Pride Week has just recently come to an end, both in New York City and across the world. This week is an opportunity for every member of the queer community to be loud and proud about their sexual identities. One of the most prominent cities for this is New York City. The Big Apple is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, cities for Pride in the world. Queerness is ingrained in the history of New York, and many important events in the LGBT community occurred in this wonderful city. Here are some of the most important events over the past century.
1. 1969 - The Stonewall Riots occur.
The Stonewall Riots are considered by many to be history's first big riot for LGBT rights, and is at the top of most lists for important Pride moments. These riots at the Stonewall Inn, which is now an officially declared national monument, were the catalyst to the formation of organizations such as the Gay Liberation Front. These groups and more have pushed for LGBT equality, and make a show at Pride to this day.
2. 1987 - ACT UP is founded.
ACT UP (the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) is the first widely known organization for the rights of those with HIV/AIDS, founded by members of the LGBT community to "meet the challenge of the AIDS epidemic and its crisis of conscience with vigilant acts of political and cultural provocation - thereby giving voice to the essential creative will of our humanity." HIV/AIDS was widely stigmatized as "gay cancer," although the disease affects the LGBT community as well as straight people, and users of drugs who share needles. The foundation of this group was important in giving people suffering from this terrible disease the recognition they deserve.
3. July 24, 2011 - New York legalizes LGBT marriages.
Almost five years ago next month, New York legalized marriages for those in the LGBT community who previously weren't allowed to be wed. The first couple to be married under the new legislation was Kitty Lambert, 54, and Cheryle Rudd, 53, at the exact stroke of midnight on the first day of the new law. This push by New York led to the the eventual passage of a national law on June 26, 2015.
4. 2015 - J.Christopher Neal becomes first openly bisexual Pride Grand Marshal.
At the New York City LGBT Pride March, many would assume that every person represented in the acronym would have a chance to lead the parade and have the recognition. This, however, wasn't true until last year when Neal was the first out bisexual man to lead the parade.
Some of the interesting events of the LGBT community and Pride Month itself happened in this month. On Sunday, June 26, the one year anniversary of the national lift on the marriage ban, Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, walked at the Pride march. In doing so, she became the first presidential candidate from both major parties to walk at a pride march. There was also a lay-in to protest gun violence after the anti-gay shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. While the LGBT community has taken many leaps forward, events like that show that we've still taken a few steps back.
The LGBT community still needs a lot of work and help. People are still violently anti-LGBT, as shown in the shooting at Pulse and other attacks on queer people over past years. Pride is the one time a year that members of the queer community can get together and show the world that we wear our colors with joy and happiness, and nothing can bring us down or break up our incredible community.