In 1965, for example, members of the Eastern Regional Conference of Homophile Organizations (ERCHO) began picketing each year on July 4 outside Philadelphia’s Independence Hall. ( How the Stonewall uprising ignited the modern LGBTQ rights movement.) Stonewall sparks a movementĭespite the rampant homophobia of the early 20th century, the LGBTQ community had made itself visible before. cities in 1970 were raucous celebrations of identity-and a provocative peek at the decades of activism to follow. Now known as the first Pride parades, the gay liberation marches that took place in New York and other U.S. In Stonewall’s wake, thousands of LGBTQ people took to the street to demand their civil rights. “Coming out” came with threats of violence and social ostracism.īut that changed in the aftermath of the 1969 Stonewall uprising-when a group of LGBTQ people rioted in response to a police raid of the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City. For centuries, homosexuality had been stigmatized, criminalized, and persecuted. Their skepticism was for good reason: Until 1969, the thought of a large group of LGBTQ people celebrating their sexual orientation in public was unthinkable. “The idea … made them laugh wildly,” recalled D’Emilio during an oral history collected by OutHistory. Below, meet some of my favorite faces from World Pride and hear all about their Pride looks.When John D’Emilio heard a group of LGBTQ activists would be marching in the streets of New York in June 1970, he told his boyfriend and several of his gay friends. With this in mind, I was thrilled to hit the streets of Manhattan during World Pride to ask queer people who were taking the day to celebrate themselves about their experiences, and to capture their all-encompassing beauty for the world to enjoy.
Queer people are family, and this is our annual reunion.Ĭelebrating Pride sends a message to the world and, most importantly, to oneself that says, "I love who I am, and I love my community." Recent headlines detailing the loss of young people like Nigel Shelby, Layleen Cubilette-Polanco, Muhlaysia Booker, and many others to violence are clear evidence that there is still much work to be done to ensure the safety and respect of queer people of all ages, especially queer people of color. Growing up as a queer person often inundates people with feelings of shame and isolation, which is one of the reasons Pride means so much to me and millions around the globe it's a reminder that you are not alone, but part of a vibrant, intelligent, multicultural, and multifaceted community.
Almost 40 years after Stonewall, I came out to my friends in high school, shortly before graduating and moving from Florida to the Big Apple. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera) took direct action against prejudice and fought the unlawful recurrence of raids on queer spaces in New York City, including the now historically preserved West Village bar.
It’s been 50 years since the Stonewall uprising, when LGBTQIA+ community leaders (notably Marsha P.