Overview
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During the 2010s, acceptance of LGBT people slowly increased in many parts of the world.[1][2] Same-sex marriage rights was a topic of ongoing debate in many nations, while over eighteen nations legalized same-sex marriage.[3][4]
In June 2011, the United Nations Human Rights Council passed the UN's first-ever motion condemning discrimination against gays, lesbians, and bisexuals, commissioning a report on the issue.[5] During an ABC News interview in 2012, Barack Obama expressed his support for gay marriage, becoming the first US president to do so.[6] Although many nations allowed gays and bisexuals to serve in their militaries, a major milestone came in September 2011 when the US abolished its "Don't ask, don't tell" policy.[7][8]
In 2015, Ireland became the first nation to legalize same-sex marriage via a referendum.[9] In 2017, Leo Varadkar became Ireland's first openly gay Taoiseach,[10] joining the ranks of other nation's first openly gay and lesbian heads of state in the 2010s.
In April 2015, former Olympic athlete Caitlyn Jenner came out as a transgender woman, and was subsequently called the most famous openly transgender person in the world.[11] On June 26 of the same year, same-sex marriage was legalized in all 50 states of the U.S. as the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in a 5–4 vote that refusing to grant marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, which guarantees citizens the rights to due process and equal protection. Organizations such as the Boy Scouts of America,[12] Girl Scouts of the USA,[13] and the Episcopal Church[14] announced acceptance of transgender people in the 2010s.
However, LGBT rights supporters faced obstacles with the implementation of laws curbing expression of homosexuality in Russia and China,[15][16][17] as well as in the United States, with the Trump administration's decisions to reinstate the ban on transgender people serving in the military, as well as the repeal of protections for transgender students.[18][19]
