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Walking through the colors of the rainbow

This is a guest article by CLUES Youth Programming Staff (Poderosas Collective)  

History of Pride and how it came to be:​

Toward the end of June 1969, uprisings led by BIPOC Queer people protesting police brutality toward the LGBTQIA+ community began the moment of resistance that is now known as the gay rights movement and Gay Pride. Police had been targeting Queer spaces in the ‘60s and ‘70s and after arrests were made at the Stonewall Inn (Greenwich Village, New York City), the Queer community resisted and revolted against police brutality in what would be known as the “Stonewall riots”. Leaders of these uprisings were Black Transwoman Marsha P. Johnson and Puerto-Rican and Venezuelan transwoman Sylvia Rivera. The following year, 1970, Queer and ally organizers organized a march that would uplift the theme of “Gay Pride”, a resistance against the shame, violence, and silencing of queer people. This march and demonstration would evolve to present Pride celebrations and the continual resistance of the LGBTQIA+ community.*

Pride today reflects the resistance of the LGBTQIA+ community and the celebration, and joy of queer identity. In the Latinx community there has been a long history of resistance in many historical movements, including the Gay Liberation movement.** Latinx queer people have unique experiences as they experience the intersection of their racial, immigrant, sexual, and gender identities. The multiple identities that our community is rooted in and impacts our lived experience are connected to the concept of intersectionality. Intersectionality is a concept that works to acknowledge the unique experiences of discrimination and oppression of different identities that one person may hold.*** With this year’s pride we hold onto the power in those identities and work towards building a community that will protect and cherish all those identities.

In our local MN communities, there are events that invite communities to celebrate all identities and give support to LGBTQIA+ folks and their families. In the Twin Cities area, the Twin Cities Pride celebration was held in Loring Park in Minneapolis with activities for all ages and where community members can connect with local organizations that can provide resources for families. In some rural communities, they hold community pride celebrations, either small parades or events (a great place to look is local events on Facebook). We also recognize that for many LGBTQIA+ identifying Latinx folks, it may not feel safe to attend a pride event and there are also many virtual organizations to be able to connect to such as Trevor project (National), QUEERSPACE Collective (MN Twin Cities Local), and Family Tree Clinic (LGBTQ+ Healthcare). There is no one way that Pride looks, there is no one way to celebrate the resilience and joy of the queer community, Pride is whichever way you feel safe, powerful, joyful, and proud of your own identity.

In celebration of LGBT+ pride month, we invite you to join us on June 29 at 4 pm as we walk through the colors of the rainbow in our Facebook live session “Coming out of the closet and the family”, where we will talk about LGBT+ educational issues for the family.

 

References

*Pride history: https://www.them.us/story/the-complete-history-of-pride

**Latinx resistance and pride: https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=lacs_honors

***Intersectionality: https://www.womankind.org.uk/intersectionality-101-what-is-it-and-why-is-it-important/wQ

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