This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the year 1986.

• In New Zealand, the Homosexual Law Reform Act equalizes the age of consent for homosexual acts to 16, the legal age for heterosexual acts. The law was signed by the governor-general July 11, and came into effect August 8.^[1]
• Davis, California, prohibits employment discrimination based on sexual orientation in the private sector.
• Sacramento, California, prohibits employment discrimination based on sexual orientation in the private sector.

• 20 — New York City passes its first anti-discrimination bill.^[2]

• 30 — The Supreme Court of the United States upholds the constitutionality of the Georgia state sodomy law in Bowers v. Hardwick.^[3]

• 7 — The United States Supreme Court denies certiorari in the case of Baker v. Wade, a constitutional challenge to the sodomy law of Texas.^[4]

• 22 — In the battle against AIDS, Surgeon General of the United States C. Everett Koop, publishes the first government publications for the public on gay safer sex practices.^[5]

• 11 — Austin, Texas, passes an ordinance that prohibits discrimination against people with HIV or AIDS.

• December 28 — Terry Dolan, U.S. activist against gay rights and closeted gay man, dies at 36 from an AIDS-related illness.

• Timeline of LGBT history — timeline of events from 12,000 BCE to present
• LGBT rights by country or territory — current legal status around the world
• LGBT social movements

• Murdoch, Joyce and Deb Price (2001). Courting Justice: Gay Men and Lesbians v. the Supreme Court. New York, Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group. ISBN 0-465-01513-1.