In Phoenix, the Pride celebrations are in April. There is the parade, the festivals and numerous drag shows. It’s a celebration of being LGBT and not being afraid to show it. This year was my very first pride and I loved every single part of it!
I truly felt the love from everyone. My favorite part was the parade and the drag shows. At the parade the gayness is turned up 110% and does NOT hold back. Colorful beads, rainbow flags everywhere, candy, feathers and heels, shirtless men, drag queens, allies, supporters! It was the absolute best thing I have been a part of. The modern-day pride is an amazing celebration but what was the first pride? Simply put, it was a riot for our visibility and basic human rights.
“Pride” to me means that we in the LGBT community can be visible and proud of who we are. We are able to get married and receive all the rights that come with it. We are able to adopt children. We are able to walk down the street holding hands with our significant others. However, despite this progress for the community, many of these benefits are received only by lesbians and gays.
Transgender and gender non-conforming individuals are still fighting for their visibility and their basic human rights. As a member of the LGBT community, I am eternally grateful for those who came before me and fought for our rights; for those who fought to provide a safe environment for us and for those who risked everything to be who they are.
There are many people who helped put the modern LGBT rights movement in motion, but there are two prominent figures who helped lead this movement. The incredible and fierce Marsha “Pay No Mind” Johnson and the bold and beautiful Sylvia Rivera were the forefront of this movement. They were both trans women of color and they led the revolution.
In 1969 the riots at Stonewall Inn in New York City broke out. Stonewall Inn was a hotel that was the hub of the gay community where people were allowed to be themselves and embrace their identities. In 1969 a LGBT individual was unable to express themselves or be visible in the public eye because it was a danger to their safety. This time period was a particularly rough time to be LGBT, but the Stonewall Inn was the one place where one could be free and didn’t have to worry about their safety.
Throughout history, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender people have been the target of violence and the 1969 arrests at Stonewall Inn were an example of this. On June 28, 1969, police officers invaded Stonewall Inn and arrested many of the patrons for unnecessary charges. This led to violent disputes and the community decided, “Enough is enough.” Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera helped initiate a protest and the eventual riots at Stonewall. This was their way of saying, “We are here, and we are not going to take this anymore.”
The Stonewall Riots can be seen as the very first Pride because members of the community were being mistreated, dismissed, and arrested for simply existing and the riots symbolized that establishment of public visibility and a demand for equal rights. Without this pivotal moment in history, the LGBT community would not be able to safely express themselves or have equal rights today.
Pride is meant to celebrate who we are, show our resilience towards adversity, embody what the generations of those who came before us created, and work for the future of our community. The previous generations of the LGBT community have been treated with violence and hate for simply existing, so of course we are going to be proud of what they have built so that we are able to live peacefully, equally, and fearlessly today.