Then for other folks, it's an opportunity to celebrate. "The spirit of Pride, I always say, is like a Rorschach test: It's something different to everyone," Renna said. "Some people want to come and and be extremely political, to use it as a platform to talk about the issues that they care about, the things that we're fighting against. Similar to other monthly celebrations such as Black History Month in February and Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May, Pride Month honors LGBTQ history and the challenges the community faces, past and present, according to Renna.
What is Pride Month?Ĭities around the world mark Pride Month as a celebration of the history and visibility of the LGBTQ community. "Our community is much more sophisticated, and much more intersectional than it ever has been," Renna said. But the pandemic has also exposed many inequalities and disparities in the LGBTQ community, leading to an overhaul in the festivities to make them more accessible and cognizant of race, income and more. This year, Pride events should look like the trademark celebrations of the recent past after two years of hiatus caused by COVID-19. The celebrations continued expanding on their activist roots in the 1980s and 1990s with the onset of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and those that followed have been used as platforms to draw attention to topics from marriage equality to racial justice. we've made progress, in our community, but there was definitely tension," she said. "There has always been some tension but in the early days, it was very, very, dramatic and stark. to put together Pride events was from cisgender gay white men," Renna told USA TODAY. And yet somehow, the power that was coming together. "The reality is that most of the folks on the front lines at the Stonewall uprising were trans women, trans women of color, other people of color, butch lesbians. Despite their pivotal role in the riots and ensuing activism, trans women and other women of color were excluded from or silenced while attending some early Pride parades. The year following the riots, some of the first Gay Pride parades were held in Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York, but not all members of the LGBTQ community were included. MORE AMERICANS THAN EVER IDENTIFY AS LGBTQ: Exhibits, archives showcase the community's history. While activism was a core part of the community before Stonewall, the riots drew attention to the experience of LGBTQ individuals across the country, according to Cathy Renna, Communications Director for the National LGBTQ Task Force. The historic location of the Stonewall Inn can be visited today and was designated as a National Monument in 2016. The raid was followed by days of riots and protests involving hundreds of people clashing with police.
Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, to fight back against police.
Frequent raids of gay bars across the city had escalated frustration toward police and led patrons, including transgender activists Marsha P. On June 28, 1969, police raided The Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village, New York City, attempting to arrest those inside. The month of June, designated as Pride Month, has its origins in one of the most well-known LGBTQ activist events: the Stonewall Riots. Members of the LGBTI community carry posters and flags with the colors of the rainbow during a protest march called "I walk against discrimination" demanding respect of their rights in the framework of the gay pride month celebration in Caracas, on May 29, 2021.