Gay and Lesbian advocates and defenders (GLAD) are an American gay and lesbian civil rights group that was founded in response to a sting operation carried out by Boston police surrounding the Boston public library. Police targeted gay patrons and had arrested over 100 people by the end of their 2 weeks of entrapment. Since then the organisation has campaigned for changes in the law to end discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity/expression and HIV status. At present only 6 out of the 50 states in America perform same sex marriages, with a few more legally recognising them, demonstrating the scale of the discrimination a large number of Americans experience due to their sexuality. GLAD believes that the way to tackle this discrimination is to go through the legal routes, of which they have experienced a fair amount of success, just recently achieving a victory regarding marriage equality in Maine.

http://www.glad.org/

The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) were a grassroots civil rights group that started in 1909 in response to the awful treatment and discrimination experienced by the blacks in America. The organisations principal objective is to ensure the political, educational, social and economic equality of minority group citizens of United States and eliminate race prejudice. Membership grew rapidly over the years, with it at an all time high during Americas civil rights era of the 50's and 60's. The NAACP believed in using non violent action to achieve their means, primarily fighting racism through the law courts but also on the streets in the form of marches and demonstrations. Even after desegregation the group continued to campaign and still does so today, although now it focuses on disparities in economics, health care, education, voter empowerment and the criminal justice system as well as civil rights.

http://www.naacp.org/about/history/