Pride Month 2024

29 May

Generated with Midjourney - “an abstract illustration of a pride parade full of happy people”

As we head into the summer, June is Pride month, and is seen as an opportunity to commemorate the fight for civil rights and the ongoing pursuit of equal justice under the law for the queer community, as well as a chance to celebrate the accomplishments of LGBTQ+ individuals.

The reason Pride is celebrated in June is in recognition of the importance of the Stonewall Riots in the history of the LGBTQ+ rights movement. The Stonewall Riots occurred due to a raid by New York City police on the Stonewall Inn, a gay club located in Greenwich Village, on 28th June, 1969. Angered by police harassment and social discrimination, the event sparked six days of protests and galvanised the gay rights movement in the United States. The first Pride marches in the US were held on the anniversary of the riots in 1970, with the first UK Pride rally taking place in 1972.

While more recently, Pride month has been seen as an opportunity to party, it is important to remember that it grew from protest, especially as we continue to see attempts to divide the LGBTQ+ community or to roll back the hard earned rights that our forebears fought for. A fascinating resource on the current state of LGBTQ+ rights in Europe can be found in the Rainbow Europe map from ILGA. The map ranks the laws and policies in 49 countries on categories such as equality and non-discrimination; family; hate crime and hate speech; legal gender recognition; intersex bodily integrity; civil society space; and asylum. The 2024 edition suggests that progress in many countries is stalling and that “only legal protections can ensure that fundamental rights are guaranteed.”

This doesn’t mean however that we should stop celebrating how far we have come, and there is something incredibly uplifting about spending time in spaces that are consciously LGBTQ+ affirming, so we hope that however you choose to recognise Pride month, you have a wonderful time. But, we aren’t just queer for June so remember that OMG is here for you the whole year round! In addition to the regular networking events on our Discord, we will be at the following events over the coming months;