Pride Events: a Proud Part of Our History

Since the pandemic has finally taken a step back with hopes it won’t return, Pride events return to many cities around the world for June. Celebrations and parades with gay pride signs filled the streets in some countries, but the moods were not bright everywhere, to say the least.

New York's first Pride March, then called the Christopher Street Liberation Day March, was held in 1970 to mark the first anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion, a spontaneous street uprising triggered by a police raid on a gay bar in Manhattan. This Sunday, marchgoers lined the route through Manhattan, not just celebrating and parading their gay protest signs but also voicing their objection to the unprecedented turn in US human rights history.

On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to overturn Roe v. Wade, a 1973 landmark ruling that had secured constitutional protections for abortion in the country for nearly 50 years.

LGBT leaders fear the Supreme Court's decision endangers personal freedom beyond abortion rights. In a concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the court might reconsider other precedents, mentioning specifically rulings protecting the rights to contraception, same-sex intimacy, and gay marriage.

Pride is All About Freedom

Meanwhile, Lori Lightfoot, Chicago’s first openly gay mayor and the first Black woman to hold the office, called the ruling a "momentary setback" and said Sunday's events were "an opportunity for us to not only celebrate Pride but be resolved for the fight." She stated: "we will not live in a world, not in my city, where our rights are taken from us or rolled back."

"This march is going to have more of a serious tone than celebratory, and I don't think that's a bad thing at all," said Krystal Marx, executive director of Seattle Pride, which drew thousands of people carrying pride signs to its parade on Sunday.

Although these sorts of things shouldn’t be taken lightly, the best way to get someone’s attention is by wit. And these pride sign ideas on our list absolutely prove the point.