June is always one of our favorite times of the year. The beginning of summer, and the launch of Pride. For a great many of us in 2022, the rainbow flag sparks an immediate sense of joy, progress, love and belonging.
As this month’s Pride celebrations begin, it is also important to recognize that issues around race and LGBTQ+ are not mutually exclusive and we need to give a voice to this kind of intersectionality.
The Stonewall Inn in NYC, was a popular bar for the LBGTQ+ community in the late 1960s. At the time it was illegal to sell alcohol to members of the gay community so police raided the bar frequently. The patrons became increasingly frustrated with this discrimination and finally, when Stonewall was raided on 28th June, 1969 an uprising occurred.
A beautiful Black transgender woman named Marsha P. Johnson was the prominent figure who initiated this uprising alongside her friend Sylvia Rivera, a Latina transgender woman. Marsha was a transgender gay rights activist and self-identifying drag queen.
Media coverage pertaining to these riots caused more people to see the discrimination and injustice that the LGBTQ+ community faced, and this increase in awareness boosted support toward the fight for gay rights.
On 28th June 1970, the first Pride march occurred to commemorate the Stonewall Riots and it was largely in part because of Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera’s actions.
The queer community has come a long way since the Stonewall Riots, and Pride is now widely celebrated around the world.
Alarmingly however, the last two years have seen the biggest jumps in violence against transgender, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming North Americans. The greatest number of victims are Black and Latinx women.
As we begin this month of Pride, let us root ourselves in the fact that it is due to the bravery of a Black trans woman named Marth P. Johnson and a Latinx trans woman named Silvia Rivera, that gay rights and the month of pride are celebrated with joy today.
Blog Author:
Stacy Parker
Managing Director
Blu Ivy Group
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