Pride 2023! Respect LGBTQ history, activism and power

Posted by PSEDEN

2025-03-15

On 2025-03-15

June is the Pride Month! As a master’s degree intern at a Plymouth based sex therapy practice based in Minnesota, I think it is crucial to place LGBTQ rights in my personal and professional life. The core of my sexual therapy practice is the belief that all people deserve physical autonomy and the ability to express their sexual behavior in a safe, respectful and affirmative environment. I think that everyone must advocate LGBTQ liberation because everyone should have a free body. In the words of great civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer, “No one is free until everyone is free.”
A good starting point is to learn more about the history of the gay rights movement and Pride Month. Read on to learn about the Stone Wall Riot, why pride is crucial, where we are today and how to celebrate.

pride! A brief history.

Pride Month is a commemoration of the stone wall riot that occurred in June 1969. The Stonewall Inn is a gay bar in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, where LGBTQ individuals can express themselves and socialize without having to worry about public stigma. Stonewall Inn becomes a New York institution that welcomes Queens, homeless gay youth and the LGBTQ community. But at the time, engaged in “homosexual behaviors”, such as kissing, holding hands or dancing with people of the same sex. Therefore, police often harasse and raid gay bars. June 28ThIn 1969, Stonewall was attacked by police, who arrested the customer and brought him into a police car. Customers and onlookers increasingly frustrated by this police violence and began fighting back, starting a six-day protest and eventually forcing the police to retreat. The following year, on the anniversary of the Stone Wall Riot, activists hoped to build on this spirit of resistance and organized the first ever Pride parade. The theme, “Honey Pride,” was chosen as the opposite of shame that was so common in the gay community at that time.

Three reasons why pride is important:

LGBTQ rights under attack – We have come a long way to promote the rights of LGBTQ people since Stonewall Riots, but in the United States, anti-LGBTQ legislation remains rampant. ACLU is currently tracking 471 anti-LGBTQ bills in the United States, such as prohibiting gender care for youth, reviewing internal school discussions about LGBTQ people and history, and prohibiting transgender people from public places such as bathrooms and locker rooms. The fight for LGBTQ rights is far from over, and Pride offers us the opportunity to fight together.
Pride events are empowering – Pride incidents may be a way to authorize LGBTQ people to reclaim their often denied rights and enter public spaces that are often forbidden. Pride can also create a sense of community and belong to those who often relegate to isolation and private life.
We must respect those who are in front of us – Pride is an opportunity to come together and respect the work of visionary people and activists who risk their lives to fight for LGBTQ rights. It is particularly important that we pay attention to the work of color activists, such as Marsha P. Johnson, Marsha P. Johnson, Marsha P.

Proud commercialization

It is also important to recognize the way companies make pride and profits from “rainbow wash”. Rainbow Hand Washing is an act of gay pride advertising through rainbow color to demonstrate solidarity with the LGBTQ community without providing pragmatic support to that community. People have been worried that pride has given up the roots of protests and revolutions and become a political party. While it is important for people with LGBTQ to feel safe and comfortable expressing themselves, wearing rainbow colors, and spending time together, pride is more than that. Pride is about creating fundamental change in our society. I encourage each of you to think about the way you celebrate your pride, especially those who identify with LGBTQ allies. Are you making financial contributions to organizations that are actively fighting for LGBTQ rights and well-being? Are you working as an activist, especially LGBTQ people of color? Or are you doing acting ally by buying rainbow merchandise from companies that aren’t at the forefront of their business?