Happy Pride! 10 Facts About the History of LGBTQIA+ Pride Month

June 21, 2023 3:55 AM

Mental floss - 10 Facts About the History of LGBTQ Pride Month "This year marks the 52nd anniversary of the first gay Pride march, which was held on the first anniversary of the Stonewall riots. Read on for the history of Pride Month and LGBTQ activism in the United States." - Mental floss

TLDR:

1. There was a gay rights movement long before Pride Month.
2. The Stonewall riots were not America's first LGBTQ uprising.
3. The first gay Pride parade was held in Chicago.
4. Brenda Howard, a bisexual woman, is considered the “Mother of Pride.”
5. People still debate whether Pride should be about liberation or equality.
6. The Pride flags have their own interesting histories.
7. Not all Pride parades and LGBTQ celebrations are held in June.
8. Bill Clinton was the first sitting U.S. president to officially recognize Pride Month.
9. The first San Francisco Trans March took place in 2004.
10. New York City's Pride march is fully in-person in 2022.

The actual article has lots of links and sources for the facts listed, so it's worth a a read, but TLDR is provided for those who want to go right to discussing the facts

Additional fact not in the article: Reclaim Pride is gaining traction - Thousands of people showed up in London to protest the commercialisation of Pride and called on the government to do more to protect LGBTQ rights. - Vice.com

posted by Faintdreams (4 comments total)

Thank you for this, especially the final link about the Reclaim Pride event in the UK which made my heart swell and my eyes tear up.
posted by an octopus IRL at 4:38 AM on June 21, 2023

Here’s some footage taken at the first NYC Pride march.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:29 AM on June 21, 2023 [2 favorites]

The footage from the first Pride March in NYC is amazing! Thank you for sharing that.

I cannot imagine the bravery required to attend that first march.
posted by Faintdreams at 6:10 AM on June 21, 2023 [2 favorites]

I was going to lecture that people didn’t call it Gay Pride in 1970, but here’s a clipping from the Chicago Tribune referring to “Gay Pride Week.” The march itself may have been referred to as the Gay Liberation March.
posted by larrybob at 10:57 AM on June 21, 2023 [1 favorite]