What is LGBTQ Pride Month?

In the mid-1960s, the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street was a rare safe space for LGBTQ folks—including many young transgender and gender non-conforming people of color.

Many teens and young folks escaped the mistreatment and abuse they experienced at home to search for acceptance and community in places like New York.

Even there, laws made it almost impossible for LGBTQ people to socialize—get to know each other, hold hands, dance or kiss—in public. Gay bars provided refuge but were frequent targets of police surveillance and raids.

Law enforcement was cracking down on gay bars in Greenwich Village, and in the early hours of June 28, 1969, eight officers entered the Stonewall Inn. They checked ID cards, arrested employees and searched patrons who didn’t conform to a statute requiring at least three pieces of “gender appropriate” attire.

Those released from the Stonewall didn’t head right home. People began to congregate outside, shouting at police who were waiting for patrol vans to transport the 13 people they arrested. When one officer handcuffed and struck a lesbian, she shouted to the crowd—and they responded by throwing coins, bottles and stones.

Over the next few nights, thousands of supporters gathered in front of the Stonewall and spread down Christopher Street. Media coverage was peppered with slurs and derogatory language. Police beat and tear-gassed protestors. Protestors threw garbage, set fires, chanted, sang and performed kick-lines.

The Stonewall uprising brought LGBTQ activists together. Groups like the Eastern Regional Conference of Homophile Organizations (E.R.C.H.O.) helped coordinate smaller organizations and chapters.

Find a complete timeline of the Stonewall Uprising at History.com.

In November of 1969, 13 organizations within E.R.C.H.O. voted to organize a Gay Pride Week and a demonstration. Called the “Christopher Street Gay Liberation Day,” the demonstration would take place on the one-year anniversary of the previous summer’s uprisings.

Prominent New York City transgender activists of color like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera spread flyers calling on people everywhere to “…commemorate the Christopher Street Uprisings of last summer” and to “demonstrate against centuries of abuse.” This inaugural Pride demonstration attracted thousands.

In the months, decades and years following the Stonewall Uprising, activists and LGBTQ rights advocates got to work. They used the Civil Rights Movement as their blueprint for enacting change. There were pamphlets to publish, money to raise and LGBTQ people to help.

Now attendees in NYC and around the world, including LGBTQ folks and their straight allies, number in the millions. Their number grows with the popularity of virtual programming.

Organizing Christopher Street Gay Liberation Day was the necessary first step in an ongoing quest for LGBTQ liberation around the world. At the heart of these movements, queer people of color were leading the way.

Following Stonewall, artists and activists including Essex Hemphill, Felix Gonzalez-Torres and Kiyoshi Kuromiya used their work to continue the fight for LGBTQ rights. They organized local chapters within their communities and responded to issues like the AIDS crisis to help save lives.

From the early ’90s onward, others began organizing Black Pride marches in various cities to address the lack of Black LGBTQ visibility at major Pride events—and to honor the transgender and gender non-conforming people of color who made the movement possible. Today, Latinx, Asian and Black Pride events take place around the world.

Events vary widely and include everything from rallies and marches to festivals and workshops. Many honor LGBTQ history by holding marches on the anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising.

And it’s no surprise that so many of these marches have transformed into vibrant, festive parades showcasing the magic and persistence of LGBTQ pride. No matter how you participate this June, celebrating LGBTQ identity remains central to the goals of LGBTQ Pride Month.

For the LGBTQ community, Pride isn’t something you can just fit neatly into a single month. It’s showing up and showing out all year-round. Here are some ideas:

• Listen to LGBTQ voices and learn more about the issues that matter to them. Start by exploring a range of topics and resources through foundations like the Human Rights Campaign.
• Seek out diverse stories of empowerment and encouragement. Watch inspiring messages to LGBTQ youth through organizations like the It Gets Better Project.
• Spark more conversations with your friends and family about topics relevant to the LGBTQ community. Include little ones by reading LGBTQ children’s books centered around love, identity and family.
• Expand your perspective by learning more about the spectrum of LGBTQ identity. Use GLAAD’s “An Ally’s Guide to Terminology” as a resource for further understanding.
• Explore LGBTQ history and get to know the folks who led the way. Listen to the podcast Making Gay History to hear from LGBTQ heroes and trailblazers who were there.
• Show up for others by asking friends and family within the LGBTQ community how best you can support them.

Whether you celebrate Pride month as LGBTQ or ally, you’re helping carry the torch forward so current and future generations of LGTBQ folks can show up proudly (and loudly!) in the world and thrive.