Pride Month commemorates the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in New York and celebrates the LGBTQ+ community and the fight for equal rights.
The Stonewall Uprising began on June 28, 1969, when police raided the Stonewall Inn, a prominent gay bar in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. The subsequent protests over the next six days are credited with a shift in LGBTQ+ activism in the U.S.
The following year saw some of the first Pride parades in Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. Despite the pivotal role transgender people and women of color played in the riots, including trans activist Marsha P. Johnson, they were largely excluded from early Pride celebrations.
Today Pride Month symbolizes an opportunity for visibility and community. In addition to celebrating LGBTQ+ love and joy, it’s also often a time to highlight important policy and resource issues the community faces. In 2021, NYC Pride banned law enforcement presence at Pride events through 2025 because of escalating violence "against marginalized groups, specifically BIPOC and trans communities." And in 2023, LGBTQ+ organizations are combatting more than 650 anti-LGBTQ bills introduced this year.
Pride Month spans the month of June each year, this year beginning on Thursday, June 1st and ending on Friday, June 30th. Pride celebrations – including parades, festivals, parties and picnics – are held throughout the month in different cities across America.
