A crowd holds a large gay pride flag at EuroPride.Photo: © Getty
June marks the start ofPride Month, a time to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community, their accomplishments and those who opened doors for the leaders of today.Though the ACLU reportsthat there are currently 491 bills in various states targeting the rights of people within the community, Pride celebrations will be in full force in the weeks ahead as activists and allies come together to focus on the good.On June 1,President Joe Bidenshared a message of hope on Instagram, writing, “Pride stands for courage. It stands for justice. And it stands for love. During Pride Month, we celebrate generations of LGBTQ+ people who have fought to make the possibilities of our nation real for every American, and we remain committed to delivering equality for all.“Read on for more important, history-making moments to remember this June and beyond.
June marks the start ofPride Month, a time to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community, their accomplishments and those who opened doors for the leaders of today.
Though the ACLU reportsthat there are currently 491 bills in various states targeting the rights of people within the community, Pride celebrations will be in full force in the weeks ahead as activists and allies come together to focus on the good.
On June 1,President Joe Bidenshared a message of hope on Instagram, writing, “Pride stands for courage. It stands for justice. And it stands for love. During Pride Month, we celebrate generations of LGBTQ+ people who have fought to make the possibilities of our nation real for every American, and we remain committed to delivering equality for all.”
Read on for more important, history-making moments to remember this June and beyond.
01of 07June 1, 2011: LGBT Pride Month Begins After President Barack Obama Makes It OfficialThomas Imo/Photothek/Getty.In June 1999, President Bill Clinton firstdeclared June as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month. Twelve years later, PresidentBarack Obamaexpanded the observance to include the bisexual and transgender community,officially declaringthe start of June 2011, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month.“Every generation of Americans has brought our Nation closer to fulfilling its promise of equality,” President Obama wrote in his 2011 statement. “While progress has taken time, our achievements in advancing the rights of LGBT Americans remind us that history is on our side, and that the American people will never stop striving toward liberty and justice for all.”
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June 1, 2011: LGBT Pride Month Begins After President Barack Obama Makes It Official
Thomas Imo/Photothek/Getty.
In June 1999, President Bill Clinton firstdeclared June as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month. Twelve years later, PresidentBarack Obamaexpanded the observance to include the bisexual and transgender community,officially declaringthe start of June 2011, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month.
“Every generation of Americans has brought our Nation closer to fulfilling its promise of equality,” President Obama wrote in his 2011 statement. “While progress has taken time, our achievements in advancing the rights of LGBT Americans remind us that history is on our side, and that the American people will never stop striving toward liberty and justice for all.”
02of 07June 2, 1951: Gilbert Baker, Designer of the Rainbow Flag, Is BornSpencer Platt/GettyIn his memoir titledRainbow Warrior: My Life in Color, Baker wrote about how the earlier movement’s pink triangle symbol needed to be replaced with something that represented the revolution in the late ’70s more accurately.“As a community, both local and international, gay people were in the midst of an upheaval, a battle for equal rights, a shift in status where we were now demanding power, taking it,” he wrote. “This was our new revolution: a tribal, individualistic, and collective vision. It deserved a new symbol.“It was later at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom when Baker had an epiphany, recalling, “A rainbow. That’s the moment when I knew exactly what kind of flag I would make.““A Rainbow Flag was a conscious choice, natural and necessary. The rainbow came from earliest recorded history as a symbol of hope,” he continued, adding, “Now the rioters who claimed their freedom at the Stonewall Bar in 1969 would have their own symbol of liberation.“Baker died of natural causes in March of 2017.
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June 2, 1951: Gilbert Baker, Designer of the Rainbow Flag, Is Born
Spencer Platt/Getty
In his memoir titledRainbow Warrior: My Life in Color, Baker wrote about how the earlier movement’s pink triangle symbol needed to be replaced with something that represented the revolution in the late ’70s more accurately.
“As a community, both local and international, gay people were in the midst of an upheaval, a battle for equal rights, a shift in status where we were now demanding power, taking it,” he wrote. “This was our new revolution: a tribal, individualistic, and collective vision. It deserved a new symbol.”
