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Stevenson, Robin, 1968–, author
Pride: celebrating diversity & community / Robin Stevenson.

Issued in print and electronic formats.
isbn 978-1-4598-0993-2 (paperback).—isbn 978-1-4598-0994-9 (pdf).—
isbn 978-1-4598-0995-6 (epub)

1. Gay Pride Day—Juvenile literature. 2. Gay pride celebrations—Juvenile literature. 3. Gay liberation movement—Juvenile literature. I. Title.

First published in the United States, 2016
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015946192

Summary: This work of nonfiction for middle readers examines what—and why—gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people and their supporters celebrate on Pride Day every June.

Orca Book Publishers gratefully acknowledges the support for its publishing programs provided by the following agencies: the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Province of British Columbia through the BC Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.

Design by Rachel Page
Front cover photography by Tony Sprackett
Back cover photography by Jen MacLellan, Tony Sprackett, iStock.com, Dreamstime.com, Shutterstock.com
Lyrics to “Rise Up” courtesy of Lorraine Segato/ Lynne Fernie/Lauri Conger/Steve Webster/ Billy Bryans, Sony ATV Publishing

A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

The pace of change in the last few years has been incredible—and it seemed to accelerate while I was writing this book. For example, Mozambique and Palau decriminalized homosexuality, Ireland voted to accept same-sex marriage, and the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage across the United States. In every case, I was delighted to revise the text to reflect this progress! But at some point, revisions must stop and books must go to press—and by the time this book reaches readers’ hands, it may already be out of date. While there will no doubt be challenges ahead for the LGBTQ community, I have great confidence that our diverse, passionate, courageous and creative community will continue to fight for freedom and equality—and that changes for the better will continue to happen.

THE HISTORY OF PRIDE

In the Beginning

Chicago Pride Parade. Sianamira/Dreamstime.com

“Equality means more than passing laws. The struggle is really won in the hearts and minds of the community, where it really counts.”

—Barbara Gittings (1932–2007), activist

To understand the beginnings of Pride, you need to understand a bit of history. The world has not always been an easy place for men who love other men, women who love other women, and people who don’t conform to traditional ideas about gender. In many ways, and in many parts of the world, this is still true—but here in North America, we really have come a long way.

Back in the 1950s, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people (or LGBT people for short) did not have equal rights in Canada or the United States. It wasn’t just that they couldn’t get married—same-sex relationships were actually considered a crime! LGBT people didn’t have legal protection from discrimination, so they could be evicted from their homes and fired from their jobs simply for being who they were. Restaurants and bars could refuse to serve them. They could be arrested by police for being in gay bars or nightclubs, or for dancing with a same-sex partner.

But whenever there is oppression, there is resistance. People fight back—and that’s how change happens.

Fighting Back

Activist Barbara Gittings, founder of the New York City chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis, picketing the White House in 1965. Kay Tobin Lahusen/Wikipedia

One of the earliest gay organizations in the United States was the Mattachine Society, started in 1950 by a small group of gay men in Los Angeles. It was named for a group of masked medieval performers—a reference to the fact that gay men in the 1950s were forced to live behind masks, keeping their relationships secret. The men who joined the Mattachine Society in those early days also had another dangerous secret to keep: many of them had links to the Communist Party, and at that time, being a Communist could cost you your job—or even land you in jail.

A few years later, in 1955, two women called Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon gathered together eight lesbian women in San Francisco. They wanted a social group—and a place that group could talk and dance together without risking arrest. Like members of the Mattachine Society, they had to be secretive, and most members didn’t even use their real names. They called their organization the Daughters of Bilitis, after a fictional lesbian character in an obscure poem. If anyone asked, they could say they were just a poetry club!

Gay rights demonstration in New York City, 1976.

Leffler, Warren K/Wikipedia

The groups quickly grew in numbers and became less secretive—and more political. In 1965, an activist named Craig Rodwell came up with an idea that led to some of the first public demonstrations by LGBT people: the Annual Reminders. Starting in July 1965, small groups of courageous activists picketed Philadelphia’s Independence Hall each year, to remind Americans that LGBT people did not have basic civil rights. The first of these demonstrations had almost forty people marching, including members of the Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis. They carried signs to let everyone know what they wanted: 15 MILLION HOMOSEXUAL AMERICANS ASK FOR EQUALITY, OPPORTUNITY, DIGNITY.

And momentum was building across the country. During the late 1960s, pickets and other protests also took place in New York, Washington, DC, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

BISEXUAL ACTIVIST BRENDA HOWARD has been called the Mother of Pride. She was involved in the Stonewall Riots and continued to be a hardworking activist throughout her life. As a member of the Christopher Street Liberation Day committee, she came up with the idea of naming the days leading up to the march Gay Pride Week. Brenda actively promoted the use of the word pride to describe these events.

