Honoring the True Origins of Pride

By alumnae of the Brooke Owens Fellowship

The Brooke Owens Fellowship always has and always will support the LGBTQ+ community. As Pride Month continues on and our community reaffirms our commitment to Black lives, culture, history, and community, the BOF is focusing our attention and support on the movements happening across the globe for racial justice and against white supremacy in all forms. As such, we will be directing our celebration of Pride month this year in remembrance of the origins of Pride and by honoring those who fought for all our rights. 

Pride has always been about resisting police brutality and violence against LGBTQ+ people of all races. Black LGBTQ+ people, especially Black trans women, face disproportionately higher rates of criminalization by police, homelessness, workplace discrimination, medical malpractice, police violence, and incarceration. The first Pride began as a riot against this violent oppression.

Saturday, June 28th, 1969 marked a turning point in the ongoing resistance when the Stonewall Inn, a meeting place for LGBTQ+ New Yorkers, was raided by police officers demanding sex checks on trans women, a common police intimidation and dehumanization tactic that persists to this day. Demonstrations of solidarity and resistance against this police brutality gained momentum following the incident, later called the Stonewall Riots, which helped the movement garner national attention. The demonstrations were led by trans women including Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, who faced consistent police threats, extortion, physical abuse, and incarceration for transphobic charges such as “impersonating a female” in their daily lives. Johnson and Rivera were the founders of Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries, or STAR. STAR was a mutual aid network for the LGBTQ+ community in lower Manhattan, distributing food and providing shelter to homeless queer youth and sex workers.    

Public Pride parades celebrate that legacy of resistance exemplified by Stonewall. The women who fought against violent police oppression, engaged in community support, and helped to fight for a society where LGBTQ+ people could live openly should be remembered and their advocacy not diminished or downplayed. The spirit of Pride is the spirit of resistance against police violence and suppression. Today we are reminded of the importance of continuing that resistance for all. 

To celebrate and support LGBTQ+ Pride is to support the Black Lives Matter movement in its celebration, uplifting, and defense of all Black lives everywhere. One cannot come without the other; their aims are tied together through history. This Pride month, the BOF reaffirms its dedication to promoting gender diversity in the space industry while re-evaluating and renewing our efforts to address how we can better promote racial diversity, inclusion, and racial justice in our work and our personal lives. Take time this Pride month to educate yourself about police brutality, systemic racism, and the history of the Pride movement. 

See our resources below to learn more:

ArticlesCaroline JLGBTQ+, diversity