“Diversity is not about how we differ. Diversity is about embracing one another’s uniqueness.”
– Ola Joseph
Sources: Wikipedia
“Ism’s allow barriers to be built, allyship breaks them down” Laura Meck
JUNE, 2023
LGBT Pride Month is a month, typically June, dedicated to celebration and commemoration of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) pride. Pride Month began after the Stonewall riots, a series of gay liberation protests in 1969, and has since spread outside of the United States. Modern-day Pride Month both honors the movement for LGBT rights and celebrates LGBT culture.
In this edition, we hope to share many ways in which we can all celebrate, participate and engage in conversations about Pride Month.
Everyone of us has the responsibility for ensuring our own education. Everyone of us has the responsibility for engaging others. No exceptions. No excuses.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
JUNE IS PRIDE MONTH, THE TIME OF YEAR WHEN WE CELEBRATE THE IMPACT THAT LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER AND QUEER INDIVIDUALS HAVE HAD ON HISTORY. IT’S A GREAT TIME TO RECOGNIZE THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF YOUR LGBTQIA+ PEERS, LEARN A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT LGBTQIA+ HISTORY, CELEBRATE DIVERSITY, AND CONSIDER THE WAYS THAT YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE TO CREATING A MORE INCLUSIVE SOCIETY. IN TURN WE’D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU HOW YOU PARTICIPATED IN THIS YEAR’S PRIDE MONTH!
The concept of Pride Month began with the Stonewall riots, a series of riots for gay liberation that took place over several days beginning on June 28, 1969. The riots began after a police raid at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar located within Lower Manhattan in New York City. Activists Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, and Stormé DeLarverie are credited for inciting the riots, though Johnson disputes her involvement.
The year after the riots, the first pride marches were held in several US cities. The march in New York City, aimed to celebrate the "Christopher Street Liberation Day", alongside parallel marches across the US, is considered to be a watershed moment for LGBT rights. Fred Sargeant, an organizer of some of the first marches, said that the goal was to commemorate the Stonewall riots and further push for liberation. He noted that while the first marches were more akin to a protest than a celebration, it helped to remind people of LGBT communities and how they may include one's family and friends. However, transgender women and people of color were noted to have been excluded or silenced during the early marches, despite the initial riots largely consisting of them.
Following the Stonewall riots and the first pride marches, the number of LGBT groups rapidly increased, and the pride movement spread across the United States after a few years. As of 2020, most pride celebrations in major urban areas around the world are held in June, although some cities hold them at different times of the year partially because of the weather in June being suboptimal for such events.
In June 1999, US President Bill Clinton declared “the anniversary of [the] Stonewall [riots] every June in America as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month”. In 2011, President Barack Obama expanded the officially recognized Pride Month to include the whole of the LGBT community. In 2017, however, Donald Trump declined to continue the federal recognition of Pride Month in the United States, though he later recognized it in 2019 in a Tweet later used as a Presidential Proclamation. After taking office in 2021, Joe Biden recognized Pride Month and vowed to push for LGBT rights in the United States, despite previously voting against same-sex marriage and school education of LGBT topics as a US Senator.
In addition, Pride Month is often observed in several LGBT-affirming religious congregations.
The rainbow flag has become a symbol of LGBT culture.
Some have criticized how many companies release Pride Month-themed products, likening it to the concept of slacktivism, as the companies are perceived to be using the topic of LGBT rights as a means of profit, without contributing to the movement in a meaningful way. Others have criticized the seemingly hypocritical nature of companies making social media profiles evoke the rainbow pride flag while refusing to alter the profile pictures in areas without broad LGBT acceptance.
Pride is a time for celebration and acceptance. Rainbow flags are hoisted high, droves rush to parades, and LGBTQ-identifying people and allies adorn their best Pride regalia. But it’s also a time to honor the people who have paved the way for gay rights activism, like Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson, or become cultural icons through their work, like writers Virginia Woolf and Ifti Nasim.
In honor of Pride Month, discover some of history’s most prominent LGBTQ figures and their lasting impacts.
