There has long been conflict over whether Pride should be about liberation or equality.Įarly gay rights groups, such as the Mattachine Society, focused heavily on optics and respectability, as the dress code for their Annual Reminders demonstrates (women in dresses men in jackets and ties). Howard's activism spanned decades, and led to multiple arrests for civil disobedience-including demonstrating for women’s health and the rights of those living with HIV and AIDS in the 1980s and protesting against the firing of a lesbian in Georgia in the 1990s. Howard, a Bronx-born bisexual woman, organized the Christopher Street Liberation Day March and is hailed as one of the 20th century's leading voices in bisexual rights and equality. While the first Pride parade may have been in Chicago, the mantle of “Mother of Pride” belongs to a lifelong New Yorker: Brenda Howard. Brenda Howard, a bisexual woman, is considered the “Mother of Pride.” While the Christopher Street Gay Liberation Day March in New York City is widely considered to be the first Pride Parade, it actually occurred one day after Chicago held its first march, which technically makes Chicago the birthplace of gay pride. And that the first Pride marches, which were more militant and liberationist and less celebratory and corporatist than today's events, took place in 1970 to mark the first anniversary of Stonewall. Most people know that Pride commemorates the Stonewall Uprising. The first Gay Pride parade was held in Chicago. According to a 2015 article in Out magazine, the group, which was led by several transgender women, “pelted officers with donuts, coffee, and paper plates until they were forced to retreat and return with larger numbers.” It is the first documented LGBTQ uprising in U.S. In May 1959, a group of LGBTQ individuals who were fed up with being mistreated by the police revolted at Cooper Do-Nuts in Los Angeles. The Stonewall Riots were not America's first LGBTQ uprising. In the 1960s, the Mattachine Society would hold “Annual Reminders” at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall every Fourth of July, where they'd advocate for lesbian and gay equality. In 1955, the Daughters of Bilitis was founded in San Francisco, and became the first lesbian rights group in the United States. In 1924, Henry Gerber, a German immigrant, founded the Society for Human Rights in Chicago it was the first group to campaign for gay rights in the United States. There is a storied history of LGBTQ activism in the United States that dates back long before the Stonewall Riots. There was a gay rights movement before Pride Month. Given that many of the event's 50th anniversary celebrations were lost amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, now is the perfect time to look back at the history of Pride Month and LGBTQ activism in the United States. This year marks the 51st anniversary of the first gay pride march, which was held on the first anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.
Pride parades, which are traditionally held on the last weekend in June, commemorate the anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, a watershed moment in LGBTQ history when patrons of The Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Manhattan that is now a national monument, fought back against a police raid. Pride parades, held in cities across the world, commemorate the Stonewall riots, which started when police raided the Stonewall Inn bar in New York City in June 1969.Since 1970, the LGBTQ community has marked June as Pride Month-a time to celebrate what it means to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgender while demanding equality and liberation from cis and heteronormative constraints. In the capital, the events were organised by Silom nightlife business operators. Prior to Covid-19, Pride parades were held in Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket. However, the Kingdom still does not legally recognise same-sex marriage, and discrimination against sexual diversity remains. “The organisers hope that Pride parade will become an important event on the calendar, similar to Songkran or Loy Krathong,” he said.ĭue to its relatively high tolerance to sexual diversity, Thailand is regarded as a “utopia” for LGBTI+ people by many foreign visitors who experience abuses in their home countries.
Promsorn Veerathamjari, a representative of sex workers, said on Friday that this year’s Gay Pride event would also address social issues, in addition to sexual diversity. Every month is being correlated to Bangkok’s celebration of festivals. He added that as per his plan, June would be designated “Pride month”. We can live happily when we can accept diversity,” Chadchart said. “Bangkok is a city of diversity in many aspects, not just sexual diversity. Friday’s press conference included representatives from state agencies, including the Prime Minister’s Office, political parties, foreign embassies, and the private sector.Īmong the invited guests was Bangkok governor-elect Chadchart Sittipunt, who attended the event as an observer.