The first Pride parades marked the anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, when police raided the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street in New York City after midnight on June 28, 1969.
That night, after growing tension, police stormed the gay bar and arrested multiple people. Patrons resisted. Riots broke out between patrons and police. The uprising lasted six days.
Marsha P. Johnson, a self-identified drag queen and a prominent gay liberation activist, is one of the most well-known participants in the Stonewall uprising. After Stonewall, her activism continued—she joined the Gay Liberation Front, ACT UP, and cofounded the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) with Sylvia Rivera.
Rivera was also involved in Stonewall, and the experience led her to campaign with the Gay Activist Alliance (GAA) for a city nondiscrimination law. But Rivera, who was a transgender woman and Latina, faced discrimination from established gay rights organizations like the GAA that were predominantly led by white men. The GAA's leadership often rejected the role transgender people—many of them people of color—played in Stonewall.
Together, Rivera and Johnson started STAR House for LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness, with a focus on supporting people of color.
In 1973, when the New York City Pride march organizers banned drag queens (including Johnson) from participating, she and Rivera marched ahead of the parade.
Current Mood: 
jubilant
jubilantLeave a comment
contemplative
working
accomplished
indifferent
tired
thoughtful