The Beginning of GLBT Pride

We’ve all heard of Proposition 8, Matthew Shepherd, and thanks to Hollywood, even Harvey Milk. But when I learned that this year, June 2010 was declared Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Pride month, I realized I had very little knowledge about the significance of the month of June for GLBT persons or their other significant historical moments aside from those that occurred after my birth.

The Stonewall Riots: It didn’t take much digging to reveal that the month of June was chosen as the month to celebrate GLBT Pride month to commemorate the Stonewall Riots of 1969. While police raids commonly occurred in establishments known to cater to homosexuals, the Stonewall Riots mark the first prominent time GLBT patrons fought back. The routine invasive police raids involved, in part, female officers inspecting patrons to determine their femininity. On June 28th 1969, some of the transgendered patrons refused to be subject to searches and men began refusing to provide identification. The resistance continued to mount until the crowd swelled with passersby and the previous frustrations experienced by the GLBT community at the hands of the police in New York culminated in a raucous riot.

For several days after the 28th, hostilities between the police and the GLBT community of Greenwich Village surged. Even within the homosexual community, there was debate as to whether the riots were a positive development or an embarrassment to those that wanted homosexuals to be seen as similar to heterosexuals. In any case, the GLBT community had become visible, and demonstrated their willingness to stand up for their freedom to be who they are.

Christopher Street Liberation Day: One year after the Stonewall Riots, the first gay pride march in our nation’s history took place. Covering three major cities, the parade commemorated the previous year’s riots and attracted even more attention and enthusiasm to the gay pride movement. While traditional GLBT related movements emphasized a minimization of the differences between homosexuals and mainstream heterosexual society, encouraging males and females to dress in conservative ways, the new Gay Pride movement attracted far more widespread attention and support. The move to pride and away from shame about one's gender identity and sexual orientation incited new movements, publications, and organizations to form. Many of those developments and their influences are still present in the United States today.

If not for the frank outspokenness and staunch opposition displayed by hundreds of rioters on the night of the Stonewall Riots, the GLBT movement may never have gained the popularity and support it now experiences. The Stonewall Riots seemed to take away the shame so often experienced by the GLBT community, and replaced it with a sense of pride and freedom to be oneself.