LGBTQIA+ Pride Month

“No pride for some of us without liberation for all of us.” 
- Marsha P. Johnson 

LGBTQIA+ Pride Month is celebrated each June to honor the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, and Asexual community, among other identities. The month celebrates the community, achievements, and advocates for queer rights. Pride month celebrates all who have contributed to and continue to create acceptance of all members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Pride Month is notably celebrated in June to commemorate the Stonewall Uprising. The Stonewall Inn is a bar in New York City which was run by the mafia and catered to some of the poorest and most marginalized people in the queer community, from drag queens to homeless youth to the transgender community. The Stonewall Uprising occurred in the early morning hours of June 28th, 1969, when the patrons of the Stonewall Inn reached a breaking point after decades of state-sanctioned violence in the form of police raids, harassment, and arrests. The Stonewall Inn was once again raided by the New York police, which sparked a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations fighting back against the government-sponsored persecution of a marginalized population. These protests continued over six days, and the commemorative event on the one-year anniversary is recognized as the first Pride march. The Stonewall Uprising, although it wasn’t the first or last time queer Americans fought back against police raids, is credited as a breakthrough in the gay liberation movement, with significant progress made throughout the 70s in the United States and globally.

Before large corporations saw Pride Month as an opportunity for marketing (see pinkwashing or rainbow-washing), Pride was considered a protest for the inclusivity of all identities. It still is a protest; however, modern day Pride is a sanitized version of what it used to be as a result of the corporatization of the movement. Celebrate Pride Month this year by reflecting on its historical roots and how the values of empowerment through community, LGBTQIA+ history, activism, and accomplishments apply to the world we live in today. Pride Month is an opportunity to educate on the impacts of oppression on the queer community and how forms of discrimination intersect in the experiences of other marginalized groups and identities.