"Why isn't there a Straight Pride Month?"
This question always seems to pop up in the comment section when news outlets publish stories about Pride Month, which is recognized in June every year.
The reason Pride Month takes place in June is to commemorate the Stonewall Riots of June 28, 1969. On that date, a gay bar in New York was raided by police, leading to days of rioting in the streets and fighting between police and members of the LGBTQ2S+ community, who were fed up with repeated mistreatment at the hands of police and the legal system, and opted to fight back in a show of defiance. At the time, homosexuality was still criminalized throughout the U.S. and there was plenty of systemic discrimination shown toward people who were not straight.
Taking place within the broader overall context of the Civil Rights Movement, the Stonewall Riots were later deemed a watershed moment for gay liberation. A year later, the first Gay Pride Parade was held on the one-year anniversary of the riots in several American cities, and the anniversary of that event is why Pride Month is still recognized in June all these decades later.
Locally, Airdrie holds a Pride Festival every June, with the most recent iteration taking place last weekend at Nose Creek Regional Park. The event began with a solidarity walk from City Hall to the park in the morning, which was followed by a pride flag-raising and various performances featuring drag queens and LGTBQ2S+ musicians.
There has been a lot of progress over the years in terms of social and legal acceptance of non-heterosexual orientations and gender identities, such as the legalization of gay marriage, the ban being lifted on people who identify as LGBTQ2S+ from joining the military, and a 2021 ban on so-called conversion therapies.
But there's a long way to go – look no further than our story about a drag story time cancellation in Irricana last week. That's why Pride Month matters.
