Pride (LGBTQ culture)
In the late 1960s, a radical shift occurred within LGBTQ activism when Jack Baker and Michael McConnell, an activist couple in Minnesota, began using the phrase "Gay Pride." This terminology emerged as a direct counter to decades of shame imposed by religious institutions. Thom Higgins, another gay rights activist from Minnesota, paired the word "pride" with "gay" specifically to combat negative energy emanating from the Catholic Church. Higgins viewed pride as one of the seven deadly sins and sought to reclaim it as a tool for liberation. McConnell later recalled that this language was transformative because it opened doors for individuals who had been told their existence was against divine law. By 1971, McConnell introduced the term "gay pride" during events in Chicago, setting off a powerful movement across the country. Brenda Howard, Robert A. Martin, and L. Craig Schoonmaker are credited with popularizing the word "Pride" to describe these festivities. Earlier demonstrations were called Homophile demonstrations or Gay Liberation marches, but the new terminology signaled a demand for full equality rather than mere assimilation.
Early on the morning of Saturday, the 28th of June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn at 43 Christopher Street in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons rioted following this raid, creating a watershed moment in modern LGBTQ history. The riots catalyzed the first Christopher Street Liberation Day march held exactly one year later on Sunday, the 28th of June 1970. Craig Rodwell, his partner Fred Sargeant, Ellen Broidy, and Linda Rhodes proposed the first pride march during an ERCHO meeting in Philadelphia. They scheduled the event to coincide with the anniversary of the uprising while marking the start of the Stonewall events. The march covered 51 blocks from Christopher Street to Central Park in New York City. Although the parade permit was delivered only two hours before the start, the marchers encountered little resistance from onlookers. The New York Times reported that the marchers took up the entire street for about 15 city blocks. This demonstration marked the first Gay Pride march in New York history and set a precedent for future celebrations worldwide.
On Saturday, the 27th of June 1970, Chicago Gay Liberation organized a march from Washington Square Park to the Water Tower at the intersection of Michigan and Chicago avenues. Participants then extemporaneously marched on to the Civic Center Plaza, choosing the route to reach maximum numbers of shoppers on Michigan Avenue. Subsequent Chicago parades were held on the last Sunday of June, coinciding with dates of many similar parades elsewhere. During the same weekend as the New York march, gay activist groups on the West Coast held marches in Los Angeles and San Francisco. By 1971, Gay Pride marches had taken place in Boston, Dallas, Milwaukee, London, Paris, West Berlin, and Stockholm. The number of participating cities grew rapidly, reaching Atlanta, Brighton, Buffalo, Detroit, Washington D.C., Miami, and Philadelphia by 1972. Frank Kameny observed that while there were fifty to sixty gay groups in the country before Stonewall, there were at least fifteen hundred just one year later. Kay Lahusen noted that the movement was generally called the homosexual or homophile movement until 1969, when the birth of gay pride occurred on a massive scale.
Artist Gilbert Baker designed the rainbow flag in 1978 as a symbol for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. The original design consisted of eight horizontal stripes, each carrying specific meanings related to the LGBTQ community. Red represented life, orange healing, yellow sunlight, green nature, turquoise art, indigo harmony, and violet spirit. The color blue was added later to create the six-stripe version most commonly seen today. Other symbols included the lowercase Greek letter lambda (λ), which became associated with the movement. The pink triangle and black triangle were reclaimed from their use as badges of shame in Nazi concentration camps. These triangles provided symbolic continuity with more radical beginnings of the Gay Liberation Movement. The pink triangle also inspired the homomonument in Amsterdam, commemorating all gay men and lesbians subjected to persecution because of homosexuality. The flag remains a widely recognized symbol of LGBTQ identity and activism despite undergoing revisions over the years.
