As a way to honor the many people who have fought for LGBTQ+ rights throughout history, every June is known as Pride Month. Members and allies prepare to pull out their rainbow flags, cover themselves in glitter, and join the festivities. With parades, festivals, and concerts happening around the world, there’s always some way to celebrate your identity — and while you’re at it, learn something new about your community along the way!
What Does Pride Month Mean?
Pride Month is the season for the LGBTQ+ community to be heard and celebrated and for allies to rally in favor of LGBTQ+ rights. This yearly event honors the numerous people who identify as LGBTQ+ and the many ways they have changed the world. Brenda Howard, a bisexual New York activist known as the “Mother of Pride,” is credited with coining the term “Pride” when she planned the first Pride march to mark the first anniversary of the Stonewall uprising.
Historically commemorating the Stonewall Riots of June 1969, Pride events typically occur throughout the entire month of June, but this isn’t always the case, especially in the Southern Hemisphere.
Pride events take many forms, including parades, parties, marches, and proms. But since its beginning, Pride has always been a political event. Despite its current festive atmosphere, protests are fundamental to its existence. Pride is a statement against oppressive structures, even when it’s playful and carefree.
How Did Pride Month Start?
Hundreds of local Pride celebrations, each with its own flavor and history, had sprouted up throughout the world since the 1970s when the modern LGBTQ+ liberation movement got its start.
The Stonewall Riots
Bars and restaurants frequented by gays and lesbians in New York City were subject to occasional police raids, as in many other cities. The Stonewall Inn was one of these places in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, and the NYPD raided it on June 28, 1969.
After the NYPD forcibly removed customers and staff from the establishment, several patrons fought back, and an angry mob gathered outside. When the confrontations soon escalated, protests and violent battles with the NYPD erupted for six days in and around the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street.
Soon after the end of the Stonewall Riots on July 2, 1969, the gay rights movement went from being a marginal subject disregarded mainly by politicians and the media to being front-page news worldwide.
Before Stonewall, there were riots where LGBTQ+ people had already fought against police abuse in Los Angeles at Cooper Do-Nuts and San Francisco at Compton’s Cafeteria. But Stonewall is the most well-known since it paved the way for the birth of today’s Pride.
The First Pride Parade
After the Stonewall Riots, the organizers aimed to foster further acts of defiance. The following year, they planned a march to Central Park with the concept of “Gay Pride” to counteract the widespread stigma. As the 1970s progressed, more and more people joined the annual Pride celebration, and the original Christopher Street march quickly became a worldwide phenomenon.
What Are The Best Ways to Celebrate Pride Month?
Pride events have evolved over the past five decades to the point where everyone can find something that speaks to them, whether it’s the wild celebration of the New York City Pride parade, community forums at the LGBT Center in San Francisco, or the enormous crowds that visit World Pride hosted in a different city every two years.
Pride celebrations are primarily aimed at those who identify as LGBTQ+, but many straight people are welcome too. So take your flags out and wear your best outfit to celebrate Pride!
