This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the 1960s.
Events during this period
1960
January 20 – The United States Court of Federal Claims overturns the Other Than Honorable discharge issued by the United States Air Force to Fannie Mae Clackum for her alleged homosexuality. This is the first known instance of a homosexuality-related discharge being successfully fought, although the case turned on due process issues and did not affect the military's policy of excluding homosexuals from service. This was an amazing relief to those who were homosexual. June – The National Assembly of France passes the Mirguet Amendment, which declares homosexuality, along with alcoholism and prostitution, a "social scourge" and urges the government to take action against it.
1961
March 20 – The United States Supreme Court denies certiorari to Frank Kameny's petition to review the legality of his firing by the United States Army's Map Service in 1957, bringing his four-year legal battle to a close. July 28- Illinois Governor Otto Kerner (D) signs Laws of Illinois 1961, a set of revisions to the state's legal code which include repeal of Illinois' sodomy law. September 11 – KQED in San Francisco broadcasts The Rejected, the first made-for-television documentary about homosexuality on American television. November 7 – José Sarria, the first known openly gay candidate for political office in the world, shocks political observers by garnering nearly 6,000 votes in his bid for a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. This feat marked the beginning of the notion that gays could represent a powerful voting bloc. November 15 — After three months of preliminary meetings, Frank Kameny and Jack Nichols formally found the Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C.
1962
After a "gayola" scandal in which police officers demanded payoffs from gay bar owners, officer Elliott Blackstone is designated by San Francisco Police Department as the department's first liaison officer to the "homophile community", a position which is today replicated in various police departments as an LGBT liaison officer and an early example of community policing. The first LGBTQ business association, the Tavern Guild, is formed by gay bar owners in San Francisco. January 1 – Illinois' new criminal code goes into effect, making it the first state in the United States to strike down sodomy laws. June 25 – The United States Supreme Court rules in MANual Enterprises v. Day that photographs of nude or semi-nude men designed to appeal to homosexuals are not obscene and may be sent through the mail.
1963
January – East Coast Homophile Organizations (ECHO) is established in Philadelphia; initial members include the regional chapters of Daughters of Bilitis, Janus Society, and Mattachine Society. October 30 – Following a 15-year campaign to close it down, the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control revokes the liquor license of the Black Cat Bar, a focus of early gay activism in the San Francisco Bay Area.
1964
February – The Black Cat Bar, having struggled for several months to survive without liquor sales, closes permanently. April 25 – The Fun Lounge police raid near Chicago resulted in 109 arrests and led to the creation of Mattachine Midwest, a gay rights organization modeled after the Mattachine Society. September 19 – A small group pickets the Whitehall Street Induction Center in New York City after the confidentiality of gay men's draft records was violated. This action has been identified as the first gay rights demonstration in the United States. December 2 – Four gay men and lesbians picket a New York City lecture by a psychoanalyst espousing the model of homosexuality as a mental illness. The demonstrators are given ten minutes to make a rebuttal.