Gay men had reclaimed it as symbol of activism and power-but Milk wanted something more joyous to celebrate gay pride. The previous symbol, which is still sometimes used today, was the pink triangle that marked gay men in Nazi Germany. In the late 1970s, Harvey Milk, the first openly gay politician in a major city, decided that the community needed a symbol to rally around. In the five decades since activists marched on Christopher Street, cities around the world have held annual public demonstrations advocating for LGBTQ liberation, visibility, and pride. More than two thousand people participated in the march, drawing mainstream visibility to what had long been an underground movement. If you found this article helpful, please consider supporting our independent reporting and truth-telling for as little as $5 per month.
The Christopher Street Liberation Day march spawned several international marches, and parallel demonstrations took place in San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles.
There, they hosted a gay “Be-In,” inspired by earlier civil rights demonstrations. On June 28, 1970, protesters began in front of the Stonewall Inn and marched 51 blocks to Central Park. Lesbian activists, along with gay men-Fred Sargeant & Craig Rodwell, who organised the1st #Pride March, commemorating the Stonewall Uprising, known as "Christopher Street Liberation Day." /lWsfcuXnBT- #WOMENSART June 27, 2020 Linda Rhodes & Ellen Broidy (R), 1970 by photographer Diana Davies. It was a turning point that launched countless LGBTQ groups and activists, and thrust LGBTQ rights into the spotlight.
Johnson and Sylvia Rivera were among those who fought back against the police, combating years of brutality and marginalization. A huge crowd had gathered to watch, and they began yelling and throwing anything they could find at the cops, fighting back en masse for the first time.įor the next five days, riots raged every night on Christopher Street, where most of the gay-friendly bars in the city were located. One butch lesbian resisted arrest and was hit with a baton. On June 28, 1969, police raided the Inn and arrested several people for wearing clothes that didn’t match their sex assigned at birth. The Stonewall Inn was one of the most popular places for gay men, lesbians, drag queens and trans women to gather in New York City-perhaps because it was one of the only places LGBTQ people were able to dance. But at the time, it was simply an outpouring of bottled-up anger towards the police. The Stonewall Riots are credited with sparking the modern LGBTQ rights movement. Here are eight monumental events in LGBTQ history that took place during Pride month and brought us to where we are now. From Stonewall to the Supreme Court, Pride month has long been a time for celebration, activism and progress in the LGBTQ community.