The first gay pri paras | CNN

Contents:

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

HOW ACTIVISTS ORGANIZED THE FIRST GAY PRI PARAS

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. ” 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. 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.

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

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.

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. " This sign was wrten by the Mattache Society–an early anizatn dited to fightg for gay unintified group of young people celebrate outsi the board-up Stonewall Inn after the rts.

THE FIRST GAY PRI PARAS

”Over the next several nights, gay activists ntued to gather near the Stonewall, takg advantage of the moment to spread rmatn and build the muny that would fuel the growth of the gay rights movement. They are pictured here marchg Tim Square,, Sylvia Ray Rivera (ont) and Arthur Bell are seen at a gay liberatn monstratn, New York Universy, 1970 Marsha P.

Johnson is seen at a Gay Liberatn Front monstratn at Cy Hall New York, a large crowd memorat the 2nd anniversary of the Stonewall rts Greenwich Village of New York Cy 1971. The march was 51 blocks long om wt of Sixth Avenue at Waverly Place, Greenwich Village, all the way to Sheep’s Meadow Central Park, where activists held a “Gay-. ”Spencer Grant/Getty ImagView 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 San Francis, activists marched down Polk Street and held a “Gay-” at Goln Gate Park on June 28th, too.

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

”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. “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. 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.

“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. ” 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. 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.

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 ia that LGBTQ+ people would march through the streets of New York Cy, proudly clarg their existence, their pri and their love was tly revolutnary back then.