1951 - 2002
Sylvia Rivera was a queer, Latina, self-identified drag queen who fought tirelessly for transgender rights, as well as for the rights of gender-nonconforming people. After the Stonewall riots, where she was said to have thrown the first brick, Rivera started S.T.A.R. (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries), a group focused on providing shelter and support to queer, homeless youth, with Marsha P. Johnson. She also fought against the exclusion of transgender people in New York’s Sexual Orientation NonDiscrimination Act. She was an activist even on her deathbed, meeting with the Empire State Pride Agenda about trans inclusion.
1945 - 1992
Marsha P. Johnson was a black trans woman, a sex worker, and an activist who spent much of her life fighting for equality. She served as a mother figure to the drag queens, trans women, and homeless youth of Christopher Street in New York City. She was alongside Sylvia Rivera at the beginning of the Stonewall riots, and together they founded S.T.A.R. Johnson, along with Rivera, was a central figure in the beginning of the gay liberation movement of the 1970s in the United States.
1906 - 1975
Josephine Baker was a well-known entertainer of the Jazz Age and identified as bisexual. She was one of the most successful AfricanAmerican performers in French history and used her platform as an entertainer to advocate for desegregation, refusing to perform in segregated venues and even speaking at the 1963 March on Washington. Baker also served as a spy for the French during World War II, passing along secrets she heard while performing for German soldiers.
To be nobody but yourself--in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else--means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight and never stop fighting. –
E.E. Cummings1825 - 1895
Ulrichs is regarded by some as the pioneer of the modern gay movement and the first person to publicly “come out.” In fact, Volkmar Sigusch, a leading German scholar in sexual science, described him as “the most decisive and influential pioneer of homosexual emancipation … in world history.” Ulrichs was a judge in Germany but was forced to resign in 1854 after a colleague discovered he was gay. After he resigned, he became an activist for gay rights. He wrote pamphlets about being gay in Germany and, in August 29, 1867, Ulrichs spoke in Munich at the Congress of Jurists to demand legal equal rights for all sexualities.
1915 - 1962
Michael Dillon was the first trans man to undergo phalloplasty, or the surgical construction of a penis. He also is thought to be the first person to undergo testosterone therapy to begin his transition. Dillon then became a doctor and eventually served as a naval doctor. However, the press discovered that Dillon was not born male, and the attention caused him to flee to India. There, he took vows to become a monk in a Buddhist monastery.
1912 - 1987
Bayard Rustin was a close friend and advisor to Martin Luther King Jr. and organizer of the 1963 March on Washington. However, because he was an openly gay man, he did not receive wide recognition for his integral role in the civil rights movement. Rustin’s sexuality was used against him and Dr. King by opposing parties, who threatened to spread lies about their relationship. This forced Rustin to work in the shadows to prevent bringing further controversy to both Dr. King and the March on Washington. Despite this, Rustin still remained a political and gay activist, working to bring the AIDS crisis to the NAACP’s attention.
1884 - 1962
The former First Lady was a dedicated humanitarian, chairing the committee that drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for the United Nations and promoting social activism both during and after her time at the White House. While married to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt was thought to have had an affair with journalist Lorena Hickok, the first woman to have her byline appear on the front page of the New York Times. Their letters, almost 4,000 of them, chronicle a passionate romance.
1907 - 1954
Frida Kahlo was a gifted painter and openly bisexual. She used her medium to depict taboo topics, like female sexuality, pain, and feminine beauty standards, primarily through self-portraits. She also honored indigenous Mexican culture through her art, which drew the attention of Mexican painter Diego Rivera. Rivera became her patron and the two eventually married. During their marriage, Kahlo was known to have affairs with men and women, including Josephine Baker and Leon Trotsky.
1957 - 1998
Simon Nkoli is seen by many as the central hero of the gay and lesbian struggle in South Africa. He was an antiapartheid, gay rights, and HIV/ AIDS activist who founded the Gay and Lesbian Organisation of the Witwatersrand (GLOW). In 1990, Nkoli and GLOW organized the first Pride March in Johannesburg. They also played an integral role in convincing the African National Congress, South Africa’s ruling political party, to formally recognize gay and lesbian rights in the country. Five years later, Nkoli declared his HIV positive status and began working to destigmatize HIV/AIDS.
