Seventy years ago, homosexuality was considered a psychiatric illness in America.

If you acted on your impulses, you could have been sent to a hospital or jailed for "lewd conduct."

"I had two friends, Steve and Sal, they were lovers, they lived together, they were in a bar.

And Sal was sitting in a chair and Steve was standing over him, and they were talking and talking to a couple of other people, and they were drinking.

It was a beer bar in those days in California, in Silver Lake, and they were drinking.

And he had looked away and talked to somebody, and his glass tipped, and it spilled a little onto Sal, and he went like this, he brushed his chest off, Sal's chest.

And there were two vice officers in there, and they arrested them for lewd conduct."

On New Year's Eve in 1967, just at the stroke of midnight, policemen burst into the Black Cat gay bar and arrested 14 people who were celebrating with a kiss.

In response, hundreds of gays and supporters took to the streets in what is thought to be the first mass gay rights demonstration.

Alexie was one of its organizers.

"I was sick and tired of being sick and tired, and we had to do something to change the status quo."

Over the last 15 years some states have legalized same-sex marriage.

Alexei and his partner David made their relationship legal in 2008, they say that marriage was necessary for them to protect each other legally.

"We found that out once when I was in a hospital, I nearly died from a ruptured aneurysm.

I was taken to the hospital by ambulance, Alexei followed and he was denied admission to me in the emergency room because he wasn't my spouse. "

In June of 2015, same-sex marriage became legal in the whole country.

But there are still no laws prohibiting discrimination against sexual minorities.

"In the majority of the States of the U.S., it is legal to fire me or to deny me housing because I am gay."

Over the weekend, gay activists went to the street not just to celebrate gay pride but also to call for civil rights for all, gays, women and immigrants.

And in the lane, the grand marshal of the parade was Alexie.

He and the marches across the country hope that message will be heard loud and clear.