What is Pride Month?
This is from an ally, which means that I support the LGBT community, even while not being in the community.
Pride month is in June. This year, 2019, is the 50th anniversary to the Stonewall Uprising or Stonewall Riots, depending on your source. From the Library of Congress: “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Pride Month is currently celebrated each year in the month of June to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan. The Stonewall Uprising was a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States. In the United States the last Sunday in June was initially celebrated as “Gay Pride Day,” but the actual day was flexible. In major cities across the nation the “day” soon grew to encompass a month-long series of events. Today, celebrations include pride parades, picnics, parties, workshops, symposia and concerts, and LGBTQ Pride Month events attract millions of participants around the world. Memorials are held during this month for those members of the community who have been lost to hate crimes or HIV/AIDS. The purpose of the commemorative month is to recognize the impact that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals have had on history locally, nationally, and internationally. In 1994, a coalition of education-based organizations in the United States designated October as LGBT History Month. In 1995, a resolution passed by the General Assembly of the National Education Association included LGBT History Month within a list of commemorative months. National Coming Out Day (October 11), as well as the first “March on Washington” in 1979, are commemorated in the LGBTQ community during LGBT History Month.”
Today is also the 3rd Anniversary of the Pulse Massacre in Orlando where 49 people were shot and killed at a nightclub for just being at a club.
While we do like look at the progress we have made, for example this the 20th Anniversary of the Fairness Ordinance passing in Louisville Kentucky (which protects people from being fired or denied housing , etc, in for being LGBT or for someone thinking they are), but we still have a long way to go.
Marriage equality became the law of the United States on June 26, 2015, which is great, but it isn’t the end of the battle.
When we get to the point that no one needs to “come out” to tell others they are gay or that a child is no longer kicked out for telling their parents who they are, then we will no longer need things like Pride Month. Until then, support the community, as no one should have to be worry about being fired or worse, just for being who they are.