In the 1970s many gay people moved to cities such as San Francisco . Harvey Milk , a gay man , was elected to the city 's Board of Supervisors , a legislative chamber often known as a city council in other municipalities . Milk was assassinated in 1978 along with the city 's mayor , George Moscone . The White Night Riot on May 21 , 1979 was a reaction to the manslaughter conviction and sentence given to the assassin , Dan White , which were thought to be too lenient . Milk played an important role in the gay migration and in the gay rights movement in general . The first national gay rights march in the United States took place on October 14 , 1979 in Washington , D.C. , involving perhaps as many as 100,000 people . Historian William A. Percy considers that a third epoch of the gay rights movement began in the early 1980s , when AIDS received the highest priority and decimated its leaders , and lasted until 1998 , when advanced antiretroviral therapy greatly extended the life expectancy of those with AIDS in developed countries . It was during this era that direct action groups such as ACT UP were formed
assassinated
Moscone–Milk assassinations
LGBT history in the United States