Bi-Weekly Round Up July 16: The LGBTQIA+ Movement

As Pride Month (June) has come to an end, the opportunity to reflect on this year’s events and activism reminds us how far the movement has come and where it still has to go.

This week’s weekly roundup is dedicated to providing resources regarding the LGBTQIA+ (stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, and more) movement in the United States and beyond, as well as to reflect on the history of the establishment of June as the month of Pride. At SiRO, we have quite a few items related to the movement, and are currently working on adding more.

A brief history of Pride

On June 28, 1969, a group of LGBTQ people rioted after a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City. Subsequent, the riots extended to the days immediately following this initial act of resistance. Later that year, in November, The Christopher Street Liberation Day Committee proposed the first pride march to be held in New York City to commemorate the June riots. The first Pride parade was held on June 28, 1970, despite threats of violence from outsiders.

People march into New York's Central Park during the nation's first gay pride parade on June 28, 1970. The event was held on the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall riots, when members of the gay community clashed with police who had raided the <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/09/travel/stonewall-inn-nps-national-monument-gay-rights/" target="_blank">Stonewall Inn</a> in Manhattan.
Source: CNN

Similar marches and events swiftly spread across the United States, with cities like San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Dallas, and international cities like London, Paris, West Berlin, and Stockholm.

The gay rights movement notably become more organized and less radical during the 1980s and 1990s, and the marches began dropping the words “Freedom” and “Liberation” from their names and replaced it with the more overarching term of “Gay Pride.”

Criticisms of Pride

Pride, since its initial inception in the late 1960s, has radically changed from its initial goals and has been criticized of becoming too commercialized and too “merchandized,” with many massive corporations known for human rights abuses using the imagery of Pride (the rainbow, particularly) to sell more products. Further, since Pride events have become larger and larger, organizers of these events often rely on corporate sponsorship of the event, which has drawn significant criticism as well (see here for more information on this topic).

There has also been backlash in regards to “Straight Pride”, with the total lack of awareness from those that lament the inclusion of a “Gay Pride” but not a “Straight Pride” that heterosexual and cissexual persons have never been discriminated against, beaten, arrested, killed, or harassed for their sexuality and gender identity.

Pride Today

Despite the criticism, Pride and the month of June are important events and times for the LGBTQIA+ community all over the world. The events have spread all over the globe with participants in places like Uganda, Turkey, South Korea, and other countries where being LGBTQIA+ comes not only with intense discrimination and harassment, but also the risk of imprisonment or death (it is illegal to be gay in 73 countries).

Pride is an event that allows LGBTQIA+ persons to engage in activism, to be around like others, and to celebrate the activists of the past, the present, and of the future. As such, this week’s “weekly roundup” has collected online resources about the LGBTQIA+ movement, to allow further reflection and access to resources to learn more about the month of Pride and LGBTQIA+ rights. This list is by no means exhaustive and is meant to merely be a place to begin accessing organizations and historical societies where one can learn more.

Although it is now July, Happy Pride to all.

Resources