Queer history is human history. Since the dawn of time, same-sex love has been a part of the human experience. It just took a few centuries to recognize those feelings, and that a sexual orientation that leads anywhere but straight isn’t inherently bad. Still, today, in many parts of the world — and even in parts of the US — homosexuality is condemned, punished, and even banned.
For all the progress we’ve made towards inclusion as a society, it’s been met with struggle and loss. But queer people are nothing if not resilient, and just as we’ve persevered for centuries, we’ll continue to stand in defiance.
San Francisco has been home to a number of powerful moments in the Pride movement. (Photo Credit: Madalena Veloso)
Because queer history is human history.
In a world where “Don’t Say Gay” laws run rampant, and where politicians continue to stoke the flames of homophobia, it’s more important than ever to show up, stand up, and be proud. As we’ve seen in the past, from California’s infamous Prop 8 ballot initiative to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” hate is no match for love. The same holds true today.
Amidst ongoing homophobia and transphobia, it’s a rallying cry to band together and be louder and prouder. The Stonewall Riots in New York City and Harvey Milk’s death in San Francisco are oft-cited as pivotal turning points, but they’re both a part of a larger cultural shift. These are the moments that have defined progress, and will continue to shape the ways that society evolves.
Early Efforts
A century ago, when homophobia was so normal that there wasn’t even a word for it, things began to change. In 1924, the Society for Human Rights was founded in Chicago. The first of its kind, it created a homosexual publication called Friendship and Freedom. While short-lived, and dismantled due to political coercion, its impact resulted in an early ripple effect that helped pave the way forward.
Early organizations paved the way for the future of Pride. (Photo Credit: @zoompics)
Marching has been in the movement’s DNA for decades. (Photo Credit: Robert Clay)
A couple decades later, while expression of sexual orientation was still stifled and shunned, biologist Alfred Kinsey made early waves with the publication of Sexual Behavior in the Human Male. It was 1948, with still decades to go before homosexuality was anywhere close to acceptance, but his report deemed that same-sex attraction was not only not limited to homosexuals, but that 37% of men have engaged in homosexual activities. During an age when homosexuality was still radical, and even considered a mental illness, this research from an esteemed professor sent more than a ripple through society — it sent shock waves.
Activists and organizations in San Francisco have often set the tone of Pride for the nation. (Photo Credit: @ysto)
Two years after that, in 1950, the first national gay rights organization emerged. The Mattachine Society, established by activist Harry Hay in Los Angeles, was intended to combat prejudice and discrimination, while normalizing and integrating homosexual people into the mainstream. By 1955, the movement was picking up steam, as the Daughters of Bilitis — founded in San Francisco — became the first lesbian rights organization in the nation.
Sadly, though inevitably, early progress was met with road blocks, like the American Psychiatric Association’s categorization of homosexuality as a sociopathic disturbance in 1952, and President Eisenhower’s Executive Order banning homosexuals from working in the federal government. The rational behind Executive Order 10450? Homosexuals were a security risk.
Fighting for Rights
Efforts grappling for early inclusion, while repeatedly countered with homophobic legislation, set the tone for the latter half of the 20th century. And despite concerted efforts to the contrary, progress was gaining momentum.
In 1962, Illinois became the first state to repeal its sodomy laws, thus decriminalizing homosexuality and setting a new precedent. This was followed by Reminder Day in Philadelphia, when gay rights picketers descended on Independence Hall on July 4, 1965, demanding civil rights. This continued annually, aptly on the Fourth of July, for the subsequent five years.
The Stonewall Riots were a hallmark moment of the Pride movement. (Photo Credit: Karly Jones)
Overnight, 1969 New York City became the epicenter of a movement. (Photo Credit: @documerica)
The most significant turning point came at the end of the decade, when New York City’s Stonewall Inn became the epicenter of a movement. On June 28, 1969, police raided the Greenwich Village gay bar late at night — as they had been wont to do. This night, however, patrons fought back. Not willing to take the abuse any longer, crowds lashed out against the police in the streets. While not initially reported on nationally, the Stonewall Riots are often credited as a seminal moment in the Pride movement, inspiring a cavalcade of Pride parades and progressive organizations for decades to come.
Exactly one year after the riots, Christopher St. Liberation Day was held to commemorate the anniversary, including a march — thousands-strong — through the city, in what is widely considered to be the country’s first Pride parade. That same year, similar marches were held in Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco.
Growing Pains
In the wake of Stonewall, those early ripples had begun to pick up steam throughout the US, with momentous wins for civil rights, and meaningful “firsts” in politics. But with progress comes struggle, and the ensuing decades proved to be a continued tug-of-war amidst a shifting tide.
Post-Stonewall, Pride parades bloomed across the country. (Photo Credit: Delia Giandeini)
The success of early Pride parades in America’s largest cities inspired like-minded action in other major cities across the country. Boston held its first parade in 1971, Denver and Seattle in 1974, and DC and Portland in 1975. Meanwhile, New Orleans’ first Southern Decadence — a simultaneous send-off to summer and a celebration of its gay community — took place in 1972, going on to eventually rival even Mardi Gras in terms of attendance and economic impact.
