The first LGBTQ+ Pride was the commemoration of the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall riots, which served as a catalyst for the LGBTQ+ movement for civil rights in the United States and around the world. Within two years of its founding, the Society turned its attention to fighting police abuses of the Chicano community and police entrapment, wherein police officers would flirt with, coerce, or even sexually assault suspected homosexual men, then arrest them for “lewd and dissolute” behavior.
![poc gay flag poc gay flag](https://twibbon.blob.core.windows.net/twibbon/2019/147/107310c2-e281-4e72-b8d3-0860afe4ae36.png)
The first national gay rights organization, the Mattachine Society, was founded in Los Angeles in 1950. Their fight for liberation and equality has been whitewashed out of much of the history of the LGBTQ+ rights movement.Įach historical era determined not only how Black and brown people who identify as gay lived, but also what they risked losing by revealing their sexual preference or identity. As Black and brown people, their marginalization was furthered by their sexual orientation, causing violence, discrimination, and oppression toward them with respect to income, employment, housing, education, political representation, access to health care, and other public and private services. But one piece of history that frequently gets lost is the fact that many of these defining moments were only made possible by Black and brown LGBTQ+ activists fighting for their liberation.
![poc gay flag poc gay flag](https://lesbiannews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/brown-flag.jpg)
Pride Month, which comes to an end this week, is a time to celebrate the moments in queer history that sparked activism and progress toward equality.