Pride

Community is powerful. That is a fact I tend to forget. Community after being separated from the world for nearly a year and a half is just that more powerful. In a household where loving the people I love isn’t acceptable, it is an act of defiance and celebration for me and so many other people. Marching that mile and a half surrounded by people who love just as purely and strongly as you is otherworldly. The smile on my face could not have been stripped away. Being near the front of the march, I turned around every now and then to catch a glimpse of the thousands of people trailing behind us. There was one point where we stood atop a slight hill and took in the sight of rainbows as far as the eye could see. Joyous, hearts filled to the brim with love!

However, it would be a mistake to celebrate pride and not acknowledge the history of it. We can only move forward as a society if we learn from history and bring that understanding with us into the present. Stonewall is not the first time that LGBTQ+ people stood up to police brutality but it is definitely the most notable. Police raided Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar, in the very early morning of June 28th, 1969. Police began brutalizing and arresting employees and patrons of the bar. Fed up with this harassment and discrimination, neighbourhood residents and patrons of the bar fought back. Mainly led by Black and Brown trans women, the Stonewall uprising occurred. These protests carried on for 5 more days, involving thousands of people. On June 28th, 1970 there was a pride parade in Manhattan to commemorate the events of the previous year. Since then, pride has spread across the globe and turned into a massive celebration of love, but analyzing history and knowing that the first pride was a protest against police brutality is a fact that cannot be forgotten and should always be honored at every pride celebration.