June is LGBTQ Pride Month, and Pride groups across the country are celebrating our community with parades, festivals and more.
The month of June holds much more meaning for our LGBTQ+ folks and allies than one might think. The reason Pride is celebrated in June is to honor the Stonewall Uprising, which took place on June 28, 1969 in New York as a result of brave LGBTQ+ folks finally standing up for themselves against routine harassment, attack and arrest by the NYPD. That night, when LGBTQ+ people stood up for themselves and fought back, the police ran. Over the coming days, riots continued, and the LGBTQ+ community of Greenwich Village began organizing. The next year in 1970, the first gay pride marches took place in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago commemorating the anniversary of the riots and pushing the envelope of acceptance and equality. They have taken place every year since that time.
Now in 2019, 50 years later, the event is marked with colorful celebrations and Pride parades, and has blossomed out past the month of June and into the surrounding months to accommodate all the communities that want to celebrate its members.
SLV Pride is thrilled to continue this national celebration here in the San Luis Valley, with its own inaugural PrideFest on Saturday, Aug. 24 at Cole Park. But that’s not all we have planned - check out our calendar of events on the webpage at www.slvpride.org! You’ll see a quickly growing list of activities, including parades, One Colorado, a female illusionist and her one-”woman” show, a kick-off party and more!
But to celebrate now is to remember the past and all those that struggled against people, politicians and laws that sought to strip the LGBTQ community of the rights it rightfully deserved, but were denied. That struggle continues to this day, in different forms and with different people. It is through our combined awareness, education and advocacy that we can take the lessons that history has given us and continue forward, lifting others as we go.
In August, SLV Pride is going to celebrate not only our first year of Pride here in the valley, but the 50 years of the struggles and celebrations, the setbacks and advancements, and the tears and the joys that have brought us to this point in our history. We cordially invite all of you to join us in August as we will walk, sing, dance, hug, laugh, cry and celebrate - together!