Pride movement history
A brief history of Pride
Originally named the Christopher Avenue Liberation Day, the first Pride parade was held on the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Riots of In the s, homosexual acts were widely illegal throughout most of the United States. Bars and restaurants could be shut down for having gay employees or serving gay patrons, so they turned many people away. However, the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village was a little-known institution that New York City’s lgbtq+, lesbian, and transgender citizens could call theirs.
Like most gay bars and clubs, the inn was operated by the Mafia. They actively paid corrupt police officers to protect the identities of wealthy homosexual patrons and ignore others at the inn — including the drag queens and runaway LGBTQIA+ youth who were turned away from other bars.
On June 28, , New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn unexpectedly. The officers had arrived with a warrant for bootlegged alcohol, criminal mischief, and disorderly conduct.
The raid was a breaking point. The event was a straightforward assault on a revered space and ac As was common exercise in many cities, the Brand-new York Police Department would occasionally raid bars and restaurants where gays and lesbians were recognizable to gather. This occurred on June 28, , when the NYPD raided the Stonewall Inn, a bar in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan. When the police aggressively dragged patrons and employees out of the lock, several people fought back against the NYPD, and a growing crowd of angry locals gathered in the streets. The confrontations quickly escalated and sparked six days of protests and aggressive clashes with the NYPD outside the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street and throughout the neighborhood. By the time the Stonewall Riots ended on July 2, , the gay rights movement went from being a fringe issue largely ignored by politicians and the media to front-page news worldwide. One year later, during the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, activists in New York City marched through the streets of Manhattan in commemoration of the uprising. The march, organized by the Eastern Regional Confe As Pride Month draws to a close, Dr Panagiotis Pentaris, Goldsmiths' LGBTQ+ Staff Network Co-Chair, reflects on its history and continued significance today. On 28 June , the gay club Stonewall Inn, on Christopher Street in New York City, was raided by the New York Municipality police, which led to violence and police brutality against the LGBTQIA+ community. Until then, and many years after, the gathering of gay people (the acronyms LGBT, LGBTQ, LGBTQ+, LGBTQIA+, etc. were not used at the time) was illegal, and organisations and other establishments would not employ staff openly naming as LGBTQIA+. To enforce such laws, liquor authorities would ban the serving of alcohol to any bar, restaurant or café where LGBTQIA+ self-identified individuals would gather, considering ‘homosexuality’ as a ‘disorderly’ act. The raid of the Stonewall Inn in led to six days of riots and violent incidents between LGBTQIA+ individuals and the police force. These riots were a milestone in the start of the Gay Rights Movement globally. At the anniversary of the St
The Spirit of
Stonewall Lives On
Pride Month
First Gay Pride Parade
Pride: history, politics and meanings