History is full of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people who have contributed significantly to the world.

We have always been there, whether you care to investigate Ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt, or Native American and Medieval British attitudes towards homosexuality and transgender issues.

However it is only in recent times that we have been able to fully discuss issues of homophobia and transphobia openly and gain some insight into how far we have come as a community while recognising the similarity of our struggles today with those of our LGBT brothers and sisters of yesterday.

It wasn’t until the 20th century that a more enlightened discussion around homosexuality, bisexuality and gender identity aimed to move away from criminalisation and towards a more enlightened understanding of the diversity of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Until the 1960s homosexuality was still largely seen as an illness but in the late 1950s the first serious movements towards legalising homosexuality began. Gender reassignment became more accessible and transexuality was finally recognised as independent from homosexuality. The 1970s saw the gay liberation movement establish the first gay pride events only to have much of this work devastated in the1980s, a decade dominated by AIDS. LGBT issues became linked to the problems of understanding and fighting the HIV virus and negative attitudes towards it.

In the 1990s the LGBT community began to organise itself and take the lead on providing support and services for its own people. Finally in the new millennium, ground breaking legislation caught up meaning that more equal rights became available for more LGBT people around the world. From the equal age of consent to Civil Partnerships, this change is still ongoing. Now in the UK, The Equality Act brings together 40 years of equality legislation to protect LGBT rights and safeguard against against discrimination.

But there is still much more to do. One in five lesbian and gay people have experienced a homophobic hate crime or incident in the last three years and one in two LGB people report feeling isolated. As of 2011 more than 70 countries around the world still have criminal sanctions for homosexuality on their statute books.

The killing in January of David Kato reminds us that there are still people out there who do not wish the LGBT community well.

Here in the UK the recent murder of Ian Baynham, a gay man killed in a homophobic attack whilst on a night out in Trafalgar Square in 2009, and gay teenager Michael Causer who died in 2008 after being brutally assaulted and left for dead in Liverpool, highlights that this issue is still very much happening at home too.

Of course decriminalizing homosexuality is the first step towards establishing genuine equality in law. But real, lasting progress can only be achieved by changing people’s hearts and minds. Homophobia and transphobia are born out of ignorance and like other forms of prejudice, the most effective response is information and education.

Fortunately over the past half century, we have seen a significant shift in public attitudes. But this has only happened through many decades of campaigning by LGBT people and their heterosexual allies.

The second decade of the 21st century is proving to be an interesting time to live; in a climate where on the surface so much has been achieved and the next generation seem more empowered. History tends to have a way of showing us that after many battles have been won, new challenges will arise.

After decades of campaigning for full equality, complacency has set in with many people, as much of the world presumes there is no longer the need for any kind of specialist support services for LGBT people, even though research and the work of LGBT community organisations proves otherwise.

Today many LGBT organisations are being completely undervalued and under invested in. Currently there are fewer than 70 LGB&T registered charities in England and many of these are so overstretched and under resourced that they cannot respond to all of the needs of their service users.

Understanding our history can highlight the widespread prejudice felt by many LGBT people but history also gives us hope as to how we can make progress for the future.

Our journey has only just begun.

Andrew Gilliver is Communications Manager for The Lesbian & Gay Foundation (LGF)  a vibrant charity with a wide portfolio of well-established services and a rapidly developing range of new initiatives aimed at meeting the needs of lesbian, gay and bisexual people.www.lgf.org.uk