It’s LGBT Pride month and the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, its impulse. For the gay community, this is a chance to have a good time, but also to be “out,” which is an important part of reminding our fellow Americans that we are their family members, neighbors, coworkers, and friends.
This movement started on June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village. The New York police often raided clubs patronized mostly by gays and lesbians. They would then be pulled into the street, beaten and arrested.
On June 28, 1969, riots began as the gay community in New York got tired of being arrested simply because of being gay. From the suffrage movement in the 19th and 20th centuries as women took action and organized for the right to vote, to the black civil rights movement defined by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.‘s iconic speech longing for the time when his children would be defined by their character, the civil rights movements were demonstrations of the most basic demand to be treated as Americans, not as a sliver of our identity.
Fifty years after Stonewall, President Trump just became the first Republican president to talk about the celebratory month in public remarks. He did so on Twitter saying, “As we celebrate LGBT Pride Month and recognize the outstanding contributions LGBT people have made to our great Nation, let us also stand in solidarity with the many LGBT people who live in dozens of countries worldwide that punish, imprison, or even execute individuals…. on the basis of their sexual orientation. My Administration has launched a global campaign to decriminalize homosexuality and invite all nations to join us in this effort!”
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