LGBTQ History Month: The road to Ameri's first gay pri march

Contents:

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

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

”When John D’E heard a group of LGBTQ activists would be marchg the streets of New York June 1970, he told his boyiend and several of his gay iends. For centuri, homosexualy had been stigmatized, crimalized, and persecuted.

“Comg out” me wh threats of vlence and social that changed the aftermath of the 1969 Stonewall uprisg—when a group of LGBTQ people rted rponse to a police raid of the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar New York Cy. Now known as the first Pri paras, the gay liberatn march that took place New York and other U. )Stonewall sparks a movementDpe the rampant homophobia of the early 20th century, the LGBTQ muny had ma self visible before.

In 1965, for example, members of the Eastern Regnal Conference of Homophile Organizatns (ERCHO) began picketg each year on July 4 outsi Philalphia’s Inpennce Hall.

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

Sudnly, the gay liberatn movement that had been perlatg boiled over. “The homosexual who wants to live a life of self-fulfillment our current society has all the rds stacked agast them, ” read one 1970 article about the upg march the Gay Liberatn Front News.

“Gay Liberatn is for the homosexual who ref to accept such a ndn. Gay Liberatn is for the homosexual who stands up, and fights back. ”The first gay liberatn marchAround the untry, groups began to plan their own memorative march.

Around 150 marchers marched om Civic Center Plaza to Washgton Square shoutg slogans like “Gay power to gay people. ” The same day, a small group of San Francisns marched down Polk Street, then had a “gay-” piic that was broken up by equtrian and other New York groups had spent months planng the Manhattan event wh the help of anizers like Brenda Howard, a bisexual activist who had cut her anizg teeth durg the anti-Vietnam movement of the late 1960s. And monstrators shouted slogans like “Gay power, ” “Gay is okay, ” and “Gay, gay, all the way!

GAY PRI

I always say that gay liberatn was nceived at Stonewall 1969 and born at that first march. ” The marchers parad om Greenwich Village to Central Park, where they held a gay- gatherg wh speech and every muny weled s para. LAPD chief Edward Davis had a history of bashg LA’s gay muny, pared activists to bank robbers, and said the group would have to pay $1, 500 and post a $1.

5 ln surance bond, noted journalists Dudley Clenn and Adam Nagourney Out for Good, their history of the gay rights movement. “It changed forever my ncept of what meant to be part of the gay muny, ” Rev.

HOW ACTIVISTS ORGANIZED THE FIRST GAY PRI PARAS

Known then as the Christopher Street Liberatn Day March — named after the street on which Stonewall is loted — the para began on Washgton Place between Sheridan Square and Sixth Avenue and moved up Sixth Avenue, endg wh a “Gay-In” Central Park. It was ually “a small, pole group of gays and lbians [would picket] outsi Liberty Hall, " Sargeant scrib.

” The event was put on by a gay men's rights group lled the Mattache Society, which was one of the earlit LGBTQ+ rights groups the Uned Stat ( formed 1950). Acrdg to the History Channel, five months after Stonewall, Sargeant, Rodwell, and activists Ellen Brody and Lda Rhos attend the Eastern Regnal Conference of Homophile Organizatns (ERCHO) Philalphia and proposed a rolutn: that an annual march be held on the last Sunday June New York Cy to memorate Stonewall.

Many rried lorful pennants or signs readg "Gay Pri! " Bce not, "Comg om activist backgrounds, anizers and marchers stuck wh what they knew, prentg themselv as proud gay people through their signs, chants, and displays of affectn. ” Over a dozen LGBTQ+ rights groups were volved the planng, cludg lbian femist group the Lavenr Menace, formed rponse to mastream femism's excln of lbians; Gay Liberatn Front, formed post-Stonewall; lbian civil rights anizatn Dghters of Bilis; trans rights anizatn Queens Liberatn Front; and var stunt groups.