2000 – JUNE DECLARED GAY & LESBIAN PRIDE MONTH

At first, Pride was celebrated on the last Sunday of June, but soon it became a month-long celebration. October was originally to be the celebratory month, due to National Coming Out Day set on Oct. 11 in 1988. However, President Bill Clinton decided to dedicate June as the official Gay and Lesbian Pride Month. Pride Month began in honor of the late 1960s Stonewall Uprising, which took place in New York City. The uprising was in response to a police raid at the Stonewall Inn, a Greenwhich Village gay bar. The first Pride march took place on June 28, 1970, exactly one year after the Stonewall Uprising began. “Pride month is important because of all of the oppression people in the LGBTQ+ community have faced previously,” senior Sofia DiFulvio said.

Later, in 2009, June was officially recognized as LGBTQ+ Pride Month by the Obama administration. “It’s a time where the entire community can feel safe and appreciated,” DiFulvio said.