It was later at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom when Baker had an epiphany, recalling, “A rainbow. That’s the moment when I knew exactly what kind of flag I would make.”
“A Rainbow Flag was a conscious choice, natural and necessary. The rainbow came from earliest recorded history as a symbol of hope,” he continued, adding, “Now the rioters who claimed their freedom at the Stonewall Bar in 1969 would have their own symbol of liberation.”
Baker died of natural causes in March of 2017.
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June 3, 2007: Japanese Politician Kanako Otsuji Marries Girlfriend, Despite Ceremony Not Legally Recognized
TORU YAMANAKA/AFP via Getty
During her fight to become Japan’s first-ever openly gay member of parliament, Otsuji and girlfriend Maki Kimura decided to get married in Tokyo, during a time when their union was not recognized legally.
Although she did not end up winning the race, her revolutionary act was a big push for the LGBTQ moment.
According to Human Rights Watch,“Japan currently does not have any national legislation protecting LGBT people from discrimination.”
04of 07June 4, 1925: Henry Gerber, Founder of First Gay Rights Organization in the U.S., Gets ArrestedChicago LGBT Hall of Fameinductee Gerber is best known for co-founding the Society of Human Rights in 1924. The pioneering non-profit was the first of its kind and distributed a newsletter,Friendship and Freedom, which was sent to a small membership.However, in July 1925, a wife of one of the co-founders reported her bisexual husband to police, resulting in a police raid that got Gerber and several other members arrested. The costly trials left the gay rights activist broke and without a job, causing the organization to fold.Gerber died in December 1972, but lived to see theStonewall Riots, which would lead to another important push for the LGBTQ movement in the U.S. and around the world.
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June 4, 1925: Henry Gerber, Founder of First Gay Rights Organization in the U.S., Gets Arrested
Chicago LGBT Hall of Fameinductee Gerber is best known for co-founding the Society of Human Rights in 1924. The pioneering non-profit was the first of its kind and distributed a newsletter,Friendship and Freedom, which was sent to a small membership.
However, in July 1925, a wife of one of the co-founders reported her bisexual husband to police, resulting in a police raid that got Gerber and several other members arrested. The costly trials left the gay rights activist broke and without a job, causing the organization to fold.
Gerber died in December 1972, but lived to see theStonewall Riots, which would lead to another important push for the LGBTQ movement in the U.S. and around the world.
05of 07June 5, 1981: CDC Reports First Cases of AIDsThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’sMorbidity and Mortality Weekly Report(MMWR) announced that five gay men in Los Angeles had contracted a rare type of pneumonia, which would later be known as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS. Once deemed a pandemic, AIDS ison the decline as a leading cause of deathamong younger men in the United States, falling to 19th in 2019.
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June 5, 1981: CDC Reports First Cases of AIDs
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’sMorbidity and Mortality Weekly Report(MMWR) announced that five gay men in Los Angeles had contracted a rare type of pneumonia, which would later be known as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS. Once deemed a pandemic, AIDS ison the decline as a leading cause of deathamong younger men in the United States, falling to 19th in 2019.
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June 6, 1976: College Student Richard Heakin Is Killed in a Hate Crime in Tucson, Arizona
Family Photo
As a result of their actions, the city became one of the first in the nation to add sexual orientation to its anti-discrimination laws the following year, according toTucson.com.
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June 7, 1954: Alan Turing, Known as the Father of Modern-Day Computing, Dies
Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty
The British mathematician is known as the father of computer science and artificial intelligence, as well as for his role in breaking Nazi codes during World War II. Turing was convicted of “gross indecency,” after it was revealed that he had a male lover at his home, and forced to endure chemical castration.
“He was a national treasure, and we hounded him to his death,” John Graham-Cumming, a computer scientist, told theNew York Times.
It wasn’t until 1967 when Britain began steps to decriminalize homosexuality, according to theNew York Times.
Turing is remembered as one of the most innovative and influential scholars of the 20th century.
source: people.com
