New Delhi: As Pride Month commences with vibrant events worldwide, it comes against a backdrop of evolving political landscapes and ongoing struggles for LGBTQ+ rights, particularly in the United States. Pride Month is an annual celebration that honors the LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, and others) community. It’s marked by events such as parades, parties, workshops, and concerts, often promoting visibility, equality, and diversity.
The monthlong global celebration began with Gay Pride Week in late June 1970, a public celebration that marked the first anniversary of the violent police raid at New York’s Stonewall Inn, a gay bar.
At a time when LGBTQ+ people largely kept their identity or orientation quiet, the June 28, 1969, raid sparked a series of protests and catalyzed the movement for rights.
The first pride week featured marches in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco, and it has grown ever since. Some events fall outside of June: Tokyo’s Rainbow Pride was in April and Rio de Janeiro has a major event in November.
In 1999, President Bill Clinton proclaimed June as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month.
Pride’s hallmark rainbow-laden parades and festivals celebrate the progress the LGBTQ+ civil rights movement has made.
In the U.S. in April, a federal appeals court ruled North Carolina and West Virginia’s refusal to cover certain health care for transgender people with government-sponsored insurance is discriminatory.
In one compromise in March, a settlement of legal challenges to a Florida law critics called “Don’t Say Gay” clarifies that teachers can have pictures on their desks of their same-sex partners and books with LGBTQ+ themes. It also says books with LGBTQ+ characters and themes can remain in campus libraries and gay-straight alliance chapters at schools need not be forced underground.
Greece this year legalized same-sex marriage, one of three dozen nations around the world to do so, and a similar law approved in Estonia in June 2023 took effect this year.
Pride Month festivities are emblematic of the strides made in LGBTQ civil rights. Recent victories include legal advancements such as same-sex marriage legalization in Greece and Estonia. However, challenges persist, with over 60 countries enforcing anti-LGBTQ laws, leading to a global refugee crisis.
