Pride

LGBTQIA+ pride is the promotion of self-affirmation, acceptance, equality, and visibility within the LGBTQIA+ community. It commemorates the Stonewall riots and involves a series of events, parades, and marches. Pride is celebrated internationally on varying dates and months. Pride was originally celebrated in the United States on the final Sunday in June as "Gay Pride Day", but it grew to encompass a month-long celebration in both the US and several other countries. In modern times, celebrations include workshops, parades, parties, concerts, and attractions that bring together millions of participants worldwide.

Christopher Street Liberation Day
"Commemorate the Christopher Street Uprisings of last summer in which thousands of homosexuals went to the streets to demonstrate against centuries of abuse [..] From government hostility to employment and housing discrimination, Mafia control of Gay bars, and anti-Homosexual laws."

- Christopher Street Day Committee Fliers for the first Pride event

One month after the Stonewall riots, The Christopher Street Liberation Day March took place in New York City, where people publicly claimed their identities. The Liberation Day March was organized by a bisexual woman named Brenda Howard, who also organized the widely-accepted "first Pride" event a year later. Her role donned her the title of "Mother of Pride" years later. Marsha P. Johnson, a black transgender woman, helped lead the LGBTQ+ movement, playing a pivotal role in the pride parade. She was a renowned drag performer, activist, and a major participant in the Stonewall riots. She attended meetings for the newly formed Gay Liberation Front and became known as "Saint Marsha" throughout Greenwich Village. On June 28, 1970, on the first anniversary of the Stonewall riots, over seven hundred people marched on Greenwich Village's Christopher Street in New York City, in what is widely considered the first Gay Pride march. However, others view this as an anniversary march and not the first gay pride event.

The Greenwich Village March to Central Park was organized by the Christopher Street Liberation Day Committee, though the concept of the initial Pride march stemmed from the Eastern Regional Conference of Homophile Organizations (ERCHO). The march was meant to give the community a place to gather in both protest and solidarity. The Mattachine Society of Washington participated in the planning and promotion, alongside activists in New York City. There was an estimated three to five thousand marchers in the inaugural Pride in New York City. There were approximately 15 blocks worth of people present. The march to Central Park adopted the theme of "Gay Pride" as a counterpoint to the prevailing attitude of shame. Shirtless men walked hand-in-hand and proudly participated in PDA, picketers held signs with their orientations, and demonstrators shouted slogans such as, "gay, gay, all the way". The media coverage focused primarily on the marchers, but occasionally pointed to bystanders who were documented by journalists as being "obviously startled by the scene".

By 1984, Pride celebrations had solidified a place in major cities across the US. Heritage of Pride was founded to take over the planning of New York City Pride events. The CSLDC (Christopher Street Liberation Day Committee) had formally disbanded by this point.

Gay Freedom Day Parade
On June 27, 1970, a tiny group of individuals staged San Francisco's first Pride celebration: a march on Polk Street, followed on the 28th when a group of San Franciscans had a picnic they called "gay-in". The "gay-in" eventually attracted 200 people to Speedway Meadows in Golden Gate Park. The event was disbanded by equestrian police, who detained several participants. The participants performed an act of rebellion by declaring their sexual orientation during a hostile time in American society.

In 1972, San Francisco Pride organizers made an official statement for the Christopher Street West celebration. The event would be held on Sunday, June 25th. It became the first large-scale parade in San Francisco and drew approximately 2,000 participants and 15,000 spectators. The organizers effectively created the Gay Freedom Day Parade and Festival in a ragtag start during the first decade of San Francisco Pride.

Ronald Chase, an artist and filmmaker, made a 10-minute documentary about the modest 1972 gathering. He titled it "Parade", and interviewed gay people for the documentary, though the film failed to find an audience. It was placed in a mislabeled box and only found decades later.

In the Spring of 1973, Gay Freedom Week chairman Steve Ginsburg assured people that the Gay Freedom Day organizing committee were not suffering from a rift. The members asserted that the San Francisco parade was "the largest and only one in the West". However, an organization called the Gay Activist Alliance, headed by Reverend Raymond Broshears, planned a competing celebration in the Civic Center. Ultimately, 42,000 people attended the Gay Freedom Day Parade with many holding signs. A new installment was the safety monitors directing the contingents to prevent accidents and injuries.

The San Francisco Gay Liberation Alliance protested against the participation of the Imperial Court in the upcoming 1974 parade. The Imperial Court was a charitable group of drag performers who were scheduled to perform in the Gay Freedom Day Parade. The Gay Liberation Alliance took cruel measures to prohibit their involvement, including decorating a vehicle with posthumous images of drag royalty.

In 1975, 82,000 people participated in the San Francisco Parade, with detailed logistics and communications required to promote the celebration. The typed, collaged, and hand-drawn documents were dispensed by the organizers to guide marchers and float sponsors. Countless hours were poured into meticulous planning that caught the attention of politicians, including future openly gay official Harvey Milk.

