Explained: What Is Pride Month And What Is Its Significance

The month of June is dedicated to being the annual Pride Month in the United States. Pride month 2022 begins on June 1st and goes on till June 30th. Pride Month commemorates years of struggle for civil rights and the ongoing pursuit of equal justice under the law for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community, as well as the accomplishments of LGBTQAI+ individuals.

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LGBTQAI+ Pride Month, also known as Gay Pride, is held in June in the United States and other parts of the world and involves colourful uplifting parades with floats and celebrities, as well as joyful festivals, workshops, picnics, and parties.

How is Pride Month Celebrated?

Pride Month is commemorated in a variety of ways, from parades to special activities and accolades. The purpose of this commemoration is to honour members of the LGBTQ+ community by showering them with love.

People in the LGBTQAI+ community continue to encounter a variety of challenges. Apart from the public pressures of acceptance, the personal pressures of coming out or even just realising one's sexuality can be overwhelming.

The annual celebration of Pride Month aims to facilitate this process by providing a platform for members of the community to tell their stories.

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The suggestion to call the movement 'Pride' came from L. Craig Schoonmaker who in 2015 said: ¡°A lot of people were very repressed, they were conflicted internally and did not know how to come out and be proud. That is how the movement was most useful, because they thought, maybe I should be proud¡±.

Why is Pride Month celebrated in June?

In the United States, the systematic pursuit of LGBTQ rights dates back to at least 1924, when Henry Gerber founded the Society of Human Rights in Chicago. But it was the Stonewall Inn in New York City's Greenwich Village in June 1969 that sparked the LGBTQ rights movement. Police invaded this famous LGBTQ spot in the early morning hours of June 28, arresting employees for selling liquor without a licence, roughing up many clients, and cleaning the bar. Outside, the gathering became outraged as they witnessed the bar's patrons being herded into police vans.

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Witnesses to police mistreatment of LGBTQ people have previously stood by passively, but this time the audience ridiculed the cops and tossed coins, bottles, and debris at them, causing the cops to barricade themselves in the bar and wait for backup. Soon, some 400 individuals were rioting. The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising) sparked the spark that launched the LGBTQ rights movement in the United States, despite the fact that police forces dispersed the gathering outside the bar during the next five days.

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The thought of a march in response to the Stonewall events was floated at the Eastern Regional Conference of Homophile Organisations in Philadelphia on November 2, 1969. The procession was titled the Christopher Street Liberation Day march after the street that was the core of New York City's LGBTQ community and where the procession would commence on June 28, 1970, the first anniversary of the Stonewall riots.

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A day before the pride march in New York City, 150 people in Chicago had completed a week-long celebration with the country's first Stonewall march. The "world's first permitted parade advocating for gay rights" was held on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles on the day of the New York march, while a "Gay In" was held in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.

Following that, Gay Pride, now known as LGBTQ Pride, became widely celebrated in the United States on the final Sunday in June, as mournful marches gave way to joyful celebrations. The day eventually grew into a month-long celebration.

When President Bill Clinton declared June 1999 "Gay and Lesbian Pride Month," President Barack Obama declared June "LGBT Pride Month," and President Joe Biden expanded the observance to "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ+) Pride Month," it became officially recognised by the United States government.

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