History of Pride Month
June is known as ‘Pride Month’ in which we recognize “a month-long observance in celebration of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people—and the history, culture, and contributions of these people and their communities” (Person, 2021). It is important to note that when we are talking about the LGBTQ+ community we are also including those that identify as intersex, asexual, aromantic, two-spirit, nonbinary, pansexual, gender fluid and more. Some ways that we observe and celebrate pride month includes but is not limited to family meet ups, parades and strolls, parties, story hours, drag shows, resource fairs, protests, and other celebratory gatherings usually including displays of pride flags. It is important to know that pride month is not just a month where people celebrate and businesses put up pride logos or flags. It is helpful to understand the history of pride month as it is so much more than these individual or collective events.
Pride month stems from the Stonewall Inn and Stonewall Riots in New York City in 1969-1970. The Stonewall Inn was a bar in Manhattan that was known where queer people would gather. In 1969 The Stonewall Inn was raided by the New York City Police in which patrons and employers of the bar were aggressively handled and harmed in this raid. This then sparked 6 days of protests that continued to be responded to with violence from the city, this is known as the Stonewall Riots. These riots were conducted by activists, community organizers, members of the LGBTQ+ community and concerned citizens to support equal rights and outlawing discrimination towards others based upon gender and sexuality identities. Exactly one year after these riots activist groups called “the Eastern Regional Conference of Homophile Organizations (ERCHO) and the Christopher Street Liberation Day Umbrella Committee” (Onion et al., 2023) organized a march with the focus on having pride in being part of the LGBTQ+ community.
According to an activist in this march, Craig Schoonmaker, the idea of pride came from, “I authored the word ‘pride’ for gay pride … [my] first thought was ‘Gay Power.’ I didn’t like that, so proposed gay pride. There’s very little chance for people in the world to have power. People did not have power then; even now, we only have some. But anyone can have pride in themselves, and that would make them happier as people, and produce the movement likely to produce change” (Onion et al., 2023). It is estimated that between 3,000-5,000 people attended this march. Several months after this, many similar marches in other cities occurred throughout the United States. This then began the tradition of celebrating and expressing pride and supporting the LGBTQ+ community, while also honoring those in the Stonewall Riots and after that have bravely put their life on the line to fight for equal rights.
If you are interested in understanding more about the history of Pride month or how to practice being an ally, please visit resources like the Trevor Project and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation below.
https://reports.hrc.org/being-an-lgbtq-ally?_ga=2.7039028.782301157.1717015597-1869882548.1716906566
Jamie Lingenfelter, BSW, MSW, SWLC
References
Onion, A., Sullivan, M., Mullen, M., & Zapata, C. (2023, May 8). Pride month 2024: Origins, parades & dates. History.com. https://www.history.com/topics/gay-rights/pride-month
Person. (2021, May 25). Pride month. Dictionary.com. https://www.dictionary.com/e/historical-current-events/pride-month/