Gay is Good

“Gay is Good” bumper sticker. DCVirago/Flickr

One of the early American civil rights activists who took part in the Annual Reminders was Frank Kameny. In 1957, Kameny was fired from his government job for being gay. He was one of many Americans who lost their jobs during this era, because government officials thought gay and lesbian employees were vulnerable to blackmail by Communists. This fear, and the resulting persecution of thousands of gay men and lesbians during the 1950s and ’60s, has been called the Lavender Scare. During this time, the Canadian government also attempted to identify and eliminate gay men and lesbians from the civil service, the military and the police force.

Frank Kameny attending Capital Pride in Washington DC, in June 2010. The Pride Parade route included a street recently been renamed “Frank Kameny Way” in his honor. David/Flickr

“Justice triumphed. I was right, and they were wrong, and they admitted they were wrong.”

—Frank Kameny

Frank Kameny decided not to accept this treatment, and he sued the US government in federal court. It was a battle that went on for eighteen years, through appeal after appeal, and it gained a huge amount of publicity for the growing gay rights movement. Ultimately, Frank Kameny lost the lawsuit—but he helped to win the larger battle for gay rights. He started a Washington, DC, chapter of the Mattachine Society and kept on fighting. In 1975, after a number of lawsuits, the government’s anti-gay policy was finally changed. Today, there are openly gay employees at every level of government.

Activists like Frank Kameny not only helped change policy, but they also fought to change attitudes. In the 1950s and ’60s, many believed being gay or lesbian was a mental illness.

Activists argued against this idea, pointing out recent research published in two books called The Kinsey Reports. This groundbreaking research into a taboo subject showed that same-sex relationships were far more common than had previously been thought. Activists used the research in The Kinsey Reports as the basis for their statement that at least 10 percent of the population was gay or lesbian—and this was very significant in helping to shift public opinion.

In 1960s America, a cultural movement known as “Black is Beautiful” was taking hold and challenging long-held racist ideas. Inspired by this, Frank Kameny coined the slogan “Gay is Good” in 1968. It was an attempt to counter the shame often felt by LGBT people living in such hostile times. “Gay is Good” was a move away from secrecy—and toward Pride.

My friends Khalilah and Katie at a Pride parade in Victoria, BC. Their T-shirts read The first Gay Pride was a riot!—a reference to the 1969 riots at the Stonewall Inn. Tony Sprackett

How Pride Day Began with a Riot

“… the Stonewall Rebellion was the shot heard round the world…The gay liberation movement was an idea whose time had come. The Stonewall Rebellion was crucial because it sounded the rally for the movement. It became an emblem for gay and lesbian power.”

—Lillian Faderman, historian and author of Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers

In the 1960s, there weren’t many public places where LGBT people could gather. New York, which had one of the largest gay populations in North America, actually had a law that made it illegal for restaurants and bars to serve them. It was illegal for a man to dance with another man—or to wear clothing intended for the opposite sex! A woman could be arrested if she was wearing fewer than three pieces of “feminine clothing,” and a man could be jailed for wearing a dress. Police regularly raided and shut down gay bars, arresting staff and customers.

One popular gay bar in New York was called the Stonewall Inn. It was on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village, and it was owned by the Mafia. The manager, known as Fat Tony, bribed the police with monthly payments so that they would turn a blind eye. It wasn’t a fancy place—in fact, it didn’t even have running water—but it was one of very few places where LGBT people could dance, chat, listen to music and be themselves.

Stonewall Inn, site of the 1969 Stonewall Riots, New York City, USA. On the window: We homosexuals plead with our people to please help maintain peaceful and quiet conduct on the streets of the Village. —Mattachine, New York Public Library/ Wikipedia

Police raids weren’t unusual at the Stonewall Inn, even with Fat Tony’s bribes. Usually a few arrests were made, the bar shut down and reopened for business a few hours later. But on the evening of June 28, 1969, something was different. As police arrested customers and began taking them to the paddy wagon, the crowd began to fight back.

As word of the demonstration spread throughout the city, the customers of the Stonewall Inn were soon joined by others from the gay, lesbian and transgender community. A crowd began to gather outside, shouting “Gay power” and throwing coins, bottles and bricks from a nearby construction site. It wasn’t long before the police lost control of the situation and had to barricade themselves inside the bar.

Riot officers were called in wearing helmets with visors and armed with nightsticks and tear gas, but the crowd refused to give up. The conflict between the police and the protestors lasted until the early hours of that morning, and riots broke out again the next night, and the next.