NISOA Celebrates Pride Month
Written by Kris Fabick, R.I.D.E. Committee Member
In the United States (and across the world), June is recognized as LGBTQ+ Pride Month to commemorate the Stonewall riots that occurred in New York City in 1969. Throughout the 1950’s and 60’s in the United States, members of the LGBTQ+ community were both tracked and targeted by local, state, and federal governments and were often arrested and exposed in an attempt to rid neighborhoods and social gathering places of gay people. Many local and state governments also made it illegal to wear clothing associated with the opposite gender. During a typical raid, men without identification cards or those who used their Vietnam draft cards but were dressed in drag (in this case, a male dressing in feminine attire for performative or personal fulfillment reasons) were arrested. Patrons dressed as women were taken to the bathroom with a female officer and were required to verify their sex through physical inspection. The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous demonstrations by members (mostly people of color) of the LGBTQ+ community in reaction to a police raid of Stonewall Inn (a gay bar) on June 28, 1969.
Although the Stonewall riots occurred in 1969, it took 30 years of social activism from the LGBTQ+ community before President Bill Clinton first declared June “Gay and Lesbian Pride Month” in 1999. Subsequent presidents expanded the terminology used to be the more inclusive “LGBTQ+ Pride Month”. The Stonewall Inn was declared a historical landmark by the City of New York in 2015 and was named a national monument in 2016. Last year, it was announced that a monument would be built in New York’s Greenwich Village to commemorate the two transgender women (Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera) who are widely credited with sparking LGBTQ+ activism through their involvement in the Stonewall riots. Today, the Pride symbol most recognized is the rainbow flag (originally adopted in 1978), but there are several iterations and variations of pride flags. One such variation is the “Progress” Pride flag (created in 2018) that includes the traditional rainbow backdrop with arrow highlights that include black and brown stripes to commemorate people of color as well as the colors of the trans flag (light blue and light pink to represent the colors traditionally given to baby girls and boys at birth as well as a white stripe to represent intersex, transitioning, or gender neutral individuals).
Resources for Allyship
Learn the language:
https://www.hrc.org/resources/glossary-of-terms (Human Rights Campaign glossary)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/06/15/lgbtq-glossary-slang-ally-learn-language/101200092/ (USA Today article providing glossary of LGBTQ terms)
See the history:
https://www.nps.gov/subjects/tellingallamericansstories/lgbtqplaces.htm (National Park Service designated historical sites)
https://www.historypin.org/en/lgbtq-america/geo/37.438179,-96.631589,3/bounds/-27.217567,-150.064969,73.073185,-43.198209/paging/1 (LGBTQ America HistoryPin project—interactive map to find local places with LGBTQ history that may not be official designated as a historic site)
Support supporters:
https://www.newsweek.com/these-30-brands-are-celebrating-pride-giving-back-lgbt-community-1441707 (Newsweek article listing brands that are giving back to the LGBTQ community)
https://www.hrc.org/resources/corporate-equality-index (Interactive database to search the Human Rights Campaign’s equality index score for various corporations, municipalities, and healthcare organizations)
