Pride Month 2025
June 2025 marks pride month, celebrated by the LGBTQ+ community. It is a time of pride and celebration for people who identify as part of the queer spectrum; Pride month was created to commemorate the Stonewall Riots. The Stonewall Riots took place between June 27th, 1969, and were sparked by several nights of violence towards members of the LGBT+ community in New York City.
Pride originally started as a political movement that aimed to fight against discrimination within government institutions and build an inclusive society centered around hope rather than fear. Now, Pride Month has turned into more than just a protest but also an opportunity for nongovernmental organizations, corporations, colleges, high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools to promote LGBT+ pride educationally.
The Origins of Pride Month
On June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village, resulting in patrons and staff of the establishment, as well as neighborhood residents, rioting on Christopher Street outside. Marsha P. Johnson was one of the many leaders behind the protests that continued for six days and nights with demonstrations and fights.
The protesters’ demands were clear: they wanted the establishment of gay-friendly locations where LGBT+ individuals could be open about their orientation without fear of arrest.
Brenda Howard, a bisexual activist, is credited with starting Pride Month. Brenda Howard, also known as “The Mother of Pride,” organized the Gay Pride Week and the Christopher Street Liberation Day Parade one year after the Stonewall Riots. This eventually evolved into what we know today as the New York City Pride March, which was responsible for the creation of similar parades and marches all over the world.
The rainbow flag was designed by a gay civil rights leader, Harvey Milk, who commissioned a talented designer friend, Gilbert Baker to create an all-encompassing sign for the San Francisco Pride March in 1978. On November 23, 1978, in San Francisco City Hall, Dan White, a disgruntled former supervisor enraged at Milk for lobbying against his reappointment on the Board of Supervisors, murdered both Mayor George Moscone and Harvey Milk.
In 1999, Bill Clinton became the first President of the United States to officially recognize Pride Month. Barack Obama recognized June LGBT Pride Month from 2009 through 2016. Donald Trump declared June 2019 Pride Month with a tweet, noting that his administration had started a worldwide effort to decriminalize homosexuality, despite objections that actions speak louder than words.
The New York Pride Parade is one of the world’s largest and most well-known LGBT pride parades, with over 2.5 million attendees anticipated for 2022 in the mist of COVID 19 outbreak.
How Gay Pride Spread Across the United States
On June 27, 1970, Chicago Gay Liberation planned a protest from Washington Square Park (“Bughouse Square”) to the Water Tower at Michigan and Chicago avenues, which was the intended route, but many of the participants then spontaneously marched on to the Civic Center (now Richard J. Daley) Plaza.
The date was picked because the Stonewall riots began on June 28th and because organizers wanted to reach as many Michigan Avenue shoppers as possible. Following in their footsteps, subsequent Chicago parades have been held on the last Sunday of June, when similar parades take place all around the world. Gay activist groups on the West Coast of the United States subsequently organized a march in Los Angeles and a march and “Gay-in” in San Francisco during the same weekend.
In 1973, the city of São Paulo hosted the first Gay Pride event. The year after, Boston, Dallas, Milwaukee, London, Paris, West Berlin, and Stockholm joined in. In 1972 there were also Chicago and San Francisco among the 25 cities that took part.
After the Stonewall riots, Paul-Louis Cohen realized the transformative impact of the event. He was used to persuasion as an activist in the 1950s, trying to persuade heterosexuals that gay people were no different from them. When he and other protesters marched in front of the White House, State Department, and Independence Hall just five years earlier, their goal was to appear capable of working for the federal government.
During the Annual Reminder in Washington, D.C., ten individuals walked with Kameny and did not announce to the media. Despite being taken aback by the upheaval among participants in the Annual Reminder in 1969, he stated, “By the time of Stonewall there were over a hundred gay organizations throughout the nation. A year later, when it came to counting things, there were at least fifteen hundred. By two years after that, if a count could be done accurately enough for an estimate to be made, it was about twenty-five hundred.”
Randy Wicker, like Ben Bradley, expressed remorse for his reaction to the change in attitude following the riots. “One of the greatest mistakes of his life,” he called it. Many gay people were struck by what they perceived as a demonstration of force: homosexuals retaliating against cops after so many decades when such treatment was not challenged.
Until 1969, this movement was often known as the homosexual or homophile movement. The Stonewall riots are frequently regarded as the genesis of the gay rights movement. It was unquestionably the start of gay pride on a major scale.
How To How To Commemorate Pride Month 2025
- Wear a Pride flag
- Join in a pride parade
- Watch home movies on the meaning of Pride
- Read pride history
- Watch pride movies at your local cinema
- Write an article about pride month
- How To Celebrate Pride Month 2025
- Wear a pride flag
- Join in a pride parade
- Read pride history
- Watch pride movies at your local cinema
In Summary
Although pride month is celebrated by the entire LGBT+ community, pride itself has different meanings for each person. For some pride, the month is an opportunity to educate people about their sexuality and gender identity, while for others pride is more of a celebration of what they have overcome to be able to live authentically.
Pride month is about celebrating both what has been achieved by the LGBT+ community as well as educating people about their sexuality and gender identity. Celebrating pride month 2021 will include pride events such as pride parades where everyone can join in with celebrations that are meaningful to them.
Pride month celebrates the hard-won achievements of an autonomous LGBT+ movement while also embodying a global grassroots call for LGBT+ rights. It’s celebrated annually around June to commemorate the Stonewall riots of 1969 which occurred during 1969 at The Stonewall Inn in New York City. These riots are generally considered to be the most important event leading to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBT+ rights in the United States.
There are pride parades taking place all over the world. Find the pride parade closest to you and find out how pride is celebrated in your country, city, neighborhood.
For more information check out our All Glorious December Global Holidays article here.
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