Publication date June 9, 2022

Why do we Celebrate the Pride Month in June?

Come June, there is pride in the air. Rainbow flags swarm public places in celebration of freedom. People retell the tales of brave people for June is Pride month. A month-long celebration of all the struggles and the victories of the LGBTQ+ community.

It all started back in 1969, which today is a global symbol of celebration and acceptance of identities. Pride month is also about remembering all the sacrifices made by the LGBTQ+ community in their journey to becoming socially accepted. The journey was not easy, society treated them like criminals, they were imprisoned, they went through chemical castrations, and they were socially ostracised and even branded as sex offenders.

Since the first pride month which was celebrated in the USA, the month-long celebration has become a symbol of pride, diversity, acceptance, and a celebration of love. But do you know why we celebrate Pride Month in June?

Source: Brittanica

How it all started!

Back in the 60s, it was very common for cops to raid gay bars in Manhatten. And all the raids were quite similar, cops would enter gay bars threaten, and beat up the staff and customers. The customers would then line up on the street and wait to get arrested. But a raid on 28 June 1969 changed things for the best. Cops raided the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street that day.

During those days, bars were not allowed to serve gay people. So the cops entered Stonewall Inn on the pretext that the gay club was operating without a liquor license. The police arrested around 13 people that day. The USA Today reported that most of the people who were arrested were either drag queens or gay men of color.

Getting harassed by the cops was nothing new for the LGBTQ+ community at that time but that night was different. The LGBTQ+ community stood up for their rights and fought back. For several days they protested which came to be known as the Stonewall Rebellion. It was not the first act of rebellion in the US by the LGBTQ+ community but it ignited the fire that helped the modern LGBTQ+ civil rights movement. The Stonewall Inn uprising changed the dialogue surrounding the LGBTQ+ community and started as we know it today the LGBTQ+ civil rights movement.

Every June, Pride Month honors the Stonewall Inn uprising through events and parades all through June. In the following years of the uprising, LGBTQ+ activists pushed and have been successful in largely achieving their legal rights. Also, the community achieved another landmark victory in June 2015, when the United States Supreme Court ruled that guaranteed same-sex couples the right to marry.

Comment down below on how you will be celebrating Pride Month 2022.

< Previous Next >