Pride Month
June 1 - June 30
Pride Month is celebrated every June as a vibrant tribute to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) voices, cultures, and achievements while also honoring a rich legacy of courage, resistance, and progress. This year marks the 55th anniversary of the first Pride marches, which were held on the anniversary of the historic uprising at the Stonewall Inn in New York City’s West Village. When police conducted what had become a routine raid at this popular gathering place for the LGBTQ+ community, patrons, led courageously by trans women of color like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, pushed back with remarkable solidarity. A legacy was born that continues to inspire and evolve.
Today, Pride Month combines advocacy and protest with joyful celebration through colorful parades, inspiring performances, dynamic drag shows, and loving memorials that honor community members. Pride also reminds us to lift the voices of LGBTQ+ people of color, transgender and nonbinary individuals, and others whose experiences reshaping the contemporary gay liberation movement.
Pride Month celebrates how decades of determination, creativity, and love have built a global movement that continues to advance dignity, acceptance, and equal rights for all. As we celebrate, let us recommit to building a future where everyone, no matter their identity, can live freely, love openly, and thrive without fear.
Explore:
Read
- Learn about the history of LGBTQ+ Pride Month and Pride traditions in this brief introduction from the US Library of Congress. Explore the related resources to access extensive library collections.
- The struggle for LGBTQ+ rights continues in 2025. This resource from the State of California Department of Justice offers an overview of core rights under California law.
- This spotlight celebrates Pride Month by highlighting 30 LGBTQ+ artists who are actively shaping contemporary queer art. Recommended by notable figures, these emerging and mid-career creatives span a wide range of mediums –painting, sculpture, photography, performance art, and mixed media.
Watch
- Before Stonewall explores the hidden lives of gay and lesbian Americans from the 1920s to the 1969 riots that ignited the modern gay rights movement. This acclaimed documentary blends emotional depth with humor, shedding light on decades of struggle and resilience. It captures key milestones in the ongoing fight for acceptance and equality.
- Invite the children in your life to join you Forever Ago: A History Podcast for Kids on this journey to a Pride Parade. Check out the amazing parade floats, learn about the queer community’s fight for civil rights, and discover how the Pride flag was first created.
- Award-winning journalist Imara Jones travels across the country to meet and share the stories of leaders on the frontlines of change: housing advocate Kayla Gore; Breonna McCree, a champion for economic empowerment; and Oluchi Omeoga, who fights for the rights of migrants. Despite the record-breaking number of anti-trans bills passed in 2023, these three Black trans people are addressing critical issues surrounding economic empowerment and human dignity with heart and vision.
Listen
Before RuPaul: The history of drag | What the History?!
- "RuPaul's Drag Race" premiered on television in 2009. In 2016, the show won its first Emmy, a feat it has replicated in every single subsequent year. Clearly, drag is popular. But what exactly is drag? And how did it find its way into the limelight? In this episode of WHAT THE HISTORY, host Sami Jarroush serves the tea on drag.
Podcast: How the Stonewall Riots Worked
- On June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, one of the few bars that welcomed gay patrons. Learn how this raid triggered the first major gay rights protest in U.S. history in this podcast from HowStuffWorks.com.
4 songs we're claiming for Pride Month
- National Public Radio’s World Cafe takes a fresh look at Pride anthems, highlighting four songs that may not be widely recognized as classics but deserve to be celebrated for their significance and impact.
Learn More (campus resources):
P.S. - Stop by our office this month for some rainbow patches!