Thirty years ago. in 1976. the notion of organized activity to combat discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity was an extremely controversial one. Nowhere in America did lesbian. gay or bisexual people have any legal protections against being dismissed or otherwise disadvantaged in the job market. Eleven years before that. when Congress passed what was generally considered to be a liberalization of U.S. immigration law. that law included on the recommendation of Democratic Presidents and adopted without dissent in a Democratic Congress a tightening on the prohibition against gay or lesbian people even being tourists in the United States. Here in the Congress. no serious effort was underway to deal with the severe legal and other handicaps that were imposed on our fellow gay. lesbian. bisexual and transgender citizens. But the stirrings of change were apparent for those who look closely.
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immigration