Black transgender womxn, who are one of the minority groups who experience discrimination, are being murdered at alarming rates and face poverty among other forms of injustice. Issues about race and LGBTQ+ identity are not mutually exclusive, and it is important to give a voice to this kind of intersectionality. Additionally, people seem to be uneducated about who pioneered and instigated the rise of Pride. There is ongoing discourse about the whitewashing and lack of representation that we see regarding the history of Pride. Many people of colour were involved in the Stonewall Riots, and particularly, a Black transgender womxn named Martha P. Johnson. She was a prominent figure who began the uprising among the LGBTQ+ community, along with her friend Sylvia Rivera, a Latinx transgender womxn. Let’s dive into the history of Pride to see its importance and why the Stonewall Riots should be remembered as one of the most important events for the queer community.
The Stonewall Riots began on 28th June 1969. Stonewall Inn was a well-known gay bar in New York City where people of the LGBTQ+ community gathered and could enjoy themselves. However, the selling of alcohol to members of the community was illegal at the time, so police raided the bar frequently. The LGBTQ+ patrons grew frustrated with the discrimination they experienced, and so, when Stonewall was raided on 28th June that year, an uprising occurred. The Stonewall Riots continued for six days, and it is regarded as one of the most pivotal events in the LGBTQ+ movement, as it was the first time that the gay community had stood up for their rights in the fight against discrimination. As a result, the formation of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) and the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA), which were gay rights organisations, occurred within six months after the riots.
Marsha P. Johnson was one of the prominent participants of the Stonewall Riots, and was the person who propagated the uprising and resistance against the police. Johnson was a transgender gay rights activist and self-identifying drag queen, as well as a founding member of the GLF. Johnson is claimed to be one of the main figures at the Stonewall Riots, as eyewitnesses state that she threw a shot glass into a mirror when the police entered the bar and yelled, “I got my civil rights.” She climbed a lamppost and dropped a heavy bag onto a police car, shattering the windshield. There is some contestation around the actual happenings at the beginning of the riots, but all sources mention Johnson as the main person who instigated the riots. The media coverage pertaining to the 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, known as Christopher Street Liberation Day, occurred to commemorate the Stonewall Riots. The first Pride marches took place in New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco. People such as Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera prompted and empowered Brenda Howard (known as the “Mother of Pride”) to initiate the first gay Pride march in 1970. While LGBTQ+ activism had started before the Stonewall Riots, the riots amplified the LGBTQ+ rights movement. These marches were a celebration, provided much needed visibility for the community and were a form of political activism. The following year, the gay Pride marches became more widespread, occurring in areas such as Stockholm, London and Paris, and the number of participants grew significantly.
In 1968, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) had listed homosexuality as a mental illness in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM). However, due to the efforts of gay rights activists, the APA removed homosexuality from the DSM in 1973. This was a significant win for the LGBTQ+ community.
June is now officially known as Pride Month in most countries around the world, and gay marriage is becoming accepted and legalised in more countries as well.
The queer community has come a long way since the Stonewall Riots, and Pride has become widely celebrated across the world. However, the events of 2020 – the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, LGBTQ+ protection being revoked in America, and “Operation Pride Fall” – have emphasized the need for awareness and education regarding the matters that involve minority groups such as people of colour in the LGBTQ+ community. It is important to remember that marginalisation within the LGBTQ+ community is a reality that many people face. Even though the community has gone through a lot of adversity and discrimination to gain the support, acceptance and awareness it is receiving, erasure and lack of support is widespread within the community itself. Certain sexual and gender identities engage in erasure and discrimination of other identities, such as Black trans womxn, which is antithetical to the ethos of the LGBTQ+ rights movement.