1957 - 1998
Ifti Nasim was a gay Pakistani poet who moved to the United States to avoid persecution for his sexuality. His collection of poems, Narman, is thought to be the first gay-themed book of poetry written and published in Urdu. He also founded SANGAT/Chicago, an organization which supported the South Asian LGBTQ community. Nasim was honored in 1996 by being inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame.
1882 - 1941
The iconic feminist writer was married to Leonard Woolf while having an affair with fellow writer Vita SackvilleWest, who was openly bisexual. When writing about her affair and marriage, Woolf said in her journal, “The truth is one has room for a good many relationships.” Her novel, Orlando, is thought to be a love letter to her relationship with Sackville-West. Sackville-West’s son described the novel as “the longest and most charming love letter in literature.”
1934 - 1994
Playwright and director Nancy Cárdenas is thought to be one of the first Mexican people to openly come out on television. Much of her work revolved around her lesbian identity, writing collections of poetry and plays addressing gay and lesbian themes. She wasn’t only a writer—she was also an activist. Cárdenas helped start the struggle against gay prejudice in Mexico and fought for equal rights for everyone, no matter their sexuality.
While not a comprehensive list of books to read, here are a few favorites; inspirational, engaging and enlightening. Take some time this month to read one (or two) and let us know your favorites. OR - share with us your reading list!
• ‘David Bowie Made Me Gay: 100 Years of LGBT Music’ by Darryl W
• ‘The Guncle’ by Steven Rowley
• ‘The Queer Bible’ by Jack Guinness
• ‘Tomorrow Will Be Different: Love, Loss and the Fight for Trans Equality’ by Sarah McBride
• The Truth About Goodbyeby Russell Ricard
• Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart
• The Gay Agenda by Ashley Molesso & Chessie Needham
• Things We Shouldn’t Say by Jay Coles
• Some Girls Do by Jennifer Dugan
We are not what other people say we are. We are who we know ourselves to be, and we are what we love. – Laverne Cox
Art is at its best when it reflects the world around us, offers insight into others’ lived experiences, teaches us something about our history or holds a mirror up to our own lives. And if we’re lucky, it’s all of the above. Regardless of your background, adding more diverse films to your movie night diet shows Hollywood how important they really are. Not only does watching more movies about PRIDE offer a learning experience, but it helps the cause of aligning media with what the world we live in actually looks like.
This documentary focuses on drag queens living in New York City and their “house” culture, which provides a sense of community and support for the flamboyant and often socially shunned performers. Groups from each house compete in elaborate balls that take cues from the world of fashion. Also touching on issues of racism and poverty, the film features interviews with a number of renowned drag queens, including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija and Dorian Corey.
Megan (Natasha Lyonne) considers herself a typical American girl. She excels in school and cheerleading, and she has a handsome footballplaying boyfriend, even though she isn’t that crazy about him. So she’s stunned when her parents decide she’s gay and send her to True Directions, a boot camp meant to alter her sexual orientation.
In 1939, newly created British intelligence agency MI6 recruits Cambridge mathematics alumnus Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) to crack Nazi codes, including Enigma -- which cryptanalysts had thought unbreakable. Turing’s team, including Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley), analyze Enigma messages while he builds a machine to decipher them. Turing and team finally succeed and become heroes, but in 1952, the quiet genius encounters disgrace when authorities reveal he is gay and send him to prison.
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June, 2023
There are many things each of us can do. It starts wtih talking, understanding and learning. We’d love to hear how you participated in Pride activities~
1. Education: Read an article about the LBGTQ+ community
2. Attend a Pride Parade or Event in your community
3. Donate or Volunteer
4. Become an advocate
5. Support LGBTQ+ art and culture
6. Display the Pride flag in support
7. Support LGBTQ+ Businesses
8. Host an event for a cause
9. Talk openly about, with, and on behalf of the LBGTQ+ community
10. Be an Ally. Listen and support.
We would love to hear if you have other suggestions or ideas on ways to celebrate!
“Success isn’t about how much money you make, it’s about the difference you make in people’s lives.” – Michelle Obama
