In 1970, to mark the first anniversary of the Stonewall uprisings, the very first Gay Pride marches took place in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago.ĭigging through the New York Public Library archives, I unearthed some goosebump-inducing photographs from the first-ever Pride parades around the world: New York City Gay Liberation Day, Christopher Street, J(Photograph: Diana Davies / The New York Public Library) Gay Liberation Day march and dance, New York City, J(Photograph: Kay Tobin Lahusen / The New York Public Library) New York City Gay Liberation Day, Christopher Street, J(Photograph: Diana Davies / The New York Public Library) Gay Liberation Day march and dance, New York City, J(Photograph: Barbara Gittings and Kay Tobin Lahusen / The New York Public Library) Gay Liberation Day march and dance, New York City, J(Photograph: Barbara Gittings and Kay Tobin Lahusen / The New York Public Library) Philadelphia’s first Gay Pride rally and march, J(Photograph: Kay Tobin Lahusen / The New York Public Library) Annapolis students at Philadelphia’s first Gay Pride rally, 1972 (Photograph: Kay Tobin Lahusen / The New York Public Library) Philadelphia’s first Gay Pride rally, 1972 (Photograph: Kay Tobin Lahusen / The New York Public Library) Philadelphia’s first Gay Pride rally, 1972 (Photograph: Kay Tobin Lahusen / The New York Public Library) Philadelphia’s first Gay Pride rally, 1972 (Photograph: Kay Tobin Lahusen / The New York Public Library) Chicago Gay Pride celebration, 1972 (Photograph: Kay Tobin Lahusen via NYPL) Toronto Gay Pride march, 1972 (Photograph: Kay Tobin Lahusen / The New York Public Library) Gay couple at Toronto’s first Gay Pride Week, August 1972 (Photograph: Kay Tobin Lahusen / The New York Public Library) Lesbian couple at Toronto’s first Gay Pride Week, August 1972 (Photograph: Kay Tobin Lahusen / The New York Public Library)įor the complete cultural context on this tidal change, Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution is indispensable in its entirety. (Photograph: Diana Davies / The New York Public Library) Gay Liberation Front march at Times Square, New York, 1969. There were no openly gay policemen, public school teachers, doctors, or lawyers. When Hollywood made a film with a major homosexual character, the character was either killed or killed himself. No television show had any identifiably gay characters. Not one law - federal, state, or local - protected gay men or women from being fired or denied housing. At the end of the 1960s, homosexual sex was illegal in every state but Illinois. It was only a few decades ago - a very short time in historical terms - that the situation of gay men and lesbians was radically different from what it is today. In Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution ( public library), David Carter contextualizes the remarkable delta of progress that the Stonewall Riots precipitated: On that June morning, equality for all seemed a distant but necessary dream - a dream that finally became a reality. Men holding Christopher Street Liberation Day banner, 1970. While early 'homophile' organizations advocated for gay and lesbian rights, they did so quietly. The first gay pride march took place in New York City on Jthe one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. In the 1950s, people throughout the country hid their LGBT identities for fear of being fired from jobs, disowned by their families, or arrested. Known as the Stonewall Riots, these protests are commonly considered the tipping point at which the LGBT community coalesced into political cohesion and the birth of the modern gay rights movement. The San Francisco pride parade grew out of decades of work to mobilize for LGBT rights. Pride Parade Photographs, 1993.In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, violent protests and street demonstrations took over the streets of New York after a police raid of Stonewall Inn, the now-legendary Greenwich Village gay bar.
The first gay pride parade series#
Box 61 folder 8, Mayor Uhlman Subject Files, Records Series 4287-02, Seattle Municipal Archives.
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Letter from Keith Luttenbacher to Mayor Uhlman, July 5, 1977. This year’s Seattle Pride Parade will be held in downtown Seattle on Sunday, June 24. Ultimately, Mayor Uhlman’s endorsement of Gay Pride Week gave added significance to the city’s first Gay Pride March, held in 1977. Bryant.” Local opponents of gay rights were incensed by the mayor’s proclamation, and reactions ranged from letter-writing campaigns to published threats of recall to picketing outside City Hall. Keith Luttenbacher, in his Jletter, was one of many who wrote thanking Mayor Uhlman for his support, “especially after the negative press due to Ms. Mayor Uhlman gave the event official endorsement in 1977, declaring June 25 to July 1 to be Gay Pride Week in the City of Seattle.
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Seattle celebrated its first Gay Pride Week June 24-30, 1974, with a variety of activities at private and public venues around the city.