Pride marches grew into parades and festivals in cities and towns across the U.S. (Screenshots from docufilm “Gay and Proud” from the Library of Congress) Marches also took place in Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles that year. A short documentary film titled “Gay and Proud” by activist Lilli Vincenz, which can be viewed on the Library of Congress website, shows that first march in New York City on June 28, 1970. The first Pride March happened one year later, honoring those who stood up against oppression and celebrating the start of the modern-day LGBTQ rights movement. By the final day, thousands of people had taken to the streets to protest. The rebellion lasted for several days and expanded into nearby Christopher Park and neighboring streets. Johnson, the crowd began throwing objects at the cops forcing them to barricade themselves in Stonewall. The crowd chanted “Gay Power!” and “We Want Freedom!” The chants eventually turned to resistance and, led by transgender activist Marsha P. When the police raided Stonewall, they began arresting employees and patrons as a crowd gathered outside of the bar. Such oppression led many queer people to mask their true identities in public and encouraged them to flock to private spaces like Stonewall.” Bars that disobeyed these laws were frequently raided by police who unjustly harassed, assaulted, and arrested queer customers. New York also outlawed the sale of alcohol to gay people. “Laws allowed LGBTQ+ people to be evicted from their homes, fired from jobs, imprisoned, and confined to mental institutions. “Places like the Stonewall Inn were safe havens from anti-LGBTQ+ policies enforced across America,” wrote Jessie Kravitz, a historian of the National Archives, in 2019. undercover officers with the NYPD raided The Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York’s Greenwich Village. The Stonewall Uprising started on June 28, 1969, when at approximately 1:15 a.m. Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.Each June, members of the community march in parades, hold celebrations and honor the early pioneers of the modern-day LGBTQ rights movement.ĭifferent from LGBTQ History Month, which has been recognized in October since 1994 when a coalition of education-based organizations in the United States designated it so and the General Assembly of the National Education Association included it within a list of commemorative months the following year, LGBTQ Pride Month celebrates a particular moment in our history - the 1969 Stonewall Uprising. Window.FB.Event.subscribe('xfbml.render', function() (document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')) The New York Pride Parade is one of the largest and most well-known parades to take place, with over 2 million people estimated to have taken part in 2019. In May 2019, Donald Trump recognized Pride Month with a tweet announcing that his administration had launched a global campaign to decriminalize homosexuality, although critics have noted that actions speak louder than words. Then, from 2009 to 2016, Barack Obama declared June LGBT Pride Month. President to officially recognize Pride Month in 19.
Sadly, Harvey Milk was assassinated along with Mayor George Moscone on November 23, 1978, in San Francisco City Hall by Dan White, a disgruntled former supervisor who was angry at Milk for lobbying against having him reappointed on the Board of Supervisors.īill Clinton was the first U.S. Speaking of the rainbow flag, it was actually gay politician Harvey Milk who asked a talented designer friend, Gilbert Baker, to design an all-encompassing symbol to take to San Francisco’s Pride March in 1978. This eventually morphed into what we now know as the New York City Pride March and was the catalyst for the formation of similar parades and marches across the world. Known as ‘The Mother of Pride,’ Brenda organized Gay Pride Week and the Christopher Street Liberation Day Parade a year after the Stonewall Riots. Pride Month is largely credited as being started by bisexual activist Brenda Howard. The message was clear - protestors demanded the establishment of places where LGBT+ people could go and be open about their sexual orientation without fear of arrest. Johnson, leading the movement to continue over six days with protests and clashes. Among the many leaders of the riots was a black, trans, bisexual woman, Marsha P. On a hot summer’s night in New York on June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay club in Greenwich Village, which resulted in bar patrons, staff, and neighborhood residents rioting onto Christopher Street outside.