President Bill Clinton declared June "Gay & Lesbian Pride Month" in both 1999 and 2000, marking the first official presidential recognition of the observance. From 2009 to 2016, President Barack Obama declared June LGBTQ Pride Month every year he was in office. Later, President Joe Biden declared June LGBTQ Pride Month in 2021. Donald Trump became the first Republican president to acknowledge LGBTQ Pride Month in 2019 through a tweet released as an official Statement from the President. Beginning in 2012, Google displayed some LGBTQ-related search results with different rainbow-colored patterns each year during June. In 2017, Google added rainbow-colored streets on Google Maps to display Gay Pride marches occurring across the world. At many colleges not in session in June, LGBTQ pride is instead celebrated during April, which is dubbed "Gaypril." For the first time in the history of an Arab monarchy, diplomatic embassies in the United Arab Emirates supported the LGBTQ community by raising the rainbow flag to celebrate Pride Month 2021. The UK embassy posted a picture of the Pride flag alongside the Union Jack, affirming their pride in diversity and equality.
In a special queer issue of The Stranger in 1999, openly gay author Dan Savage questioned the relevance of pride thirty years later. He argued that while pride served as an effective antidote to shame, it now made LGBTQ people dull and slow as a group. The growth and commercialization of Christopher Street Days led to de-politicization within the movement. This trend created an alternative CSD in Berlin known as the Kreuzberger CSD or Transgenialer CSD. Political party members are not invited for speeches at this event, nor can parties or companies sponsor floats. After the parade, there is a festival with a stage for political speakers and entertainers. Groups discuss lesbian, transsexual, transgender, gay, or queer perspectives on issues such as poverty and unemployment benefits. In June 2010, American philosopher Judith Butler refused the Civil Courage Award of the Christopher Street Day Parade in Berlin. She argued and lamented in a speech that the parade had become too commercial and was ignoring problems of racism and double discrimination facing homosexual or transsexual migrants. Gay Shame, a radical movement within the community, opposes the commodification of non-heterosexual identity and culture.
In August 2011, São Paulo city alderman Carlos Apolinário sponsored a bill to organize Heterosexual Pride Day on the third Sunday of December. Apolinário stated that the intent of the parade was a struggle against excesses and privileges. Members of the Workers' Party opposed the bill as enhancing the possibility of discrimination and prejudice. A Brazilian photographer named Ederivaldo Benedito was arrested after refusing to delete photos of police attacking two young people participating in a gay pride parade on the 16th of October 2011. Police charged him with contempt and held him in jail for over 21 hours until he gave a statement. In Turkey, police dispersed the Pride parade using tear gas and rubber bullets in 2015. The Istanbul Governor's Office did not allow the Pride Parade to take place in 2016 and 2017, citing security concerns and public order. In Uganda, police broke up a gay pride event in the capital in 2016. Homosexual acts are illegal in Uganda. Queen Sofía of Spain sparked controversy by voicing disapproval of LGBTQ pride in a 2008 interview, stating that if heterosexuals took the streets as the LGBTQ community does, they would bring Madrid to a standstill.
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Common questions
When did Jack Baker and Michael McConnell start using the phrase Gay Pride?
Jack Baker and Michael McConnell began using the phrase Gay Pride in the late 1960s. This terminology emerged as a direct counter to decades of shame imposed by religious institutions.
What happened on Saturday the 28th of June 1969 at the Stonewall Inn?
Police raided the Stonewall Inn at 43 Christopher Street in Greenwich Village, Manhattan on early morning hours of that day. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons rioted following this raid, creating a watershed moment in modern LGBTQ history.
Who designed the rainbow flag for the LGBTQ community and when was it created?
Artist Gilbert Baker designed the rainbow flag in 1978 as a symbol for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. The original design consisted of eight horizontal stripes before blue was added later to create the six-stripe version most commonly seen today.
Which presidents have officially declared June LGBTQ Pride Month since 1999?
President Bill Clinton declared June Gay & Lesbian Pride Month in both 1999 and 2000. President Barack Obama declared June LGBTQ Pride Month every year from 2009 to 2016 while President Joe Biden declared June LGBTQ Pride Month in 2021.
Why did Dan Savage question the relevance of pride thirty years after its inception?
Dan Savage argued that while pride served as an effective antidote to shame, it now made LGBTQ people dull and slow as a group. He claimed the growth and commercialization of Christopher Street Days led to de-politicization within the movement.