The riots began in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in the Greenwich Village neighbourhood of Manhattan, and continued for six days outside of the Christopher Street bar, in surrounding streets and in the nearby Christopher Park.
In 1969, a series of riots against police discrimination and police brutality took place in New York City. Here’s the story of how Toronto Pride began, and how one little picnic grew into the city’s massive celebration of the diversity of the LGBTQ community. This summer excluded, the Toronto Pride Parade is one of the largest Pride celebrations in the world, with Tourism Toronto estimating an annual attendance that tops one million. One where we stand in solidarity together, against the system that works to rob us all of our humanity and of our livelihoods.Toronto’s first “Gay Day Picnic” was held on the beach at Hanlan’s Point on Sunday, August 1, 1971… But making sure our resistance doesn’t get co-opted by corporations looking to make a buck off our struggles is going to require an even bigger vision. We should see the similarities in the riots and protests today, in which Black people are refusing to let police violence plague their communities any longer.Īnd we should also remember, that it has only been when regular people stand up and fight back that we see changes. Nike is giving money to organizations benefiting LGBTQ communities, though it recently blocked labor rights groups from monitoring its factories.ĭuring Pride month, we should remember and celebrate the struggles of LGBTQ people for the right, and the right of future generations, to exist. Starbucks has been publicly donating money to LGBTQ foundations, while simultaneously using prison labor. Target won’t provide adequate sick pay to employees during COVID-19, but they’ll plaster Pride posters and sell rainbow colored clothing. Even though up to 40% of homeless youth are LGBTQ, there exist a plenitude of gay cruise lines and luxury travel companies, ready to sell you a vacation at Pride festivals.Īnd the stores trying to sell us their support don’t care about human rights. Even though LGBTQ individuals are more likely to live in poverty, many Pride celebrations require expensive entrance fees just to join in on the festivities. For example, even though the LGBTQ community has rates of alcohol dependency up to five times higher than the general population, Pride Parades exhibit float after float of alcohol sponsors. Though this event was not the first instance of LGBTQ people fighting back against police violence or discrimination, it has come to symbolize the beginning of a movement.īut like many important historical events, the concept of Pride has been rewritten and reconstituted for the sake of profit. On the one-year anniversary of the riot, several demonstrators marched past the Stonewall, marking the first Pride Parade.
The police became outnumbered and scared, eventually barricading themselves inside the bar.Īnd for five more days, protests erupted in the city, sometimes including thousands of people. Within minutes, hundreds of people were resisting the police violence. They stood by, becoming increasingly agitated at the escalating police brutality.
However, during a police raid on June 28, 1969, people at the Stonewall didn’t just sit back and wait to get arrested. Homosexuality was illegal, and bars and clubs were often the only places LGBTQ individuals could express themselves. Patrons of a New York City bar, The Stonewall Inn, were routinely harassed by the police, subjected to degrading strip searches, and consistently at the mercy of police raids. The event often considered the spark of the gay rights movement was the Stonewall Uprising in 1969.
Even though Pride is often viewed as a party or parade, its origins stem from a refusal to accept the police violence plaguing the LGBTQ community.