At the time, the gay rights movement was understandably focused on combating private violence and public discrimination.

CNN: How the right helped launch same-sex marriage movement

Such events, which pursue political rather than strictly electoral goals, are worth millions in publicity to the gay rights movement.

CNN: Can Obama use Hollywood's soft power?

In it, he describes how the various large successes of the gay rights movement stemmed from a single small victory.

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As Linda Hirshman illustrated in "Victory: The Triumphant Gay Revolution, " the gay rights movement has changed attitudes toward same-sex couples by applying these movement-building principles.

CNN: Why women must seize this moment

Gay rights activists said the approval of the bill was a key victory for them, in what is seen as the birthplace of the US gay rights movement.

BBC: New York state approves gay marriage

The gay rights movement crystallized in the Village in June 1969, when a police raid at the Stonewall Inn touched off a riot and demonstrations that came to symbolize gays' resistance to being relegated to society's shadows.

WSJ: Thousands march in NY to protest gay man's killing

The new pope may not halt the region's recent shift toward more liberal social issues, illustrated by the recent legalization of abortions in Mexico City and the strong gay rights movement in countries such as Argentina, said Julia Young, a professor of Latin American history at the Catholic University in Washington, D.

WSJ: In Latin America, Catholics See a Lift

With wide attention to this victory, gay rights organizations were able to catalyze the movement into more and bigger successes.

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