The Evolution of Gay Pride

By facebooker_2293344380885966

  • Vigils

    Vigils and pickets are held by homophilic groups to mourn lost members of the gay community. Attendees wear black and gender-specific clothes (Holland, 2017).

  • Annual Reminders

    On the fourth of July, homophilic groups hold protests called “Annual Reminders” at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, the home of U.S. declaration of independence (Francis, 2016).

  • The Beginning of Stonewall

    Police storm into Stonewall Inn, a bar operating without a liquor license due to the fact that the state did not give licensing to establishments that served gay men or women. A cop strikes a gay woman over the head. The woman calls out for help to the crowd of quickly increasing size, and the crowd fights back. The crowd grows, and a riot ensues. The cops hide from the rioting crowd inside of the bar. To protest this, the crowd lights the bar on fire. (Holland, 2017).

  • The Stonewall Riots

    In the six days following the raid, protests continue outside of Stonewall. Stonewall Inn had been a safe space for gays, and allowed drag queens and homeless LGBTQ+ youth to perform or stay the night for reasonable prices (Holland, 2017).

  • Planning a Movement

    A year following the Stonewall Riots, activists come together to propose an annual march on the last Saturday of June in honour of what occurred at the Stonewall Inn and to bring together the LGBTQ+ community. The activists who proposed this march are named Craig Rodwell, Fred Sargeant, Ellen Brody, and Linda Rhodes. After the Eastern Regional Conference of Homophile Organizations approve this, the activists suggest that the march should have no dress code for attendees (Holland, 2017).

  • Putting Actions into Plans

    Brenda Howard, a bisexual feminist and anti-war advocate puts the plans for the first NYC pride parade into motion (Holland, 2017)

  • Chicago and California Join

    A day before the NYC march, the gay community of Chicago marches in solidarity. The celebration lasts a week, and included a gay dance, workshops, and speeches. Los Angeles holds their march the same day as NYC did, and took their protests to Hollywood Boulevard. The LGBTQ+ community is granted the right to march if they pay fees reaching over $1.5 million. San Francisco holds a “Gay-in” at Golden Gate Park. (Holland, 2017).

  • Christopher Street Liberation Day March

    At the time, the event is known as Christopher Street Liberation Day March. While considering the slogan that should be used for this march, pride was mentioned. What the gay community lacked in power, they made up for in pride. This term is brought to the table by L. Craig Shoonmaker. From this idea, the official chant became “Say it loud, gay is proud”. The march is 51-blocks long, and ends in Central Park where the community held a “Gay-in” (Holland, 2017).

  • The Rainbow Flag

    Gilbert Baker, an American veteran, artist and gay rights activist creates the first draft of the now-iconic rainbow gay pride flag. Each colour of the flag signifies something: pink for sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, light blue for magic, dark blue for serenity, and lastly purple for spirit (Baker, 2019). The same year, Harvey Milk the first openly-gay San Francisco city supervisor and friend of Baker, was assassinated (Winsor, 2018).

  • Operation Soap

    “Operation Soap” occurs in February of 1981 Toronto where police raid four bathhouses. At the time of the raid, 300 men are arrested. After this injustice, rallies are held and Pride is officially recognized by the city of Toronto (Francis, 2016). In May of 1981, a gay bathhouse in Edmonton called Pisces Health Spa is raided. 56 men are arrested in this raid. This spurred the gay community to push for civil liberties and become visible members of society. (Francis, 2016).

  • Pride Goes National

    South Africa becomes the first country to host a pride parade. (Francis, 2016).

  • Diversity in Pride

    The first official Black pride parade is held in Washington, D.C. at Club House, a gay bar known to be a meeting spot for many gay people of colour (Ballou, 2016)

  • Clinton Makes History

    President Bill Clinton becomes the first world leader to declare June to be Gay and Lesbian Pride month (Holland, 2017).

  • First Legal Recognition of Gay Marriage

    The Netherlands becomes the first country to legally recognize gay marriage, in addition to giving gays the right to adopt children. (Noble, 2015).

  • Canada Recognizes Gay Marriage

    Same-sex marriage is recognized by the government and becomes legal in Canada in accordance with the Civil Marriage Act (Brown, 2017).

  • Going Backwards in India

    Homosexuality is decriminalized in India, despite this discouraging fact, the gay community still hosts a pride parade in New Delhi (Francis, 2016).

  • The United States Progresses

    The Supreme Court rules 5-4 that the states cannot ban gay marriage (CNN, 2019).

  • Stonewall Recognized as History

    Barack Obama establishes the first ever LGBT national park site around Stonewall Inn, named the Stonewall National Movement (Holland, 2017). Justin Trudeau is the first Prime Minister of Canada to march in a pride parade, and he raises the gay pride flag on parliament hill for the first time in Canadian history (Stewart, 2018).Black Lives Matter pushes pride back towards its roots by halting the Toronto Pride Parade to demand representation for Black and Indigenous people. (Francis, 2016).

  • Trans Flag Recognized Nationally

    In addition to the gay pride flag flown on Parliament hill for the month of June, Trudeau raises the transgender flag (Stewart, 2018).