????️????June is PRIDE Month????️????
The month of June is filled with Gay Pride celebrations, festivals, and parades that commemorate all the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people that have been discriminated against because of sexuality and/or gender.
Local festivals include The Franklin Pride Parade and Festival on June 4, the 2022 Nashville Pride Festival on June 25 & 26, and the LGBT Pride 2022 In Murfreesboro.
Pride parades are the result of Gay Activists Alliance and Gay Liberation Front marches in the late 1960’s that were a precursor to the Stonewall riots. The Stonewall Inn was an illegal gay bar in the Greenwich Village part of Manhattan, NY; it was run by the mafia to give the New York City’s gay population a place to mingle and associate, which, prior to 1970, was illegal in the United States. The Stonewall was raided on the evening of June 28, 1969 by the New York City police, starting a riot that lasted for days. It was the culmination of constant discrimination, inequality, and intolerance.
Marsha P. Johnson was an American gay liberation activist and self-identified drag queen. Known as an outspoken advocate for gay rights, Johnson was one of the prominent figures in the Stonewall uprising of 1969.
Although there had been peaceful Gay Alliance Marches in Washington DC during the 1950’s and 1960’s, it seemed that it took this single act of revolt and violence to get the Gay Rights activism ball rolling. A march was planned for the following June 28, to commemorate the riots, by scattered gay activist communities in New York, Washington DC, Los Angeles, and San Francisco; by the next year, 1971, the marches were international.
The “Gay Liberation” or “Gay Freedom” marches evolved into the Gay Pride Parade. The word ‘pride’ was used to soften the movement from ‘liberation’ and ‘freedom’ and was indicated to promote the philosophy asserting that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals should be proud of their sexual orientation and gender identity.
Although there have recently been some “Straight Pride” attempts to promote heterosexuality, the distinction becomes moot without a long history of inequality and discrimination based on heterosexuality.
June also is the month that is celebrated for the landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that struck down all state bans against same sex marriage, on the basis that marriage is a fundamental right guaranteed by both the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. After a rocky history during the second half of the twentieth century, ultimately by 2010, with over 70 percent of the U.S. population in agreement, June 26, 2015 was the day same sex marriage became legal in all fifty states. This allows lesbian and gay couples equal benefits of marriage which include social security and veterans’ benefits, health insurance, Medicaid, hospital visitation, estate taxes, retirement savings, pensions, family leave, and immigration law.
~Dori
Conversations about LGBTQ+ Experiences. DVD DVD 306.76 CON
Hola Papi!: How to Come Out in a Walmart Parking Lot and Other Life Lessons by John Paul Brammer. 306.766092 BRA
Pride: The Celebration and the Struggle by Robin Stevenson. YA 306.76 STE
Raising LGBTQ Allies: A Parent’s Guide to Changing the Messages from the Playground by Chris Tompkins. 306.766 TOM [New Book Shelf]
The Stonewall Generation: LGBTQ Elders on Sex, Activism, and Aging edited by Jane Fleishman. 306.76084 STO
For more information about these topics, consider the following sources:
https://guides.ll.georgetown.edu/c.php?g=592919&p=4182201
https://www.history.com/topics/gay-rights/the-stonewall-riots
https://nationalwomenshistoryalliance.org/resources/commemorations/gay-lesbian-pride-month/
https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/trump-recognizes-lgbtq-pride-month-first-time-n1012611