- Matthew Ivan
June is Pride Month
June is National Pride Month. We celebrate this month because Pride promotes dignity, equal rights, self-affirmation and helps to increase society's awareness of issues that the community may face. The disability community and the LGBTQ+ community share visions of inclusion, they are both mirrors of one another, and they are intertwined.
2019 marks a significant milestone in the struggle for equality and inclusion. On June 28, 1969, the Stonewall Inn was raided by the New York City police – a common police practice at the time for bars frequented by the LGBTQ+ community. But that night, instead of giving in, a group of brave individuals stood up. What followed were five nights of protests for LGBTQ+ rights, setting in motion the next 50 years of Pride.
After that, LGBTQ+ rights’ organizations began to spring up across the US and around the world. On June 27 and 28, 1970, the first Pride parades commemorating Stonewall took place in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago.
To celebrate this year’s historic Pride, Google is launching Pride Forever, a campaign that’s rooted in sharing LGBTQ+ history with our users. In the last 50 years of the LGBTQ+ rights movement, there have been many successes but also some stumbles–and there’s still a long way to go. But the legacy of Stonewall lives on in every coming out, every struggle, every victory, and every Pride march.
Below is a link to a short documentary marking the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall protests.