LGBT stands for people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. There is a popular variant, LGBTQ. The letter 'Q' stands for identifying with the adjective 'queer' attached with this community and also for those who question the sexual identities of LGBT community. The symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer is a rainbow flag. It is part of all the LGBT social movements with some variations in different countries.
Pride Month – History
There was an inn in Greenwich village in the US called Stonewall Inn. It was originally owned by Genovese crime family and then became a meeting point for gay men in New York. During the 1960s it was the few places in which the gay men could dance. Homosexual relationships was a crime during those times and Stonewall Inn was considered a safe haven for the LGBT community. On June 28, 1969, police conducted a raid at the inn and arrested 13 people. The raid triggered riots and demonstrations by the LGBT community. These riots are also known as ‘Stonewall Uprising’ in which the pent up feelings of disrespect meted out to them for so long came out with great outburst with days of protests and activism. Since then the LGBTQ community has come a long way. Since 2016, Stonewall Inn has been a national monument of the US and June has been declared as Pride Month by President Obama.
Legacy continues and celebrations are becoming bigger and bigger
Since the year 1970, the anniversary of Stonewall Uprising has been celebrated every year on June 28. In the first year there were pride marches in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles to celebrate the anniversary. In the second year pride marches were organized in other places like Dallas, Boston, Milwaukee, Paris, London and West Berlin. In these 52 years of the Stonewall Uprising, celebrations have become bigger and bigger and jubilations around it can be seen globally in forms of picnics and special programs. Some countries observe some other month as Pride Month for example Russia celebrates it in the month of May in remeberance of the times since when the country decriminalised homosexuality in the year 1993.