We are now halfway through Pride Month. Many are asking, "why's there a month for LGBT pride? What are they proud of? It's just who they are."
The best way to answer that is by explaining why Pride Month is in June to begin with: the Stonewall Uprising. 1/17
The best way to answer that is by explaining why Pride Month is in June to begin with: the Stonewall Uprising. 1/17
For most of US history, it was illegal to be gay, or to dress in clothes that weren't traditionally associated with your assigned gender. After WW2, Cold War era paranoia led most policymakers and pundits to consider gender and sexual minorities to be a major threat. 2/17
To give you an idea of prevailing ideas of LGBT people at the time, a 1950 Senate investigation reported that "It is generally believed that those who engage in overt acts of perversion lack the emotional stability of normal persons"... 3/17
...and concluded that all intelligence agencies "are in complete agreement that sex perverts in Government constitute security risks".
Not only was it illegal to be gay or trans, the mere suggestion that someone was LGBT could ruin their careers and lives. 4/17
Not only was it illegal to be gay or trans, the mere suggestion that someone was LGBT could ruin their careers and lives. 4/17
Even so-called "homophile" gay rights orgs such as The Mattachine Society avoided using the term "Gay" in their name, & never stated whether any of their members were gay/lesbian.
LGBT people lived in fear for their lives & safety, even if they remained in the closet. 5/17
LGBT people lived in fear for their lives & safety, even if they remained in the closet. 5/17
It was against this backdrop of fear that illegal gay clubs operated around America, including the Stonewall Inn in NYC. Stonewall operated like prohibition-era speakeasies: very discrete, strictly limiting who was allowed in, paying off police to look the other way, etc. 6/17
Stonewall came to be one of the most popular gay bars in the country, a place where people could be free to be who they were, in a world where even the rumor of their identity could destroy them. 7/17
And then on June 28, 1969, the NYPD came to raid the Stonewall, shut it down and arrest everyone there for violating New York "morality" laws. 8/17
Whether it was the sweltering heat of that night, the unusually violent tactics that the police were using during the raid, or maybe just that it was the final straw, the clubgoers started fighting back. 9/17
It's believed that two trans women of color, Marsha P. Johnson & Sylvia Rivera, were the 1st to start throwing fighting the police. Very quickly, the crowd overwhelmed the NYPD, forcing some to retreat and the rest to barricade themselves in the Stonewall. 10/17
Reinforcements arrived, both for the police and the rioters. The following night, the Stonewall reopened, the police came back, and the LGBT community started rioting again until they retreated. This went on for a few days, finally settling into a remarkable stalemate. 11/17
The Stonewall Uprising sparked a rebellion in the LGBT community, and within weeks the Gay Liberation Front was formed. This was the first gay rights group in the US to ever have the name "Gay" in it. 12/17
Gay rights groups began to pop up left and right, to express their PRIDE in their identities, instead of allowing the threats of punishment to keep them closeted any longer. 13/17
A year later, on June 28, 1970, the very first Pride Parade was started at the Stonewall and marched through NYC, as well as in many other cities around the world in solidarity. 14/17
The extreme oppression of gender and sexual minorities in the US might seem surreal to many, especially considering that it wasn't that long ago. That's because of the fight that the founders of the Gay Pride movement undertook, to make things better for future generations. 15/17
This is what Pride Month is about: expressing pride in something that many others wish to criminalize and stigmatize, and commemorating the act of resistance against oppressive government that began the movement to liberate themselves from that oppression. 16/17
Pride Month emboldens LGBT people around the world, in the face of continued oppression of many by their gov'ts.
The Libertarian Party stands with the LGBT community, & anyone who exerts their autonomy & self-ownership, against anyone who tries to violate it.
Happy Pride.
The Libertarian Party stands with the LGBT community, & anyone who exerts their autonomy & self-ownership, against anyone who tries to violate it.
Happy Pride.
