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Welcome, June 2021! Month
Pride Day (Gay Pride in English) is celebrated every June 28, although the LGTBI collective (lesbians, gays, transsexuals, bisexuals and intersex) usually moves their marches and parades to the Saturday before or after this date. The origin of this celebration dates to June 28, 1969, when the so-called Stonewall riots (New York) took place, marking the beginning of the fight for gay rights.
Two years ago, then-US President Barack Obama took another step toward normalization by declaring the Stonewall Inn a national monument. In this way, the pub, located next to the Christophe Park, becomes the first national monument in the United States that commemorates the history of the struggle for the rights of this group. "People got tired of being persecuted and the movement became an essential part of the United States," Obama stressed in a video released by the White House.
In the early morning of June 28, 1969, the New York police raided the Stonewall pub, located in Greenwich Village. The gay community responded with a series of demonstrations that led to violent incidents. In the history of the homosexual movement in the United States, this episode marks the moment when gays began to fight against a whole system, legal, police and social, that persecuted them.
In the 1960s, few places openly welcomed homosexual people. Among these was the Stonewall, which was owned by the mob. This pub served a wide variety of patrons, but was popular for having gays, transsexuals, drag queens, effeminates, male prostitutes, and homeless youth among its regulars.
Raids on pubs like the Stonewall were common at the time. What made the difference was that, unexpectedly, the police lost control of the situation and the customers and others who approached the scene rebelled. The tension between the police and the gay residents of Greenwich Village dragged on for several days. And in a matter of weeks, the collective organized to achieve places where homosexuals could be freely without fear of arrest.
The first Gay Pride marches to commemorate these events took place in 1970 in New York and Los Angeles. Little by little, cities from all over the world were added that since then have hosted the so-called Pride Parades or Gay Pride parades to claim their rights. In Barcelona, the first demonstration of this type took place in 1977, with a march down the Rambla that was led by several transsexual people. This year, Pride BCN will once again fill the city with color with events of all kinds but with a slogan in support of LGBTI refugees.