The History of Pride They Don’t Teach in School
By Sassafras Lowrey
Pride isn’t just a time to wear rainbow accessories and dancing with our friends. Pride is about uplifting and celebrating our community, but it’s also a time of recognizing, honoring, and remembering the struggle and battles our community has overcome (and continues to fight) towards equality and our cultural history of resilience and resistance.
Unfortunately, most of us aren’t taught anything about LGBTQ history in schools, including the history of Pride and what we are honoring and remembering during Pride Month. Here are some parts of LGBTQ+ Pride Month history you might not know that provide context for why we gather as a community in June.
Stonewall Is/Was A Real Place:
If you’ve heard anything about Pride you’ve probably heard about Stonewall, but not everyone knows that Stonewall isn’t a metaphor- it is actually a real place. The Stonewall Inn in New York City’s Greenwich Village is considered the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ rights movement. In 2016 The Stonewall Inn became the first LGBTQ-specific US National Monument. If you live in NYC or ever travel to New York you can walk through Greenwich Village to the site of Stonewall and see this important landmark.
What Were They Rioting?
In the 1960s it wasn’t uncommon for gay bars to be raided by the police. At this time, it was illegal to not be wearing at least three pieces of clothing that were considered “gender-appropriate” for your sex assigned at birth. As a result, people were arrested for dressing in ways that felt gender-affirming. It was also illegal to sell alcohol to LGBTQ+ people and to have gay bars and clubs. On the night of June 28th, 1969 the Stonewall Inn was raided, but this time bar patrons fought back against the raid and resisted arrest. Tired of mistreatment and discrimination LGBTQ+ people fought back against the police and kicked off days of resistance against police brutality and their targeting of LGBTQ+ people. News of the rebellion spread and in the aftermath of the Stonewall uprising LGBTQ organizations and civil rights groups began being formed and people began more publicly organizing for LGBTQ rights. In 2019 around the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots the New York City Police Commissioner issued an apology on behalf of the NYPD saying the police actions taken that night in 1969 were wrong.
The Role of Youth:
The 1960s was a time of youth resistance, and the Stonewall Riots were no exception. The people who started the Stonewall uprising were LGBTQ+ people who were patrons at the Stonewall Inn that night and LGBTQ+ people who were in the streets and nearby. Much of the Stonewall uprising was led by LGBTQ+ people of color, young queer people, and transgender people. Young adults, especially homeless youth in the streets near Stonewall played an important role in the Stonewall uprising, just like LGBTQ+ youth are an important part of organizing in our community today.
When Was the First Pride March:
The first official pride march took place in NYC in 1970 one year after the Stonewall Riots. It was called the “Gay Pride Liberation March” and took place in Manhattan. The march was attended by thousands of people and you can actually see footage from that first rally in archival footage from The Library of Congress. Following the success of this march other cities began planning Pride Marches and Rallies in June in the following years. Now, many communities not just in the United States but around the world host Pride marches, rallies and events during June.
When Was the First Pride March:
Considered mothers of the LGBTQ+ rights movement, Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson were transgender women of color who fought back against police during the Stonewall uprisings. Sylvia and Marsha were community leaders founding the first homeless LGBTQ+ youth shelter in the country, STAR (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries) that provided housing to homeless transgender youth. When asked about Stonewall Sylvia Rivera was once quoted as saying “I was a radical, a revolutionist. I am still a revolutionist…I am glad I was in the Stonewall riot. I remember when someone threw a Molotov cocktail, I thought, “My god, the revolution is here. The revolution is finally here!” Sylvia and Marsha through their lives and work continued to speak out for the most marginalized members of the community especially LGBTQ+ people of color, transgender people, and homeless youth.
The First Pride Flag:
We see rainbow flags everywhere at Pride but where did the pride flag come from? Gilbert Baker is the creator of the first Pride Flag in 1978. The original pride flag debuted at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade on June 25th, 1978. The original pride flag had eight colors on it: hot pink, red, orange, yellow, green, turquoise, indigo, and violet. Each of these colors had a unique meaning. The pride color meanings were:
Hot pink: Sex
Red: Life
Orange: Healing
Yellow: Sunlight
Green: Nature
Turquoise: Magic and art
Indigo: Serenity
Violet: Spirit.
In reproductions of the flag, the hot pink and turquoise were removed because it was hard to source those fabric colors, which is how the community got what we think of as the classic pride flag. Since that time the Pride flag has evolved and expanded in 2017 the Philadelphia Pride flag which added black and brown stripes to represent the important role that LGBTQ+ people of color have played in the community was released. Then, in 2018 the Progress Pride flag which includes pin, white, and blue from the transgender pride flag was released and has become a popular inclusive sight during Pride and Pride events.
About the Author:
Sassafras Lowrey’s novels and nonfiction books have been honored by organizations ranging from the American Library Association to the Lambda Literary Foundation and the Dog Writers Association of America. Sassafras’ work has appeared in The New York Times, Wired, and numerous other newspapers and magazines. Sassafras has taught queer writing courses and workshops at LitReactor, the NYC Center For Fiction and at colleges, conferences, and LGBTQ youth centers across the country. You can find more of Sassafaras’ written works, including an edited collection exploring LGBTQ+ youth homelessness entitled Kicked Out, at www.SassafrasLowrey.com.
