Every June in the United States (and other places around the world), lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities join forces to Pride Montha month of celebrating self-affirmation, love, diversity, dignity, equality, acceptance and increased visibility for these communities. Oh, and let’s not forget the unapologetic pride that comes with being true to yourself. That’s at the heart of Pride Month.
Pride Month is a giant jubilee of large gatherings, exuberant parades, festivities with elaborate costumes, face painting and glitter, parties, workshops, concerts and countless other events. Commemorations and memorials are held for members of the community who have lost their lives to hate crimes and HIV/AIDS. Campaigns and rallies promote the history and current narratives of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities. The month of events culminates on June 28, which is officially Pride Day, although different communities celebrate it on different dates throughout the month of June.
It’s worth noting that while today’s Pride calendars tend to count politically-motivated protests among their other, more celebratory events, the events that originally gave rise to Pride were entirely political in nature.
The Origins of Pride
Pride Day officially falls on June 28, as that’s the date the first Pride march took place in New York City in 1970, exactly one year ago. After On June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay club in Greenwich Village. Although brutal police raids on gay hangouts were the norm at the time, and homosexual acts were actually illegal in almost every state, that night, when police began the raid by beating people and trying to extort money, members of the LGBTQ community decided enough was enough and they were going to fight back. The result was an uprising that would kick off a new era of resistance: six days of protests and violent clashes with police outside the bar, on the surrounding streets, and in nearby Christopher Park. The Stonewall Riots served as a catalyst for the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world.
Among the many leaders of the riots that occurred during the week were: Marsha P. Johnsona Black, transgender, bisexual woman who helped found one of the country’s first safe spaces for transgender and homeless youth, and who has been a tireless advocate for the rights of sex workers, prisoners, and people living with HIV/AIDS. “We were flipping cars and screaming in the middle of the street because we were so upset that they had closed this place down,” Johnson said. said Historian Eric Marcus in a 1989 interview: “We were simply saying, ‘No more police brutality,’ and ‘We’ve had enough of police harassment in the Village and elsewhere.'”
The protesters were very clear in their demands: one of them was the creation of places where LGBTQ people could go and openly express their sexual orientation without risking arrest.
The existence of Pride Day as we know it is generally attributed to a bisexual activist. Brenda HowardNicknamed “The Mother of Pride” because she helped plan Gay Pride Week and the Christopher Street Liberation Day Parade the year after the riots. The parade became New York City’s annual Pride March and served as a catalyst for similar parades and marches across the country and around the world that are still held today. While the inaugural Pride March drew a crowd of approximately 3,000 to 5,000 people, the 2019 New York Pride Parade is estimated to have drawn over 2 million people.
For all the power that Stonewall represents for LGBTQ communities to this day, Library of Congress points out that “historians have noted that the shift in activism, if Stonewall truly represented one, was primarily among white cisgender people, as people of color and gender nonconforming people never really had the benefit of hiding their marginalized identities.” A good reminder that, as always, making a decision intersectional Approach is essential to supporting any struggle, whether you personally identify with it or not.
The Rainbow Flag
Often presented as a symbol uniting LGBTQ+ communities, the rainbow flag– a true staple among Pride marchers – was popularized by San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker in 1978. It was actually gay politician Harvey Milk who asked Baker, a friend of his, to design a global symbol to take to the San Francisco Pride march that year. Unfortunately, although he was able to participate in the march, Milk was unable to make it to the march. assassinated later that year by a disgruntled former city supervisor.
While the flag’s different colors are generally associated with diversity, each also has its own specific (and literal) meaning. Before its retirement, hot pink represented sex; red symbolized life; orange represented healing; yellow represented sunlight; green evoked nature; turquoise honored magic and art; indigo (now royal blue) signified serenity; and purple denoted spirit. Today, there are also several other flags commonly displayed in the LGBTQ+ community, including the transgender flag and the pansexual flag.
June is here, and as always, the world has never needed a meaningful celebration of diversity more than right now. Pride provides the perfect opportunity to honor our differences and come together in a colorful way for the greater good.
Wishing everyone a safe and happy Pride Month!