What is Pride Month? Everything to know about the LGBTQ+ celebration 🏳️‍🌈

Haadiza Ogwude and Clare Mulroy, Cincinnati Enquirer
Updated ·3 min read
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Pride Month, a time to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community and fight for its rights, is here.

It is often celebrated with nationwide parades and education events at schools and community centers. The month-long celebration is also rooted in activism, protests and the tradition of fighting for rights, acceptance and visibility.

Here’s everything you need to know about Pride Month, including when it is, its history and the annual Cincinnati Pride Parade.

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Cincinnati Mayor After Pureval waves the LGBTQ+ flag during the Cincinnati Pride Parade in 2022.
Cincinnati Mayor After Pureval waves the LGBTQ+ flag during the Cincinnati Pride Parade in 2022.

When is Pride Month?

Pride Month occurs annually during the month of June. This year, Pride Month began Thursday, June 1, and ends Friday, June 30.

What is Pride Month?

Pride Month commemorates the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in New York City. It also celebrates the LGBTQ+ community and the fight for equal rights.

The Stonewall Uprising began June 28, 1969, after police raided the Stonewall Inn, a prominent gay bar in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. According to USA Today, protests over the next six days shifted LGBTQ+ activism in the U.S.

Today, Pride Month is a time to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community, promote visibility and inclusion and highlight important policy and resource issues the community faces.

When was Pride Month created?

The Stonewall Inn, where a police raid in 1969 triggered LGBTQ+ riots in New York City.
The Stonewall Inn, where a police raid in 1969 triggered LGBTQ+ riots in New York City.

The first Pride parades in the U.S. occurred in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles on June 28, 1970, the first anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising.

According to the Library of Congress, Pride traditions are derived from the Reminder Day Pickets, which occurred from 1965 to 1969 at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The pickets were organized by the Eastern Regional Conference of Homophile Organizations (ERCHO) and called attention to the lack of civil rights for the LGBTQ+ community.

During the November 1969 ERCHO conference, the group shifted from planning the Reminder Day Picket to organizing an annual demonstration commemorating Stonewall on Christopher Street in New York City, where the uprising occurred. The event, now known as Pride, was named the Christopher Street Liberation Day.

During the spring of 1973, 40 members of Cincinnati's LGBTQ+ community gathered at Fountain Square in what would later be recognized as Cincinnati's first Pride celebration. Although it has undergone many changes over the years, Cincinnati Pride continues to produce programs that inspire, educate and commemorate LGBTQ+ history in the region.

What does Pride stand for?

Pride itself does not stand for anything, but the LGBTQ+ community comprises several identities related to sexual orientation and gender identity.

Here are the definitions to know:

What does the Pride flag look like?

(L-R) The traditional Pride flag, the transgender flag, the pansexual flag and the bisexual flag.
(L-R) The traditional Pride flag, the transgender flag, the pansexual flag and the bisexual flag.

The rainbow flag is the universal symbol of pride for LGBTQ+ people worldwide. The original design had eight stripes and included the color pink. Later, it was reduced to six stripes, pink was removed and royal blue replaced turquoise.

While the rainbow flag is universally used, there are several Pride flags that celebrate each of the individual LGBTQ+ communities. Here's an illustrated guide to the Pride flags and what they represent.

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When is the 2023 Cincinnati Pride Parade?

The 2023 Cincinnati Pride Parade will be held Saturday, June 24. The parade starts at 11 a.m. at Seventh Street, travels south on Vine Street, turns east onto Fifth Street past Fountain Square and ends at Sawyer Point and Yeatman's Cove.

A festival, which follows the parade, is from noon to 6 p.m. at Sawyer Point Park and Yeatman's Cove. Festival headliners include Thelma Houston, Mila Jam, Vincint and Slayyyter.

For more informaiton, visit cincinnatipride.org.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Pride Month: What is it? When was it created? Everything to know