Members of the LGBTQ+ community and allies come together every June to celebrate Pride Month to showcase history, cherish diversity and find community with others.
LGBTQ+, which stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning, plus other sexual and gender minorities, is a term that includes anyone with a gender identity or sexual orientation other than cisgender or straight.
Pride Month has been celebrated in the United States and around the world for decades and was first recognized by President Bill Clinton in 1999 as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month. President Barack Obama changed the designation to LGBTQ+ Pride Month in 2009, and President Joe Biden amended it to LGBTQ Pride Month in 2021.
According to a Gallup poll conducted in 2023, 7.6 percent of U.S. adults identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or some other sexual orientation besides heterosexual. This includes 4.5 percent of Generation X, 2.3 percent of boomers and 1.1 percent of the silent generation. The percentage of U.S. adults who identify as something other than heterosexual has more than doubled since the poll was first conducted in 2012.
This year, Pride coincides with the 55th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, which began June 28, 1969, in New York City. Early that morning, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular club in Greenwich Village. But unlike in previous raids, patrons did not leave and clashed with police in a confrontation that included hundreds of demonstrators. The riots continued into the following week. This Pride Month marks a larger reason for a celebration of the resilience of the LGBTQ+ community through decades of discrimination. In fact, the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center is opening June 28 with a private event. AARP is a founding sponsor of the visitor center.
“Pride Month in particular is an opportunity to elevate that shared history of the community banding together to raise their voices to make sure again that they refuse to be invisible, they’re heard,” says Christina Da Costa, chief experience officer at SAGE, an advocacy group for LGBTQ+ older adults. […]
Click here to read the full piece. This story was originally published by AARP on May 30, 2024.
