Hi everyone. I hope everything is going well. This time, I would like to write about "Pride Month." This blog covers the history of how and where it was first started. It also includes the current situation regarding society’s response to this celebration. As we are more into adapting to modern happenings, we are ready to accept the LGBTQ community and support them without any discrimination. So, I take pride in sharing it on my page.
I don’t know about others, but I get to know about this community thoroughly only after watching series (Thai series, especially). Before that, I had heard about homosexuals, gays, and transgender people to some extent. But after I started watching the series, I realized there was a community of people and a flag to support them. Slowly, I read about it and decided to share it in my next post. And here it is. Scroll down to dive in further.
HISTORY!
First, Pride Month started as a protest before turning into a celebration. On June 29, 1969, the official riots started at the bar, Stonewall Inn, which is located in a green village New York. The police received information about the queer community visiting the bar and decided to raid it without prior notice. They even had the authority to shut down the bar by filing a complaint against it. But at that time, all the members of the queer community stood against the police force and fought for their rights and community. Slowly, the headcount of people increased, followed by the slogans "Gay is power" and "Gay is pride."
Mark Segal was the first person to take the initiative to raise his voice for the rights of the LGBTQ community. Marsha P. Johnson (a transwoman and activist) was the first person to throw bricks at the police force who came to drag them out of the bar. These two people have been the backbone of the celebration and the rights the community received.
The protest continued till night; people began to shout by saying the following words: We are taking our street back. You guys can no longer control or dominate us. We are going to create our own identity and a community to live.
After a year, on the same day, June 29, 1970, people started a pride parade from Stonewall. Gay activists from New York organized a Christopher Street Liberation march to end the first week of Pride month. Hundreds of people joined the march and started marching up 6th Avenue towards Central Park. The parade began to stretch up to 15 blocks, and support increased by thousands of people. Activists from other countries (Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, and Los Angeles) started the celebration on the same day and continued for the whole day.
FLAG!
To support and popularize the LGBTQ community, a "rainbow"-colored flag was used. It was first used as a symbol of pride by an artist named Gilbert Baker, who lived in San Francisco. All the colors in the flag represent diversity. Each color in particular represents different things, as follows: hot pink (which was removed) represents sex; red represents life; orange represents healing; yellow represents sunlight; green represents nature; turquoise represents magic and art; indigo (now changed to royal blue) represents serenity; and violet represents spirit.
Apart from the rainbow flags, there are several other flags for the LGBTQ community: the gay flag, the lesbian flag, and the pansexual flag.
INFLUENCERS!
In recent times, we have found that DEI (Diversity Equality Inclusion) plays a vital role on all platforms, starting with ads, organizations, and other social media to create awareness. At first, it started with giving attention to people with disabilities, gender, and racism, but now it includes the LGBTQ community. Many people came forward to raise their voices for the community and have been top influencers these days. Let’s look in detail at the influencers.
We can find people in all the fields, starting with fashion, fitness, art, health and wellness, travel, blogging, video creation, content creation, and so on. They tried to speak of the mind to the audience and slowly created an evolution of the community. This did indeed help society accept and respect them. There is nothing different between us.
RICKEY THOMPSON!
He is an American actor, comedian, and internet personality. He was born on February 6, 1996. He attended Millbrook High School, where he used to perform in theater productions. People used to bully him for being gay, and he has experienced suffering because of it. Irrespective of criticism, he used to post YouTube videos about his experience with bullying and his views about fashion. He started gaining attention when he used Vine (an American short film hosting service where six videos can be posted at once) to post comedic videos about himself, mostly talking directly to the camera.
Around 2016, he came out openly and said he is gay. After that, he started to gain fame. He also appeared on the cover of the Gay Times in 2019. He starred in the series" Foursome," streamed on YouTube Premium from 2016–2018. He has been a motivator for people to accept who they are and come out of the shell.
BLAIR IMANI!
She is an American author, historian, and activist (a person who campaigns to bring about social and political change). She is identified as queer (an umbrella term used to represent people who are not heterosexual or cisgender), black, bisexual, and Muslim.
She is a member of the Black Lives Matter movement, an international social movement formed in the United States in 2013. This was formed to fight against racism, discrimination, and inequality faced by black people. She is also known for protesting against the Alton Sterling shooting incident and Executive Order 13769 (prohibiting the entry of foreign terrorists into the country of the USA, also labeled as the "Muslim ban" and the Trump travel ban).
Imani graduated from Louisiana State University in 2015. During her time at the university in 2014, she founded an organization called HER (Health Education Resources). This foundation doesn’t run for profit; instead, it provides a source of help for people in need, a place for women in need, and supports non-binary people (individuals who are born with more than one sexual orientation).
She is also an author known for her bestselling book "Read This to Get Smarter," which talks about race, gender, disability, class, and beyond. The content shared includes exact information about the people who faced all these inconveniences and recognizes their suffering. She is also known for posting content on social media that is thought-provoking and grabs the attention of youngsters.
TOM DALEY!
He is the British Olympic swimmer and won his first gold medal in the recent Olympic games, which took place in Tokyo around 2021. He opened up about his sexual orientation in 2013 on YouTube.
He is married to Dustin Lance Black (an American screenwriter, director, producer, and LGBT rights activist). In 2018, they both welcomed their first son, which gained most of the public's attention. Daley is an avid (eager) knitter. Daley also has his own clothing brand, "Made with Love." Here he used to share his collection of knits.
I would like to conclude, though we have so many people who have achieved great things in this community, there are still people who are struggling badly to survive in this society. I hope that starting this year, I, my friends, and people I know will join hands to support them wholeheartedly.
DO NOT JUDGE PEOPLE ON THEIR SEXUAL ORITENTATION. ALL ARE EQUAL AND BORN TO SHINE😊!
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