The divorce between Pride’s origins and what it has become indicate that the purpose of the event has become warped. I’ve watched police stand guard over homophobic protesters and protect neo-Nazis, only to see the same police shoot tear gas and rubber bullets into the faces of black people. Police presence at Pride has always unnerved me. It is only fitting that we return to our roots now.
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These riots and the marches on their anniversary became the foundation of Pride. Gay and trans people, most of whom were people of color, homeless or sex workers, surged against the police as a community. The Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village was subject to police raids regularly, but at the end of June 1969, the patrons of the bar fought back. Mass arrests, brutality and assault were common.
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Butch lesbians and trans women were subject to humiliating and dehumanizing three-article rules, where they had to be wearing three items of clothing “appropriate” for their perceived gender to prevent arrest. Police often raided gay bars frequented by black and Jewish people. In 1969, being gay and trans in public was functionally illegal. This year, June casts off capitalist frippery and cuts straight to the heart of what Pride is actually about: fighting police brutality. As the summer heat rises, it’s obvious that the American people-along with protesters across the world-will no longer stand for this violence.
#SHOOT BACK GAY PRIDE MEME PLUS#
Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Tamir Rice, Philando Castile, Eric Garner, plus a million other people whose names are not widely shared, were brutally murdered by police for the crimes of sleeping, playing, driving. Community leaders, activists, essential workers and even Mennonites are showing up in droves to fight back against the horrific violence police perpetrate against black people.