Infant mortality was also 1.5x higher in the US than it is today. (Depending on who we mean by "we", this difference can be much larger.) Cystic fibrosis was a death sentence. "Late 90's" barely includes the development of effective AIDS treatment, though certainly not the rollout. (Maybe part of what you were getting at above, besides gay marriage.) Etc etc.
There was also rampant bullying of millions who weren't white, rich, straight, a celebrity, and/or neurotypical in 80's-90's America. That was also the era when Epstein, Trump, and pals allegedly raped "models" (12-17-yo's) with impunity. Similarly, society enabled Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, Jimmy Savile, and ...