PRIDE: WHAT IS IT TO YOU?

When you think of Pride, a lot of things come to mind. The first of many are big, lavish pride parades, parties, celebrations and events. This is the time for everyone to come together and celebrate one another. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you do or where you come from. Having acceptance of everyone’s differences should make the world a much better place. It’s time for a little history lesson on why pride still matters in the world today. Stonewall is the reason why rioting for a cause was born. During the early morning hours of June 28, 1969 at the Stonewall Inn, there were a number of raids orchestrated by the police. This was commonly happening in gay bars with the sole intention of discriminating against members of the gay community and confiscating alcohol as well as arresting stonewall employees. The gay community took a stand and began to demonstrate the freedom to protest and, respectively, riot for a cause. This made history as the was the first time that the LGBT community came together to fight gay oppression and sparked a new age of resistance against the police in Greenwich Village, New York. The movement was led by self-identified drag queen, Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera. There were other notable figures who were instrumental during the stonewall such as Storme DeLarverie and Miss Major Griffin-Gracy.