Walking the Rainbow Bridge

Chapter 7: The History of Pride Month

Many people know that June is considered Pride month, but there seems to be some misunderstanding of the meaning and the history.

Stonewall Riots

In the Greenwich Village area of Manhattan, New York, there was a historical event that happened in the year 1969. The Stonewall Inn was a gay bar where gay men and lesbians would hang out. However, at the time, homosexuality was illegal, and so was “cross-dressing”. The police frequently raided bars and arrested people for the sale of alcohol and wearing clothing different than what was considered legal for their gender. One time, when the police came to arrest people for these “crimes” on June 28, 1969, there was such a crowd of angry people that they started fighting the police. This conflict continued for about a week. The police won in the end, but by this time, more and more people were tired of being harassed by the police and unjust laws that forced them into hiding.

Each year after this event, a bunch of people marched as a reminder of what happened. This holiday was the start of what would eventually become known as Pride Month. The people were proud to be who they were and were done hiding and pretending to dress and behave the way that the majority of society wanted them to.

When so many people had these events, then people started to see that the LGBTQIA people were not just a tiny minority and they could no longer be bullied without them fighting back. At first, June 28 was known as Gay Liberation Day. Over time, the celebration expanded to include the whole month of June.

The Two Meanings of Pride

Some people take issue with the term “pride” because there is more than one definition for the word.

The first is to generally feel good for being who you are and not be ashamed or trying to change yourself into something you are not. People can be proud of their achievements, and they can be proud of themselves or others.

The second type of pride is where someone thinks they are better or more important than someone because of whatever they have done or for who they are, even if they can’t take credit for it. This type of pride is what some refer to as the “deadly sin” of pride.

Strangely, nobody seems to talk about the sin of pride until the subject is LGBTQIA pride. It seems that people are oblivious to their pride for the rest of the year. Most people feel pretty good about themselves. However, the only difference now is that gay, transgender, and other people can also feel good about themselves.

Parallels to Juneteenth

Although not directly related, Juneteenth is celebrated on June 19 of every year. This holiday is similar in that it is a reminder of when slavery for black people ended officially on June 19, 1865. On that day, the Emancipation Proclamation was put into effect, ending the legalized slavery of African Americans.

It is fitting that June contains holidays that are something like “Independence Day” for specific communities that traditionally have not been free in the same way as the rest of the population.

Although I can’t speak as much about Juneteenth since I don’t know as much about it, and I would prefer to let the black people speak about their own history and pride movement, I would like to remind you once again that the Progress Flag includes black and brown stripes because they are very much part of the progress society has slowly made about accepting different kinds of people.

Also, don’t forget that Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual people of every race, language, and culture exist. Pride month includes everyone, not just the white LGBTQIA people.