The Center also sponsored a series of workshops throughout the day for medical professionals to educate themselves on treating clients from the LGBTQIA community. Allen Hall and Evelyn Hooker, Kinsey Institute researchers who were among the first to research homosexuality and argue against its medical classification as a mental illness. On June 12 the Persad Center (a Shadyside counseling center for sexual minorities) sponsored aa symposium at Benedum Hall Auditorium in Oakland with Drs. Organized under the banner “Gay Pittsburgh is Coming Out,” Pittsburgh’s first week of Pride events focused on providing members of the local gay community with opportunities for education, congregation, and relaxation. Pittsburgh’s first Pride in June 1973 was no exception, with a week of events organized by Gay Alternatives Pittsburgh leading up to it to the parade on June 17.
Regardless, such events were at their heart an opportunity for members of local gay communities to express their sexualities in public freely and openly. Early Pride parades were equal parts protest and pageantry, with some marchers carrying signs calling for expanded gay rights and others wearing unconventional or outlandish costumery to challenge mainstream cultural norms. Within two years Pride had reached international markets, with London holding its first Pride celebrations on July 1, 1972. They were also responsible for coordinating and sponsoring the first Pride parades, which took place in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco on June 28, 1970. Many of the most prominent gay rights organizations in the United States got their starts in the aftermath of the Stonewall riots and released newspapers and magazines that remain in publication to this day. A violent raid on the Greenwich Village gay bar the Stonewall Inn by the New York City Police Department in the early morning hours of Jprompted a series of protests that eventually spread beyond the borders of the city to encompass LGBTQIA communities across the country. During Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month, we celebrate the proud legacy LGBT individuals have woven into the fabric of our Nation, we honor those who have fought to perfect our Union, and we continue our work to build a society where every child grows up knowing that their country supports them, is proud of them, and has a place for them exactly as they are.” Photo via WikiCommons.Gay rights activists organized the first Pride parades in the United States in response to the events of the Stonewall riots of June 1969.
In 2015, he stated in his proclamation: “All people deserve to live with dignity and respect, free from fear and violence, and protected against discrimination, regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation. President Barack Obama has issued an official proclamation declaring June Pride Month since 2009.
Bush (surprise!) never issued a proclamation commemorating LGBT Pride. President Bill Clinton was the first to recognize Pride Month in 1999. presidents have officially acknowledged June as LGBT Pride Month. While LGBT people have been claiming June as Pride Month for decades, only two U.S. The cops turned their backs on us to convey their disdain, but the masses of people kept carrying signs and banners, chanting and waving to surprised onlookers." Photo via YouTube.
There were no floats, no music, no boys in briefs. In an essay for The Village Voice, Fred Sargeant recounted his experience at the CSLD March: "This was long before anyone had heard of a “Gay Pride March.” Back then, it took a new sense of audacity and courage to take that giant step into the streets of Midtown Manhattan. In 1970, a year after the Stonewall Inn rebellion thousands of LGBT New Yorkers gathered for the Christopher Street Liberation Day (CSLD) March along Sixth Avenue from Greenwich Village to Central Park, chanting, “Say it clear, say it loud! Gay is good, gay is proud!” The success of the CSLD March inspired local organizers across the United States and around the globe to start their own LGBT marches.Īt the 1973 CSLD march, transgender activist Sylvia Rivera called out transphobia in an epic speech, proving that transgender people have been part of our community's activism forever.