2000 in LGBT rights

January

 * 12 January - the ban on lesbians and gay men serving in the United Kingdom armed forces is lifted.

March

 * March 7 - Same-sex marriage in the United States: California voters approve Proposition 22, a preemptive proposition stating that California will not recognize same-sex marriages, even if the marriages took place in states that permitted them.

June

 * 21 June - The Scottish Parliament repeals Section 28, the law that banned local authorities from "promoting homosexuality". It is the first part of the United Kingdom to do so.

July

 * July 1 - Vermont civil unions law goes into effect, granting most state-level marriage rights to registered same-sex couples.

December

 * The age of consent in the United Kingdom is equalised at 16 in all cases (previously it had been 18 for sex between males and 16 for sex between males and females). The equalisation took place after a long struggle, in which the Labour Party eventually invoked the Parliament Act due to repeated House of Lords opposition. See Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000.