History of Pride
Each June, streets around the world come alive with rainbow flags, parties, parades, and messages of love, visibility, and resistance. Pride Month, celebrated in honor of the queer/LGBTQ+ community, is not just a celebration—it is a commemoration of a long, complex, and ongoing fight for equality. To understand Pride, we must look back at its roots, the movements that shaped it, and the milestones that have defined queer history.
STONEWALL
On the night of June 28, 1969, a police raid on the Stonewall Inn—a gay bar in New York City’s Greenwich Village—resulted in protests and riots. For years queer individuals faced (and continue to face) harassment, criminalization, and marginalization. During the Stonewall protests trans women of color like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, individuals fought back and risked everything in doing so.
The Stonewall Inn
The Stonewall riots continued for several days and served as a catalyst for LGBTQ+ activism. As a result, several queer rights organizations had formed.
REMINDER DAY PICKETS
Pride traditions were adapted from the "Reminder Day Pickets" held annually (1965-1969) on July 4 at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
After Stonewall, the organizers of the Annual Reminder Day Picket (Eastern Regional Conference of Homophile Organizations) shifted focus from planning the Reminder Day Picket to organizing an annual demonstration in commemoration of Stonewall.
The Christopher Street Liberation Day Umbrella Committee was formed. The committee developed a massive march at the culmination of a Gay Pride Week (June 22-28).
PRIDE MARCHES
On June 28, 1970, the first Pride marches took place in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago to mark the anniversary of Stonewall.
"...And each of these 5,000 homosexuals had a new feeling of pride and self-confidence, for that was one of the main purposes of the event-to commemorate, to demonstrate, but also to raise the consciences of participating homosexuals-to develop courage, and feelings of dignity and self-worth." -May 1971
Pride parades
Since then, cities around the country and world have been celebrating pride through marches, but we cannot forget the roots of pride. Pride was a riot after police brutality, hate, and lack of safety was persistent and acceptable to many.
At a time in this country when we are continuing to be erased by an administration that does not care about our safety, we will continue to fight.
