June is Gay Pride Month. What does that mean to you? When first conceived, it was a celebration of the first anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, which took place in 1969. So that 1970 march that was called “The Christopher Street Liberation Day March” eventually became an annual event that we now call Gay Pride.
But what did it actually mean? To us who began it, it stood for publicly standing up for our community — all in our community, regardless of sex, race, gender identity, age. And not only standing up, but actually fighting back.
The reality is that we were ACT UP before there was an ACT UP. We were the first generation of activists, and some in our group still call themselves gay liberationists rather than activists. These are people who stood tall and weren’t afraid to get arrested. Hell, that first march, we weren’t sure if we’d get the permit, but permit or not we intended to march.
But we also must remember that before that march there were others. Their fight was for “equality for homosexuals.” Our fight was for a visible LGBT community, free from oppression.
We who created that first march and the concept of community will once again march as a group in New York in what they now call a parade this year. But, we will be marching rather than parading to symbolize the seriousness of our fight and to continue to create what is now a vibrant LGBT community.
Mark Segal, PGN publisher, is the nation’s most-award-winning commentator in LGBT media. He can be reached at [email protected].