Britain's first gay wedding takes place when it becomes legal at midnight tonight, at Islington Town Hall, north London.
Peter McGraith and David Cabreza, who have been together for 17 years, will tie the knot in an emotional ceremony which will be attended by hundreds of friends and supporters.
The witness will be gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, who has spent many years fighting for same-sex couples to have the opportunity to wed.
He points out that there has only actually been a ban for 43 years since the 1971 Marriage Act, as the previous act in 1949 did not actually require partners to be male and female.
Previously, there was no legal prohibition on lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans-gender (LGBT) couples getting married.
Tonight’s ceremony will be a major landmark event in a gay rights battle that has been waged for centuries, as this timeline shows...
385 BC
Plato publishes the Symposium in which Phaedrus, Eryixmachus, Aristophanes and other Greek intellectuals argue that love between males is the highest form.
54 AD
Nero becomes Emperor of Rome. Nero married two men, Pythagoras and Sporus, in legal ceremonies, with Sporus accorded the regalia worn by the wives of the Caesars.
342 AD
The first law against same-sex marriage is passed by the Christian Roman emperors Constantine II and Constans.
1260
In France, gay men are brutally punished if caught having sex. If caught a third time, they are burned to death. Women caught in same-sex acts could be executed as well
1451
Pope Nicholas V enables the Papal Inquisition to persecute gay men.
1836
The last known execution for homosexuality in Great Britain. James Pratt and John Smith are hanged at Newgate prison, London after being caught together in private lodgings.
1861
The Offences against the Person Act 1861 is amended to remove the death sentence for “buggery” . The penalty became imprisonment from 10 years to life.
1886
The Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885, outlawing sexual relations between men (but not between women) is given Royal Assent by Queen Victoria.
1895
The trial of Oscar Wilde results in his being prosecuted under the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 for “gross indecency” and sentenced to two years hard labour in prison.
1910
In the United States, Emma Goldman speaks in favour of homosexual rights. She is later described as “the first and only American, to take up the defence of homosexual love before the general public.”
1926
The New York Times is the first major publication to use the word “homosexuality”.
1933
When the Nazis take power in Germany they round up homosexuals and send them to the concentration camps along with Jews. Gay men have to wear a pink triangle on their camp clothes.
1942
Switzerland decriminalizes homosexuality, with the age of consent set at 20.
1954
Mathematical and computer genius Alan Turing, one of the World War Two code-breakers, commits suicide by cyanide poisoning, 18 months after being given a choice between two years in prison or libido-reducing hormone treatment for a year as a punishment for homosexuality.
1959
ITV broadcasts the first gay drama, South, starring Peter Wyngarde.
1964
The first photograph of lesbians on the cover of magazine The Ladder is published, showing two women from the back, on a beach looking out to sea.
1969
The Stonewall riots take place following a police raid at the Stonewall Inn gay bar in Greenwich Village, New York.
These spontaneous and violent demonstrations by members of the gay community lead to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for gay and lesbian rights in the US.
1971
The Gay Liberation Front (GLF) is recognised as a political movement in Britain.
1974
Kathy Kozachenko becomes the first openly gay American elected to public office.
1978
Openly gay San Francisco politician Harvey Milk is assassinated by former Supervisor Dan White, who has harboured a long standing grudge because of his campaigning work.
1981
Tennis player Billie Jean King becomes the first prominent professional athlete to come out as a lesbian.
1988
The anti-gay Section 28 is passed in England and Wales while Margaret Thatcher is in power. The amendment states that a local authority “shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality”. It is later repealed when Labour reclaim 10 Downing Street.
1994
Britain reduces the age of consent for homosexual men to 18.
2000
Britain lifts the ban on openly gay people in the armed forces.
2005
Civil partnership laws are passed and come into effect in Britain. The first ceremonies take place across the country. Elton John and partner David Furnish are among those who take the step of legally formalising their relationship.
2009
Carol Ann Duffy is chosen as the first openly lesbian or gay Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom.
2013
Same-sex marriage laws are passed in Britain.
March 29 2014
Gay marriage laws finally come into effect in Britain.
Thousands of ceremonies are planned across the country from one minute past midnight onwards.
