Rainbow balloons for Pride Month

© lazyllama/Shutterstoc

Summer of Pride

June is Pride Month, dedicated to celebrating LGBTQI+ communities around the world and marking the month of the Stonewall Riots in 1969, a landmark event in the history of gay rights. Back then, a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City, sparked protests which spread worldwide and gave impetus to the modern day Pride movement.

Pride has come a long way since the UK’s first official festival was held in London in 1972, attended by about 2,000 people. Things have changed a lot since then - the 2019 London Pride parade attracted more than 1.5 million people. The coronavirus pandemic restricted large-scale events in 2020 and many this year have been held virtually or postponed for a few months. But Pride month continues to highlight discrimination against LGBTQI+ people worldwide, as well as celebrating progress that has been made since that infamous police raid, 52 years ago.