Pride month

15/06/2021

June is Pride Month, a.k.a. PRIDE MONTH. While visually it is inextricably linked to the rainbow flag, its real power lies in the LGBTQ+ community's desire and desire to stop bullying and gain the same rights as the heterosexual part of society.

pride-month

Repeat: Pride month is not just about rainbow flags, colorful parades, and celebrations. It is important to open up discussions and education about community issues such as same-sex marriage or gender marking on IDs. We also remember victims of violence and HIV. It is the month to fight homophobia.

Pride with the historic number one was created to commemorate the anniversary of the police raid on the Stone Inn Club in New York City on June 28, 1969. At the time, police raided the club where New York's LGBTQ+ community was meeting. She dragged the attendees out into the street and arrested them there. The response was a multi-day wave of protests sparked by LGBTQ+ activist and drag queen Marsha P. Johnson. Exactly what that was is speculated. Maybe it was a thrown glass, maybe it was a brick she was supposed to throw at a police car. With this gesture, she stirred up real queer resistance to police harassment. Several days of demonstrations resulted, and the message was clear - protesters were demanding the creation of safe spaces where LGBTQ+ people could be open about their sexual orientation without fear of arrest.

Zdroj: The New York Times

It was the first time in history that such a large number of people came together to fight for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community.

A year after the raid and events in New York, activist and "Mother of Pride" Brenda Howard organized the first Gay Pride Week in 1970 and Christopher Street Liberation Day. This started a whole tradition of Pride. Today it is the NYC Pride March and has evolved into a variety of Prides around the world. In our country, you can go to Prague Pride or Ostravský Pride.

brenda-howard

Zdroj: Them.us

The signature emblem of the Prids has become the rainbow flag. It was designed by designer and gay rights activist Gilbert Baker at the request of gay politician Harvey Milk (the first openly gay elected official in California). He created the iconic rainbow flag as a symbol for the 1978 San Francisco Pride March. He also defined the meaning of each of the colored stripes.

Interesting fact: we can come across 2 versions of the flag. The original version of the flag has 8 colors, while the second version has only 6. The first version also included pink and turquoise. The flag lost the pink stripe when Milk was assassinated in 1978. After his death, the demand for the flags increased so significantly that the Paramount Flag Company began producing the flag with only 7 stripes, as they did not have all the fabric colors in stock. The turquoise stripe was removed due to the poor visibility of the stripe when hanging on the light poles.

Vlajka s 8 barvami
Remember that the Prides also include lectures, discussions, films, exhibitions, and a host of other accompanying events. So get out and support the community and learn something new. And enjoy Pride!