Celebrating Pride Month 2022
Shivam Kansal
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Colorful uplifting parades with floats and celebrities, joyous festivals, workshops, picnics, and parties are among the principal components of LGBTQ Pride Month, also called Gay Pride, which is celebrated in June in the United States and elsewhere around the world. Pride Month commemorates years of struggle for civil rights and the ongoing pursuit of equal justice under the law for the lesbian, gay, bisexual,?transgender, and?queer?community, as well as the accomplishments of LGBTQ individuals.
The organized pursuit of LGBTQ rights in the United States reaches back to at least 1924 and the founding of the Society of Human Rights in Chicago by Henry Gerber. But?the event that catalyzed the LGBTQ rights movement came in June 1969 in?New York City’s?Greenwich Village, at the Stonewall Inn. In the early morning hours of June 28, police raided this popular gathering place for young members of the LGBTQ community—arresting the employees for selling liquor without a license, roughing up many of the patrons, and clearing the bar. Outside, the crowd that watched the bar’s patrons being herded into police vans became enraged.?Previously witnesses to police harassment of members of the LGBTQ community had stood by passively, but this time the crowd jeered the police and threw coins and then bottles and debris at them, forcing the police to barricade themselves in the bar to await backup. Before long some 400 people were rioting.?Although police reinforcements dispersed the crowd, riots waxed and waned outside the bar for the next five days, and?these?Stonewall riots?(also called the Stonewall uprising) provided the spark that ignited the?LGBTQ rights movement?in the United States.
Long before the LGBTQ+ community started being recognized by the colors of a rainbow, the Greek alphabet ‘lambda’ and also a pink triangle were used to symbolize the community. However, no other symbol has gained such popularity and recognition as the rainbow flag, which is also known as the pride flag. The pride flag, which has become the universal symbol of the LGBTQ+ movement, wasn’t in use before 1978 when late artist and gay rights activist Gilbert Baker designed and hand-sewed it. Baker was hired by San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey Milk, who was the first openly gay elected official, to create a new emblem for the city's first Gay Pride Day.
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In designing the flag, Baker may have thought of the vibrancy of a rainbow but he also thought of meanings behind every strip of the color – hot pink represented sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, turquoise for magic, blue for harmony, and violet for spirit. According to Britannica, turquoise and pink colors were dropped from the then-eight color flag since they were hard to find at the time for mass production. The flag has since retained six colors. Baker, in a conversation with?CNN, said that he designed the flag in a way that it could convey his community’s happiness, splendor, and mightiness.
This time, after a two-year gap due to the COVID-19 pandemic, several cities are organizing an array of events to commemorate Pride Month. In Los Angeles, a concert headlined by singer-songwriter Christina Aguilera was scheduled on June 11. In Harrisburg (Pennsylvania), the York County Pride event was scheduled for June 11 at Cousler Park. The event featured a variety of performers and vendors. Besides, in Long Island, a Pride Festival will be held on June 12 featuring a parade and a concert. This June, Chennai is hosting an array of pride events, including sensitization and awareness drives, film screenings, poetry readings, cultural events, and the highly anticipated pride parade. In addition, an art show christened ‘Seven Colours: Chennai Art Festival 2.0’ -- dedicated to showcasing the artworks of the LGBTQIA+ community -- will be held on 18 June.
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