Although June is Pride Month, it’s important to continue to recognize the need for support, advocacy, and action for our LGBTQ+ community.
How Pride Month Came To Be
June was Pride Month and has been known as that since June 28 th , 1969. The first Liberation March for Pride took place in Manhattan, New York in 1970. This was to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Stonewall. The Stonewall Inn is a national historic landmark and still open today. The riot, or how others prefer to call it an uprising or rebellion, was a six-day event that would change the discourse surrounding LGBTQ activism in the United States. At the time, police were able to raid bars and arrest transgender and gender non-conforming individuals. This was because laws said a “man” or “woman” must be wearing a certain number of clothing items that matched the gender on their state ID. The patrons decided to fight back at the Stonewall Inn, after raids occurred there monthly before this. Currently, there are still differing opinions about the Stonewall Riots. In 2019, the 50 th Anniversary of the Riots, the NY Times put out a documentary called “The Stonewall you Know is a Myth. And that’s Ok”. This short film was trying to give the most accurate information and people that were at the bar at the time, historians, scholars and activists were included.
North Carolina Specific History of Pride and Activists
Durham holds a Triangle Pride Parade and Festival each year which is the state’s largest pride event. The first march took place in 1981 in Durham with 300 LGBTQ participants and the slogan “Our Day Out”. This saying later transitioned in “Out Today, Out to Stay”. Mandy Carter a local Lesbian activist helped create a Pride march in 1986 on Duke’s Campus. In 1988, the annual march grew to be called North Carolina Pride. The pride event in Durham occurs in September, to escape the unfavorably hot June Weather. Other cities started their own pride celebrations: Charlotte in 2001, Wilmington in 2006, Asheville in 2009, Winston-Salem in 2010, and the Outer Banks in 2011.
One of Durham’s great Icons, Reverend Doctor Pauli Murray, was a queer African American Activist who fought for equal rights for all individuals. Their childhood home is now a National Historic Landmark that just reopened in 2024 as a space for community gathering and activism.
This is the website where the events are listed: https://www.paulimurraycenter.com.
Want to find a way to put your money where your mouth is?
Here are LGBTQ+ Inclusive Activities and Owned & Operated Businesses in the Durham Area:
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