06/01/2026
It's officially pride month!
For those that may not know, pride began as a riot. In June of 1969, a police raid at a (secret gay) bar ignited what we now commonly know as Pride. Police stormed a bar injuring and assaulting the people inside and arrested 13 people. At one point, a woman was hit violently on the head to get her in the police car and the riot began. This is not to say there were not previous events before this time, but this event at Stonewall Inn sparked a community that decided they wanted to fight for their right to merely exist and not be targeted anymore. Riots continued for about 5 more days following the raid.
Before this time, LGBTQ individuals had generally not broadcast any orientations or identity, stonewall managed to create greater political activism. In 1970, on the first anniversary of the riots, several hundred demonstrators marched along Greenwich Village’s Christopher Street, which runs past the Stonewall, in what many consider the first Gay Pride march (though other commemorations were also held that year).
In the times past it was illegal for homosexual people gather more than two in one place. Though you might think we have come a long way from the 1960s, we really have not. When people still debate the mere right for a person to exist or have other quite basic human rights, we still have quite a long way to go. And that is what is all about.
