How Activists Organized the First Gay Pri Paras | HISTORY

Contents:

• HOW ACTIVISTS ORGANIZED THE FIRST GAY PRI PARAS
• GAY PRI
• LGBTQ HISTORY MONTH: THE ROAD TO AMERI'S FIRST GAY PRI MARCH
• INSI THE FIRST PRI PARA—A R PROTT FOR GAY LIBERATN

HOW ACTIVISTS ORGANIZED THE FIRST GAY PRI PARAS

Leonard Fk Photographs, The LGBT Communy Center Natnal History ArchiveMark SegalEarly member of the Gay Liberatn Front and marshal of the first Pri marchThe Christopher Street Gay Liberatn Day March was as revolutnary and chaotic as everythg we did that first year after the Stonewall rts. ” Today, my origal marshal’s badge is on display the JayEarly member of the Gay Liberatn Front and Radilbians and -anizer of the first march New York and Los AngelIt was a near miracle that the first Christopher Street Wt Para Los Angel kicked off at all on June 28, 1970.

For one day, we were victor agast the Ed Davis of the world, and no one seemed “dismod” the FkelsteJohn KyperEarly member of Boston’s Gay Liberatn Front and an anizer of Boston’s first Pri ParaWe held our first march Boston 1971 — a year after New York. The march began at a baret bar lled Jacqu — which is still there and still gay — and ma three addnal stops along the route where we read a seri of mands.

ActivistI grew up Jersey Cy close to the PATH tra and was lucky to fd my first boyiend my high school sophomore homeroom class. Jam GreenProfsor of morn Lat Amerin history at Brown Universy and -anizer of Brazil’s first Gay Pri marchI lived São Plo durg the dictatorship of the late 1970s. Groups hosted the 17th ternatnal nference of ILGA (The Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn), and the energy of the ternatnal legat who attend and the excement of hostg the gatherg only add to the drama of the untry’s first actual succsful para.

GAY PRI

The fear was Schal/Associated PrsChiké Frankie EdozienAuthor of “Liv of Great Men: Livg and Lovg as an Ain Gay Man”I me to the U.

Every Fourth of July begng 1965, the Remr march—named after the need to "remd" the public of the opprsn faced by the gay muny—aimed to secure acceptance by showg how unthreateng LGBT people were to the rt of society. One year later, 1970, activists like Brenda Howard brastormed an alternative set of march that would embrace the new ethos of gay liberatn. ” The march would also be natnal spe— a forhadowg of Pri celebratns today, they wanted "a natnwi show of support" for gay rights.

View of the large crowd, some of whom are holdg up handma signs and banners, participatg a gay and lbian pri para the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, 1970. One ntgent at the 1971 Christopher Street Liberatn Day was the Gay Activists Alliance, one of a nstellatn of gay liberatn groups that formed after the Stonewall Rts. Five months after the rts, activists Craig Rodwell, his partner Fred Sargeant, Ellen Brody and Lda Rhos proposed a rolutn at the Eastern Regnal Conference of Homophile Organizatns (ERCHO) Philalphia that a march be held New York Cy to memorate the one-year anniversary of the raid.

LGBTQ HISTORY MONTH: THE ROAD TO AMERI'S FIRST GAY PRI MARCH

” The ia of “Gay Power” was thrown around, but Schoonmaker said gay dividuals lacked real power to make change, but one thg they did have was pri. ”The Stonewall Inn is a bar loted New York Cy’s Greenwich Village that served as a haven the 1960s for the cy’s gay, lbian and transgenr muny.

At the time, homosexual acts remaed illegal every state except Illois, and bars and rtrants uld get shut down for havg gay employe or servg gay patrons.

INSI THE FIRST PRI PARA—A R PROTT FOR GAY LIBERATN

Most gay bars and clubs New York at the time were operated by the Mafia, who paid rptible police officers to look the other way and blackmailed wealthy gay patrons by threateng to “out” them. Here, protters monstrate outsi the New York gay bar, Christopher's the early hours of June 28, 1969, the Stonewall Inn was raid by police wh no warng.

Sylvia Rivera was a Lata-Amerin drag queen who beme one of the most radil gay and transgenr activists of the 1960s and '70s. As -founr of the Gay Liberatn Front, Rivera was known for participatg the Stonewall Rts and tablishg the polil anizatn STAR (Street Transvte Actn Revolutnari). After the Stonewall Rts, a msage was pated on the outsi of the board-up bar readg, "We homosexuals plead wh out people to please help mata peaceful and quiet nduct on the streets of the village.