June is Pride Month, celebrating the LGBTQ+ community, sexual diversity, and increasing society’s awareness of the discrimination and violence many have faced for centuries. Taking a look into Pride Month may teach one a few things that could educate and benefit their future.
Why is Pride Month in June?
Celebrating Pride Month occurs during June to honor the remembrance of the Stonewall Riots. This happened on June 28, 1969, in Greenwich Village, New York City. Police raided one of the most popular gay clubs in the city, baiting the regulars to fight back. The police stormed in to arrest the employees for selling liquor without a license and it made the crowd heated. The customers started to throw coins and debris at the police out of anger. After that, riots occurred over the next few days near the Stonewall Inn, igniting the beginning of LGBTQ rights in the United States.
On November 2, 1969, at the Eastern Regional Conference of Homophile Organizations in Philadelphia, they had the idea of a march. Being the first anniversary of the Stonewall riots, it got scheduled for June 28, 1970. The march got named Christopher Street Liberation Day march because of the street that was the epicenter of the gay community in New York City.
Largest Pride parades celebrated across the globe
Parades are one main way Pride month is celebrated. With a bunch of public speaking, street parties, festivals, and smaller community events as well. This is also when social media plays a big role in advocating and educating millions of individuals online. One of the most well-known pride parades takes place in New York City dates back to June 28, 1970. This year the NYC Pride March is going to occur on June 27th, 2021. Over the past few years, attendance for the NYC Pride March is consistently around 2 million.
The São Paulo Gay Pride Parade in Brazil is South America’s largest event that broke the 2009 Guinness records. With four million attendees at first, then up to five million in 2017. The other largest LGBTQ events that occurred in Europe are the Madrid Pride and Orgullo Gay de Marid. In Asia, it is the Taiwan Pride in Taipei. In the Middle East, the largest parade occurred in Isreal called the Tel Aviv Pride.
Glimpse into LGBTQ rights timeline
In today’s society, there is still a lot of injustice, but looking back, major improvements have been made. Back in April of 1952, the American Psychiatric Association’s diagnosed a list of homosexuality to be a sociopathic personality disturbance. On December 15, 1973, the APA removes homosexuality from that list in the DSM-II Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Throughout the years, more states have lifted discrimination against sexuality or sexual orientation. This made way for same-sex marriages to be legal. As well as giving more opportunities to openly gay individuals trying to find jobs. Specifically, on June 5, 2020, the Supreme Court rules that the federal law protects discrimination against workers in the LGBTQ community.
This rule defeats what the Trump administration believed. They argued that “Title VII of the Civil Rights Act that bars discrimination based on sex did not extend to claims of gender identity and sexual orientation.” Taking a look into Pride Month may teach one a few things that could educate and benefit their future.