The 1976 parade was met with backlash by the Gay Latino Alliance, Gay American Indians, Bay Black Caucus, and Lesbian Action Organization who all voted a resolution to declare the Parade had lost sight of the meaning of the Stonewall riots. Liane Esstelle, the self-proclaimed "token woman" on the Freedom Day Committee, penned an open letter where she denounced the actions of the Committee and accused the chairperson of sexism, racism, and "anti-human attitudes". She sent a copy to Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, two co-founders of the Daughters of Bilitis, a lesbian organization.

As the 70s grew to a close, Pride in the broader sense had begun to shift and grow. Controversial topics became more prevalent, as did the need for political change. The GFD had used their platform numerous times to fight unjust legislature and were known for being rooted in activism. However, The Anarchist Flashers protested the Committee's nudity ban in 1977.

On June 25, 1978, the most recognized symbol of Pride debuted in San Francisco: the rainbow flag. It debuted on two monumental flagpoles at United Nations Plaza. The symbol was adopted worldwide. These early demonstrations of pride celebrated being "out of the closet", individual freedoms, and diversity within the communities.

The Gay Freedom Day Committee was founded in approximately 1979, making it difficult to properly document the organizers in the first decade. The committee took to merchandising the event, with the money from sales being used to fund the parade and bring more awareness to the event. Merchandise included clothing, buttons, and pins. The events garnered more attention with now-beloved icons Dykes on Bikes debuting, while bare-breasted lesbians marched down Polk Street.

In 1981, it was renamed to Lesbian/Gay Freedom Day Parade through Dykes on Bikes contributions. It was renamed again in 1995 to the San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Celebration, or San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration.

Gay Freedom Day was used to express sameness and differences through signs, banners, contingents, speeches, floats, sequins and outfits - or stripped down. The 70s, 80s, and 90s brought more activism into the pride marches, introducing feminism, protesting bills, and more. The day is noted as being one of celebration, party, activism, recognition, and reflection.

The SF Pride parade celebrated 50 years in 2020, an event that was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They have a $3.5 million budget and is the self-proclaimed "largest gathering of LBGT people and their allies in the nation".

Spread of Pride
An additional march took place on June 27, 1970, in Chicago. 150 people marched from Civic Center Plaza to Washington Square as the chanted "Gay power to gay people".

The June 28, 1970, Pride in LA was met with resistance from the police as they refused to issue the permit needed for the march. After the unjust expectations of $1,500 payment and $1.5 million insurance bond, the activists took their claims to the local courts. They were later issued a permit for the following year.

Modern day pride
In modern times, Pride parades became more organized and mainstream with each passing year. Hundreds of parades and festivals celebrate LGBTQIA+ pride around the world each June, or in other months. In 2019, an estimated 150,000 people celebrated Pride in New York City. They marched in a 12-and-a-half-hour-long parade while about five million people attended the city's Pride events.

Black pride
Black Pride, in regard to LGBTQIA+ spaces, is directly tied to the oppression of Ballroom culture. Ballroom culture remained underground for decades, even after Marsha P. Johnson's involvement in the 1970 Pride march. Black Pride celebrates a rejection of what America's dominant culture claims is "right". Marchers celebrate their beauty in queer spaces and sense of belonging. Black LGBT Pride celebrations started as a way to reconcile the identities of being both black and queer in a world that was not safe for either. Many queer people of color spoke on their discomfort of attending mainstream LGBT Pride events, due to the majority of attendees being white or non-welcoming.

From 1975 to 1990, the Club House held the social life for D.C.'s black gay community in an informal gathering called "Children's Hour". It was an elaborately themed and decorated party with drag performers and DJs. It began to welcome queer people of color from across the country. Los Angeles held the first Black Pride event with At the Beach in 1988. New York City's Black Pride began in 1997.

Indigenous pride
In December 2017, Gabby Leon and Terri Jay discussed the lack of visibility and celebration of the Two-Spirit identities and wanted to have a festival that celebrated and honored Native American LBGTQ roles and traditions. Terri, who was very engaged in the Native American community, discussed the idea further with her friends - she wanted to celebrate Native American LGBTQ history and traditions. As they discussed how Indigenous identities had grown in visibility, they also acknowledged how far they still need to go. Ultimately, the group agreed that their proposed cultural event would, "honor, and acknowledge all Indigenous peoples' plight, especially those who are Two Spirit and/or identified with the contemporary labels and terms of cisgender and transgender lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, queer, asexual, and intersex." This led to the creation of Indigenous Pride LA.

International pride
In 1997, Heritage of Pride hosted the 16th annual international Association of Lesbian and Gay Pride Coordinators conferences, which was the first to participation from international Pride groups.

The first WorldPride event took place in Rome, Italy, from July 1–9, 2000. It was organized by the Italian organization ircolo di Cultura Omosessuale Mario Mieli and helped by InterPride. Other countries followed suit, either hosting WorldPride themselves or sending delegates from their countries: Montréal Conference in Canada for non-English speakers (2003), Jerusalem for WorldPride event (2006), and Iceland with the first Nordic pride event (2004). In 2017, the Conference of International Pride delegates, awarded WorldPride to Madrid Pride.

