Baker and a team of volunteers had made the flags by hand but wanted to produce the flag for mass consumption.
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Each of the eight colour stripes had a meaning. Baker explained the philosophy was to come out, to be visible, to get out of the lie and live in truth, and felt that the rainbow flag symbolised visibility. Baker revealed he was urged by Harvey Milk, one of the first openly gay elected officials in the U.S., to create a symbol of pride for the gay community. In 1978, artist Gilbert Baker, an openly gay man and drag queen, designed the first rainbow flag. History and Evolution of the Rainbow Flag The first Pride in the UK took place in London in July 1972 where around 2000 LGBTQ+ people marched through the streets to mark the anniversary of Stonewall. Although the parade permit was delivered only two hours before the start of the march, the marchers encountered little resistance from onlookers and created some positive media coverage for the cause. The march took less than half the scheduled time due to excitement, but also due to wariness about walking through the city with gay banners and signs. On the first anniversary of the Stonewall riots the first Gay Pride march in history took place in New York covering 51 blocks to Central Park. This riot and further protests and the following nights were the watershed moment in the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement and the impetus for organizing pride marches on a much larger scale. on the morning of Saturday, 28 June 1969, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons rioted following a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar at 43 Christopher Street in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City. LGBTQ Activism: The Henry Gerber House, Chicago, IL. READ MORE: How Activists Plotted the First Gay Pride Parades Sources In 2016, then-President Barack Obama designated the site of the riots-Stonewall Inn, Christopher Park, and the surrounding streets and sidewalks-a national monument in recognition of the area’s contribution to gay rights. The parade’s official chant was: “Say it loud, gay is proud.” On the one-year anniversary of the riots on June 28, 1970, thousands of people marched in the streets of Manhattan from the Stonewall Inn to Central Park in what was then called “Christopher Street Liberation Day,” America’s first gay pride parade. Though the Stonewall uprising didn’t start the gay rights movement, it was a galvanizing force for LGBT political activism, leading to numerous gay rights organizations, including the Gay Liberation Front, Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD (formerly Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), and PFLAG (formerly Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays).
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READ MORE: 7 Surprising Facts About the Stonewall Riots and the Fight for LGBT Rights Stonewall's Legacy For instance, solicitation of same-sex relations was illegal in New York City. The 1960s and preceding decades were not welcoming times for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Americans. The Stonewall Riots served as a catalyst for the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world.Įxplore the history of the LGBTQ movement in America here. The raid sparked a riot among bar patrons and neighborhood residents as police roughly hauled employees and patrons out of the bar, leading to six days of protests and violent clashes with law enforcement outside the bar on Christopher Street, in neighboring streets and in nearby Christopher Park.
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The Stonewall Riots, also called the Stonewall Uprising, began in the early hours of Jwhen New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay club located in Greenwich Village in New York City.