered could threaten your livelihood. There were no nationwide LGBTQ+ workplace protections waiting to save you. Coming out could mean risking the career you had spent years building. Seattle's action represented something bigger than a city ordinance. It said that your ability to earn a living shouldn't depend on whom you love.
Seven years later, on September 10, 1980, another major moment occurred when West Germany enacted its Transsexuals Act, known as the Transsexuellengesetz. The law created a legal process through which transgender people could obtain recognition of their gender. On the surface, that sounds like progress, and in its historical context, legal recognition was significant. But there was a major problem: the system came with harsh requirements. For full legal recognition, transgender people could be required to undergo surgery, be permanently incapable of reproduction and, if married, divorce. In other words, the government was acknowledging transgender identity while still demanding control over transgender people's bodies and personal lives.
That is an important lesson when we talk about LGBTQ+ history. Recognition isn't always liberation. A government can acknowledge your existence while still creating rules about how you must exist. Transgender people shouldn't have to surrender fertility, relationships, bodily autonomy or dignity simply to have identification that accurately reflects who they are. Over time, Germany's Constitutional Court struck down several of those restrictive requirements, demonstrating again that an LGBTQ+ victory can be an important beginning without being the finished product.
Then came September 10, 1996, and America gave us one of the clearest examples of how progress and discrimination can exist side by side. That day, the United States Senate passed the Defense of Marriage Act, commonly known as DOMA, by an overwhelming 85–14 vote. The legislation defined marriage for federal purposes as between one man and one woman and allowed states to refuse recognition of same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. President Bill Clinton signed DOMA into law later that month.
But something else happened in the Senate that same day. Senators considered legislation prohibiting private-sector employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. It failed by just one vote, 49–50. Think about that for a moment. On the same day, lawmakers moved overwhelmingly to restrict recognition of same-sex marriage while a proposal designed to protect gay and lesbian Americans from employment discrimination came within a single vote of passing.
That is LGBTQ+ history in real life. It is rarely as simple as saying America suddenly became more accepting. People were fighting on multiple fronts at the same time. One city might protect you while another jurisdiction could discriminate against you. You might be welcomed into your workplace but unable to legally marry your partner. You might receive legal recognition as transgender but only after the government demanded deeply personal medical changes. Progress came with conditions, exceptions, setbacks and contradictions.
DOMA wouldn't have the final word. In 2013, the Supreme Court's United States v. Windsor decision struck down DOMA's federal definition of marriage as unconstitutional. Two years later, Obergefell v. Hodges established a constitutional right to same-sex marriage nationwide. Employment protections would take even longer to reach the federal level through the courts. The fight that came within one Senate vote in 1996 reminds us that many protections people experience today were political battles for decades.
September 10 therefore isn't simply about celebrating victories or remembering losses. It is about understanding the process. Seattle's 1973 ordinance tells us local government can move before the rest of the country. Germany's 1980 transgender law reminds us that something called “progress” can still contain discrimination. The 1996 Senate votes remind us that rights can advance and retreat in the same political moment.
And that matters today because history should keep us from becoming too comfortable.
Rights aren't magic.
Laws don't change themselves.
Politicians don't suddenly wake up and decide everybody deserves equality.
People organize. People vote. People protest. People sue. People tell their stories.
Organizations advocate. Communities build political power. And sometimes generations have to keep pushing until an idea once considered radical becomes something future generations can't imagine living without.
Before workplace equality became expected, WE FOUGHT TO KEEP OUR JOBS. Before transgender recognition became part of the national conversation, TRANS PEOPLE FOUGHT TO HAVE THEIR IDENTITIES RECOGNIZED. Before marriage equality became the law of the land, SAME-SEX COUPLES LOVED EACH OTHER EVEN WHEN THE GOVERNMENT REFUSED TO CALL THEM FAMILY.
September 10 reminds us that progress doesn't always arrive looking perfect.
Sometimes it's a city ordinance.
Sometimes it's an imperfect law that has to be challenged again.
Sometimes it's losing by one vote.
Sometimes it's watching discriminatory legislation pass and deciding the fight still isn't over.
And sometimes history is simply one generation handing the unfinished work to the next and saying:
Keep going.
🏳️🌈 Know the history. Respect the struggle. Question the progress. Protect the rights. Keep building the future.
I AM ME INC.
This Day in LGBTQ+ History is presented by I Am Me Inc. as part of our commitment to informing, empowering, connecting and celebrating LGBTQ+ people and our Allies.
🌐 Visit www.iammecorp.org
▶️ Follow and subscribe on YouTube @iammeinc234 for LGBTQ+ history, conversations, community stories, resources, events and original content.
Our History. Our Voices. Our Legacy.
Comments