Ep 7: FLOATS & FLAIR: RESOURCES

What is the history behind Pride Month?
As fun and carefree as Pride parades are now, they are rooted in a painful past.
In 1969, engaging in homosexual relations was illegal in New York. People identifying as LGBTQ+ had to be careful with their actions and clothing choices to avoid harassment and possible arrest. Gay bars were the only relatively safe spaces where they could socialize, but even these places were subject to frequent police raids.
   The Stonewall Inn in New York’s Greenwich Village was one such place. In the early morning of June 28, 1969, nine police officers raided the bar to arrest employees for selling liquor without a license. In the process, they also harassed patrons and rounded up several individuals they suspected of being queer.
   Unlike in previous raids, however, customers didn’t disperse as the police had instructed them to. Instead, they stayed outside the bar, jeering angrily at the officials and attracting onlookers, including transgender women activists Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera. At one point, the growing crowd began throwing bottles and debris. The police barricaded themselves inside Stonewall and called for reinforcement while the 400-strong mob rioted outside. The bar was also set on fire at one point, although the police were able to contain and extinguish it.
  The riots continued for the next five days, resulting from the LGBTQ+ community’s pent-up frustrations against constant police harassment and social discrimination. It was the first time that lesbians, gays, and transgender people saw what they could achieve by standing in solidarity with one another.
How did the Pride colors come to be?
  The symbol of the Pride movement, the rainbow flag, was designed in 1978 by queer artist and drag queen Gilbert Baker. He saw the flag as a powerful way to declare one’s identity and the rainbow as the natural colors of the sky, each shade having its own meaning. Due to production issues, however, the first-ever rainbow flag that was flown during the June 1978 San Francisco Gay Freedom Day parade only had six colors instead of the eight that Baker had intended: red (life), orange (healing), yellow (sunlight), green (nature), blue (harmony), and violet (spirit). Indigo was replaced with blue, while pink (sex) and turquoise (art) were scrapped.
  Today, the six-striped rainbow flag is the most ubiquitous rainbow flag variant used worldwide during Pride celebrations symbolizing the diversity behind the united LGBTQ+ community.
What do you do at a Pride parade?
  Like any parade, Pride marches involve crowds in the streets, either as members of an organized spectacle or as cheering bystanders. There could also be a program held at the end of the parade, with performances and speeches from different LGBTQ+ groups and advocates. Most people come garbed in various styles of Pride parade fashion. Images from the 2023 Sun City Pride Parade

---

---

Visit the Sun City pride Website here: www.suncitypride.org/