More than two million individuals attended the 2007 Europride event in Madrid.

Singapore pride (Pink Dot SG)
Singapore's Pride event, named Pink Dot SG was first celebrated on May 16, 2009. It was celebrated at Hong Lim Park, the only designating space where protesting is allowed. Pink Dot has been celebrated for every year since at Hong Lim Park until the 2020 pandemic where the event was shifted online. One of the main objectives of Pink Dot is to raise awareness of LGBTQIA+ people in the country, their freedom to love and to support efforts to repeal Section 377a of the penal code, which prohibits sex between gay men. The Pink Dot event has been replicated in several countries including Anchorage, Hong Kong, London, Montreal, New York, Okinawa, Penang, Taiwan, Toronto, and Utah.

In 2021, The Ambassador at large used the existence of Pink Dot SG as example to the United Nations during the Third Universal Periodic Review in 2021 to claim that LGBTQ+ people are not discriminated in Singapore. Pink Dot responded saying, ""Pink Dot exists as a protest against discrimination towards the LGBTQ community. We are not a convenient excuse for the Government to claim that discrimination does not exist. The Government should also not be taking credit for Pink Dot's existence. Especially when our events are organized in spite of the obstacles placed in our way."

Activism in pride marches
The idea of Pride was always foremost an activist liberation movement and a social political stand against inequality. The core beliefs of the founding were tied to the unjust discrimination against LGBTQIA+ people. As such, Pride activists gathered together on numerous occasions to fight unjust legislation.

Gay Freedom Day in San Francisco was used to express sameness and differences through signs, banners, contingents, speeches, floats, sequins and outfits - or stripped down. The 70s, 80s, and 90s brought much political, racial, gendered, sexual, economic, and cultural frustration and inequality. These issues frustrated organizers that sought to bring unity and solidarity, and that frustration fueled bigger displays of Pride.

DSM-II
On June 23, 1972, organizations petitioned the American Psychiatric Association to remove Homosexuality from the DSM-II, which labeled homosexuality as a mental illness. As a result, Pride organizations formed throughout the US.

Lesbian visibility
The 1975 event introduced the Lesbian Sisters United, Lesbian Lunatics, and other groups to garner lesbian visibility. In 1993, the first San Francisco Dyke March took place in Dolores park as a reaction to anti-gay US senator Jess Helms.

Briggs Initiative
The 1978 parade coincided with a march to support educators against the Briggs Initiative, which would ban lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals from working in California school. The Gay Underground Theater protested the Bay Area Committee Against the Briggs initiative to turn the Gay Freedom Day Parade into a political rally. Despite their attempts, the march continued and displays of activism led to the death of the bill.

Stonewall anniversary
Pride marches garnered national attention on the 10-year anniversary of the Stonewall riots and the assassination of Harvey Milk. On October 13, 1979, pride marchers began the first National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights.

ACT UP
In the early 1980s, Pride shifted toward advocacy to gain awareness for the HIV/AIDS pandemic. A major organization that came from both Pride and the pandemic was ACT UP. This political and social activism became central to Pride events, as many attendees carried posters with designated social issues of the day.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell
In 1993, with the passage of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, gay rights remained at the forefront of Capitol Hill and New York. Heritage of Pride officially renamed the "Christopher Street Festival" to "PrideFest". The same year, Brenda Howard successfully lobbied for bisexuality to be included in the 1993 March On Washington, an iconic Pride event. Previously, the event had focused on gay men and lesbians.

Declaration of Pride month
On June 11, 1999, US President Bill Clinton issued a proclamation declaring June to be Gay and Lesbian Pride Month. The practice was picked up President Barack Obama, who declared June LGBT Pride Month for both his terms.

Marriage equality
By the 2000s, Pride marchers had shifted their focus toward Proposition 8 to legalize same-sex marriage in the United States.

Pride months
Most cities across the globe celebrate Pride in June. However, some cities opt for other months, either due to weather or other circumstances preventing the celebrations from realistically taking place in June. Many of the cities internationally use the organization InterPride to manage Pride celebrations. The International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association has a calendar of over a hundred Pride events globally.
 * February (Auckland)
 * June (Pride Month in the United States)
 * August (Vancouver)
 * November (Palm Springs)

Trivia

 * In 1995, a resolution passed by the General Assembly of the National Education Association included LGBT History Month within a list of celebratory months.

Media

 * "Gay and Proud" - Documentary on Pride history by Lilli Vincenz
 * "Gay Freedom Parade" - Short videos from the 1978 San Francisco events

Resources

 * NYC Pride
 * Gay Pride Calendar (includes international/world cities)
 * Pride.com a magazine detailing numerous Pride topics in the media, including news, blogs, and articles regarding the LGBTQIA+ community.