This weekend marks the start of Pridemance with festivities taking place all over the globe.
It’s an annual celebration featuring parades and gatherings to honor LGBTQ+ culture and rights.
In essence, pride serves as both a celebration and a form of protest.
This year, in the United States, it emphasizes the need to voice opposition against policies that impose restrictions on transgender individuals and curtail diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across government, education, and business sectors.
Discover the origins of this event along with the themes and occasions planned for this year.
When does Pride Month start?
The global celebration commenced with Gay Pride Week in late June 1970, a year after the violent police raid at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York.
On June 28, 1969, when many LGBTQ+ individuals kept their identities hidden, this incident ignited a series of public protests that catalyzed the gay rights movement.
The inaugural Pride Week witnessed marches in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco before spreading to other cities. Numerous events are scheduled for this weekend in Philadelphia, New Orleans on June 14, Chicago on June 21-22, and New York on June 28 and 29. Many more celebrations are anticipated in both large cities and small towns.
Globally, pride festivities will take place in Tokyo on June 8, Toronto from June 27-29, São Paulo on June 22, and Paris on June 28.
Several events extend beyond June, including World Pride in Washington, D.C., which runs from May until June 8. London will celebrate Pride in July, while Rio de Janeiro’s large event is scheduled for November, and Atlanta’s will occur in October.
In 1999, former President Bill Clinton proclaimed June as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month, marking the first declaration of its kind by a sitting U.S. president.
Trump’s Targeting of Transgender Policies
Upon his inauguration in January, President Donald Trump quickly initiated efforts to undermine LGBTQ+ rights.
He has particularly focused on policies affecting transgender individuals, such as the ability to change their gender on passports, the attempted withdrawal of transgender military healthcare coverage, and the exclusion of transgender athletes from women’s sports competitions.
These modifications have faced legal challenges.
His administration has aligned with ongoing Republican policies in various states that dictate which sports transgender individuals can participate in and which restrooms they can use in public spaces. The U.S. Supreme Court will address the constitutionality of Tennessee’s ban on medical treatments for transgender minors this month.
One directive from Trump involved removing any mention of “gender ideology” from government documents and websites.
Consequently, references to transgender individuals at the Stonewall National Monument have been erased from government sites, including those detailing events pertinent to Pride.
About half of adults approve of Trump’s handling of transgender issues, while approximately 40% generally support his presidency.
Nevertheless, his backing for specific transgender policies is not uniformly strong, with clearer consensus emerging around issues impacting youth.
This Year’s Celebrations in the U.S.
The organizers of Milwaukee’s Pride Fest anticipate a turnout of nearly 50,000 attendees for the event slated for June 5-7.
“We believe that people are showing up, and that’s their form of protest,” stated Wes Shaver, President and CEO of Milwaukee Pride.
The theme for this year’s event is “Celebrating the Power of Pride,” which, for the first time, will feature a night dedicated solely to trans performers. Shaver remarked that this is a deliberate response to Trump’s policies. Another night will focus exclusively on performers of color.
Jeremy Williams, Executive Producer of Philadelphia Pride 365, expressed that he does not expect an increase in protests this year.
“Everyone is just coming together,” he noted.
The 10th Anniversary of Nationwide Same-Sex Marriage
This month marks a significant milestone: the 10th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. This ruling was pivotal in advancing LGBTQ+ rights across the country.
About two-thirds of LGBTQ+ adults in the U.S. indicated that this decision has increased openness towards same-sex couples, according to a recent Pew Research Center poll.
However, the poll revealed that LGBTQ+ individuals do not always experience acceptance. Approximately six in ten reported seeing “a great deal” or “a significant amount” of social acceptance for lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals, while only about one in ten felt the same regarding non-binary and transgender individuals.
Corporate Sponsorship Trends
This year, several major corporations have scaled back their sponsorships of Pride events.
For example, Anheuser-Busch, based in St. Louis, opted out of sponsoring its local PrideFest after 30 years of support, and event organizers communicated a $150,000 cut to the previous year’s budget.
NYC Pride reported that roughly 20% of corporate sponsors have withdrawn or reduced their support, including brands like PepsiCo and Nissan, which stated it has reassessed all marketing expenditures.
In other areas, such as Kansas City, Missouri, Pride celebrations have seen budget reductions of nearly 50%.
Some companies that have pulled back have not disclosed their reasons for doing so to the Associated Press. Nevertheless, some experts perceive this shift as part of a larger retreat from brand activism.
Despite this, many organizations behind Pride events maintain that some companies continue to provide support but prefer not to be publicly recognized as sponsors.
Source: apnews.com