San Diego’s first official pride parade occurred in 1975, one year after a local sergeant reportedly denied activists a permit and threatened arrests.
“It took their anger to finally call attention to the way the gay community was abused.” “If peaceful protests had worked in those days, I’m sure there would have been peaceful protests but … it really took young gay people to say, ‘We are not having any of this anymore,’” Faderman said.
Faderman said progress would not have been possible without the non-violent and violent protests of the civil rights movement. LGBTQ activists adopted several tactics that the Black community utilized during the ‘50s and ‘60s, including sit-ins. “Gay people were presumptive criminals, constantly harassed by the police.” “The intimidation of the gay community by the police in the 1950s and through much of the ‘60s was really disgusting,” Faderman said. People who did not conform to what was considered appropriate sexual behavior and gender presentation were often arrested and harassed, according to Faderman’s “LGBTQ in San Diego: A History of Persecution, Battles, and Triumphs.” In California, sodomy was illegal until 1976. Lillian Faderman said in a phone interview. It’s not that it was glorifying violence but it was saying, ‘This is our pain, we’re crying out,’” lesbian historian Dr. “What the pride parades were really all about was commemorating gay people not being victims standing up. Located in Manhattan, this event was known as Christopher Street Liberation Day, according to. On June 28, 1970, the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, thousands of people participated in the country’s first gay pride parade. This raid sparked six consecutive days of violent protests against oppression and police brutality.
Johnson and Black lesbian Stormé DeLarverie have been credited with starting the scuffle. Infuriated by the police harassment and other forms of discrimation, customers and community members remained outside the bar and began throwing objects at the police.Īlthough it may never be known who threw the exact first punch or brick, Black trans activist Marsha P. One of the primary catalysts of the LGBTQ rights movement and modern pride parades was the Stonwall Riots, which began Jafter New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn - a gay club in Greenwich Village - and arrested 13 people. In response to years of advocacy from queer and trans People of Color, San Diego Pride will no longer have law enforcement contingents in the parade. Pride began not as a colorful parade but as a violent riot against police brutality. “This state-sanctioned violence and brutality against Black and brown communities has a history that dates back to the country’s first colonizers and shares the same roots as the violence and brutality that the LGBTQ+ community fought back against at Stonewall in 1969,” the San Diego Black LGBTQ Coalition said in a statement. Current Black activists are echoing the demands of the original Black activists who advanced the LGBTQ+ rights movements just over 50 years ago. ( American Horror Story’s Matt Bomer will throw the ceremonial first pitch, and Glee’s Dot Marie Jones will sing the National Anthem!)īut the real party takes place over the weekend, when L.A.’s Pride Festival invites performers out to West Hollywood, this year including Chromeo, Brandy, Young M.A., Real Housewife of Beverly Hills Erika Jayne, Brooke Candy and Aaron Carter.From the initial riot that inspired June’s Pride month parades to the protests occurring around the world in response to the murder of George Floyd, both had the same goal: ending the police brutality of a marginalized community. This year’s Pride weekend officially kicks off with the fifth annual LGBT Pride Night at Dodger Stadium, when the Dodgers play Cincinnati. “One City One Pride” includes 40 days of LGBTQ events taking place throughout the city, including film screenings, a tour of West Hollywood and artist-led protest sign making workshops. typically goes all-out for Pride Month, and this year is no different. Sunday’s concert is set to include performances by Tinashe, the Pointer Sisters and Miley Cyrus, who recently made waves with the release of her latest single, “Malibu.”