June is Pride Month
Pride Month is an annual event to celebrate and honor LGBTQ+ culture. It is celebrated worldwide each year in June, coinciding with the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Riots.
It commemorates the impact of the gay liberation movement and highlights the progress it has made while advocating for equality and the inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community. Check out our resources, come to an event, or learn more about pride history.
LGBTQ+ Picture Books for Children
Stonewall Winners & Honors
June is Pride Month
LGBTQ+ Fiction for Teens
LGBTQ+ Picture Books for Children
Stonewall Winners & Honors
June is Pride Month
LGBTQ+ Fiction for Teens
Brief History
The LGBTQ+ community has made great advances in the fight for equal rights. To celebrate the good that has been accomplished and to remind ourselves of the obstacles that still exist, Pride Month is held annually in June.
One of the origin stories of Pride Month traces back to the Stonewall Riots. The riots, also called the "Stonewall Uprising," was a series of violent confrontations that began in the early hours of June 28, 1969, between police and gay rights activists outside the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in the Greenwich Village section of New York City. As the riots progressed, an international gay rights movement was born.
Early demonstrations in the movement often focused simply on participants’ individual freedom, and on the diversity of the LGBTQ+ community. By the 1980s -- particularly after the spread of AIDS -- political and social activism had become central to Pride events. Pride events usually attract several hundred thousand to more than a million celebrants annually.
Summary created with Britannica Library
Important Dates for Pride Month
LGBTQ+ Families Day is a time to celebrate LGBTQ+ families of all kinds. This event aims to raise awareness of the diversity, challenges, and joys of all LGBTQ+ families (found, formed, and chosen) in our society.
The Pulse nightclub shooting, or the 2016 Orlando shooting, was a mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in the early morning hours of June 12, 2016, that left 49 people dead and more than 50 wounded. This day remembers those victims and honors the survivors.
This judicial decision makes employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity illegal.
The landmark 5-4 decision granted same-sex couples in all 50 states the right to full, equal marriage recognition under the law.
National HIV Testing Day (NHTD) encourages HIV testing as a critical tool to help end the HIV epidemic in the United States.
The Stonewall Riots, also known as the Stonewall Uprising, were a series of violent confrontations that began in the early hours of June 28, 1969, between police and LGBTQ+ rights activists outside the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village, New York. They are considered the beginning of the gay rights movement.