Amidst all the nationwide momentum, the American Psychiatric Association voted to stop listing homosexuality as a mental illness in 1973, and by 1974, America had its first openly gay elected official, Kathy Kozachenko, on Ann Arbor, Michigan’s City Council.
At the same time, the increasing volume of progress incited wrath amongst homophobes like Anita Bryant, the juice-slinging singer who led the “Save Our Children” campaign to inhibit gay rights in Dade County, Florida and slandered the likes of Harvey Milk. While Bryant rallied against civil rights, Milk did the opposite in San Francisco, where he made history in 1977 with his gay rights legislation and his successful repeal of Proposition 6, which prohibited homosexuals in classrooms.
In the 1970s, Harvey Milk became an icon in San Francisco. (Photo Credit: Robert Clay)
In the years following Milk’s death, San Francisco became a haven for pushing the Pride movement forward. (Photo Credit: Patrick Perkins)
A year later, Milk was assassinated by supervisor Dan White, whose eventual charge of voluntary manslaughter — and his “Twinkie Defense,” blaming sugary foods for his actions — led to rightful outrage among justice-seekers.
Thanks to early action by leaders like Milk, progress had become unstoppable. By 1980, the Democratic Rules Committee declared that they would no longer permit discrimination against homosexuals, and in 1982, Wisconsin became the first state to fully ban discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Demand for Visibility
For as vocal as the Pride movement had become by the ‘80s, it was still being silenced by naysayers and those electing to turn a blind eye. The AIDS crises became a bellwether of times to come; of how politicians spoke (or not) about homosexuality, and of how indelible the impact of stereotypes can become.
As AIDS emerged, and tore particularly through gay communities in major cities, many politicians remained mum. In 1987, the ACT UP group (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) banded together to picket pharmacies for profiting off medication while prices ran rampant. Later that year, the National March on Washington was a massive gathering in the nation’s capital, demanding that President Reagan break his silence on the AIDS epidemic. He, like so many politicians across the country, treated it as taboo, refusing to acknowledge the crises and its impact on the gay community.
Speaking out has become a pillar of the movement. (Photo Credit: Aiden Craver)
Silence from politicians was nothing new, nor would it change overnight, as seen with the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy enacted by the US Military in 1993, and signed off by President Clinton. At the time, it was regarded as progressive, in that it prohibited the military from barring applicants based on sexual orientation. But it did so by silencing homosexuals entirely, simultaneously prohibiting them from acknowledging their orientation or acting on it.
By the turn of the century, silence could no longer stand. In 2000, Vermont became the first state to legalize civil unions between same-sex couples, and in 2003, the US Supreme Court deemed the country’s sodomy laws unconstitutional. Gay marriage became legal in Massachusetts in 2004, followed swiftly by Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Iowa, and DC.
It’s that simple. (Photo Credit: Delia Giandeini)
During President Obama’s tenure, he signed multiple resolutions that pushed the Pride movement forward. (Photo Credit: WDC Photos)
Dark times still lay ahead, though. In 2008, California passed its notorious Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage. And in 2009, Matthew Shepard’s murder garnered worldwide attention as a homophobia-fueled hate crime in rural Wyoming. The tragedy inspired President Obama to sign the Matthew Shepard Act, which broadened Federal Hate Crime Law protections to include those attacked on the basis of their sexual orientation.
Louder and Prouder
The past several years have been pivotal for the Pride movement, calcifying inclusive legislation and debunking stereotypes, while breaking down new barriers that were previously deemed mere pipe dreams.
In swift succession, the US Senate repealed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” President Obama declared that he would not defend the dusty Defense of Marriage Act, and New York became the largest state to legalize gay marriage in 2011. In 2015, Obergefell v. Hodges went to the US Supreme Court, and emerged victorious for the Pride movement. At last, same-sex marriage was federally legalized across the country.
The movement again leaped forward in 2015 when the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage. (Photo Credit: Aiden Craver)
Today, there is still much work to be done. Homophobia still runs rampant, and hate crimes are still a stark reality. But as has been true since 1924, and far earlier, love wins. Today, Pride parades are held far and wide — not just in major metropolises, but in towns large and small, from North Dakota to South Carolina.
It’s evident in inclusive beacons like Eureka Springs, a tiny town in the Arkansas Ozarks that features a massive Pride event along with omnipresent rainbow flags and queer-owned businesses. It’s evident in Oklahoma City, a once-conservative stronghold that now holds two Pride parades and boasts more lesbian bars than just about any city in America.
Along with renowned queer oases, like Palm Springs and Provincetown, similar inclusion is evident from the gay bars in Boise to the Pulse Memorial in Orlando, where — in a state infamous for its “Don’t Say Gay” verbiage — travelers come from near and far to remember the deadliest homophobic shooting in American history, and to remind the world that love always wins.
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