"While I am proud of the progress my Administration has made in advancing protections for the LGBTQ+ community, I will not rest until full equality for LGBTQ+ Americans is finally achieved and codified into law," he continued. He has also highlighted several of his recent accomplishments regarding the community including signing an executive order charging federal agencies to enforce laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation. "Historic Supreme Court rulings in recent years have struck down regressive laws, affirmed the right to marriage equality, and secured workplace protections for LGBTQ+ individuals in every State and Territory." "The LGBTQ+ community in America has achieved remarkable progress since Stonewall," he said in a statement. On Tuesday, President Joe Biden echoed some of his predecessors when he signed a proclamation recognizing June 2021 as "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Pride Month."
#WHEN DID JUNE BECOME GAY PRIDE MONTH SERIES#
RELATED: Milwaukee kicks off Pride Month with series of celebrations Gay and Lesbian Pride Month, 1999Ī person waves a Pride flag near The Park Avenue Viaduct lit up in rainbow colors on Jin New York City.(Photo by Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images) Thousands proudly paraded through a city where, at the time, LGBTQ people were largely expected to stay in the shadows. A year later, LGBTQ New Yorkers marked the anniversary of the riot with the Christopher Street Liberation Day March. June was formally chosen as the month in honor of the Stonewall Riots, a series of violent demonstrations by members of the LGBT community, protesting a police raid that took place in June 1969 at the Stonewall Inn in Manhattan. Protests followed over several more days. In June 2000, however, President Bill Clinton declared June as the official Gay and Lesbian Pride Month. Patrons and people who converged on the bar on Christopher Street resisted, hurling objects and at times scuffling with the officers.
The nightspot was unlicensed, and the officers had been assigned to stop any illegal alcohol sales. The police raid on the bar began early the morning of June 28, 1969. At the time, showing same-sex affection or dressing in a way deemed gender-inappropriate could get people arrested, and bars had lost liquor licenses for serving LGBTQ customers. June is Pride month, the time of year when we celebrate the impact that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals have had on history locally. The Stonewall Inn in New York City is now a landmark and part of the Stonewall National Monument, but in 1969, it was part of a gay scene that was known, yet not open.