Home Gender & Sexuality
If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.
Read the community guidelines before posting ✨
Options

A History of Pride!

KathleenKathleen Deactivated Posts: 49 Boards Initiate
[FONT=&quot]93b704e6-2d7d-42e9-8d9c-eec576dfcfbe.jpg

It's June! And that means one thing... Pride Month! This is a time to celebrate being a member of the LGBTQ+ community and the history of the community as well.
[/FONT]


The month of June was chosen to commemorate the Stonewall riots, which took place in 1969 when homosexuality was still considered a crime. On June 28th[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif], [/FONT][FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]police entered the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village in New York City, and started arresting people. Rather than submitting to the police, the patrons resisted arrest and started a riot, expressing their frustration with the [/FONT][FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]institutionalised[/FONT][FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif] homophobia at the time. [/FONT]

Stonewall_inn_ny_2008.jpg


[FONT=&quot]The following year while a committee met to plan how to commemorate the riots was when the term "gay pride" was first coined. The committee didn't have a name for all of the events they were planning to hold, until L. Craig Schoonmaker suggested "gay pride". He chose it because, "anyone can have pride in themselves, and that would make them happier as people, and produce the movement likely to produce change". [/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]The rainbow symbol and flag have become synonymous with the LGBTQ+ community, but the rainbow flag was not introduced as the symbol until 1978. Artist Gilbert Baker created it for a San Francisco Pride March organised by Harvey Milk. He intended each stripe to represent a different aspect of the gay identity: hot pink for sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, turquoise for art, indigo for harmony and violet for spirit. FUN FACT: At a Pride parade in Philadelphia, they just added two new colours to the flag (black and brown) to represent LGBTQ+ people of colour. :rainbow:*insert wave of rainbows*:rainbow:

flag.jpg
[/FONT]



[FONT=&quot]So how does one celebrate Pride Month? Any way you want! Most major cities have large scale Pride events with parades that commemorate the smaller scale marches that took place following the Stonewall riots. However you don't have to go to these kinds of events to embrace Pride. It's also a time when you can reflect on the advances and setbacks the Pride movement has made and think of ways to bring the community together.

Non-LGBTQ+ allies can take this time to re-evaluate how you are providing support for the community and educate yourself on areas and issues that you were not aware of. If you do want to go to a Pride event here is a link to various locations in the UK that are having celebrations. HAPPY PRIDE!! :rainbow:*insert tidal wave of rainbows*:rainbow:

_90096014_parade3_getty.jpg


-Kathleen
[/FONT]

Sign In or Register to comment.