New York Cy was the se of the natn’s first gay pri para on June 28, 1970. A few other ci also held march that year.
Contents:
- HOW ACTIVISTS ORGANIZED THE FIRST GAY PRI PARAS
- 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
- A HISTORY OF GAY PRI CHIGO
- THE FIRST GAY PRI PARAS
HOW ACTIVISTS ORGANIZED THE FIRST GAY PRI PARAS
Gay Pri, annual celebratn, ually June the Uned Stat and sometim at other tim other untri, of lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and queer (LGBTQ) inty. Gay Pri memorat the Stonewall rts New York Cy of June 28, 1969. * the first gay pride parade was inspired by *
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.
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).
INSI THE FIRST PRI PARA—A R PROTT FOR GAY LIBERATN
The annual Pri Para Boystown is a celebratn which ntu a tradn of gay pri Chigo which dat back over a century * the first gay pride parade was inspired by *
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.
LGBTQ HISTORY MONTH: THE ROAD TO AMERI'S FIRST GAY PRI MARCH
”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.
GAY PRI
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. 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.
” 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).
A HISTORY OF GAY PRI CHIGO
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. " 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. "Sargeant and Rodwell ran the Osr Wil Bookshop, the first gay bookstore the untry, and they ed their mailg list to raise funds and spread the word. Many of the planng meetgs were also held at the bookstore; as the NYU webse Rearchg Greenwich Village History wr, "served as a type of muny center for the gay muny the village.
”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.
THE FIRST GAY PRI PARAS
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.
The first gay pri march took place New York Cy on June 28, 1970 — the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall holdg Christopher Street Liberatn Day banner, Davi / New York Public LibraryOct. Each week’s feature will clu imag om the New York Public Library’s LGBTQ week, we look back at the untry’s first gay pri march — held New York Cy on June 28, 1970, the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Rts — and what led up to that historic Saturday morng on June 28, 1969, police staged a raid at the Stonewall Inn, a mafia-n gay bar New York Cy's Greenwich Village neighborhood.