12 Ways to Make Your Pride Part of the Resistance

The more you know about the legacy of our community, the prouder you’ll be to have been born into this family of revolutionaries and rabblr-rousers. Gay Pride parades actually started with Christopher Street Liberation Day, a commemorative celebration of the Stonewall riots. It was the first gay Pride gathering of that size in the history of the U.S. And as much as we criticize other countries for their antigay “indecency” laws, as recently as the 1950s and '60s, it was illegal to be gay in public. Yep! In New York City, it was illegal for gays to be served alcohol or dance in public. Sip and strut proudly, my queens! Then pick up Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin by John D’Emilio, profiling the life of the openly gay civil rights pioneer credited for teaching Martin Luther King Jr. the principles of nonviolent protest, and A Queer History of the United States by Michael Bronski for a thorough reading of queer history from the times of Columbus onward.