Understanding Pride Month: its vital role in advancing LGBTQ+ rights

IOL News

27-06-2025

Gay Pride in Johannesburg has grown considerably since its first event in 1990 that drew a small crowd of about 100 people.
Image: Timothy Bernard African News Agency (ANA)
In 1996, Pastor Baker led the chant of a group of Christians protesting at the Joburg Pride, as he had done on previous occasions, holding up the usual "Adam & Eve, not Adam & Steve" posters, while clutching and preaching from his bible.
A bunch of queens armed with posters bearing our Tree Emblem and Preamble to our Constitution leapt onto a float at Library Gardens in a fabulous flurry, thrusting the posters in front of themselves, forward and backward, and getting the whole crowd to chant back: "God loves me, and he knows I'm gay!"
Pure genius.
If you didn't know, Gay is an acronym for "Good As You".
It was not the first Pride event I had ever attended, but it was certainly light years apart from the first one I supported in Durban in the 90s.
Along the city streets and beachfront moved a small group of somewhat subdued attendees.
Among them were several who wore paper packets over their heads, with holes cut into them so they could see where they were going.
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Being identified at a gay event in the 90s could jeopardise your job, friendships and family ties
So when I look back, I realise that we have come a long way in addressing homophobia, scrapping apartheid immorality laws that made us criminals simply because of who we loved. We now have a Constitution that recognises our relationships and right to marry, and laws that protect us.
But this came at a price, and was not dished out on a plate by benevolent lawmakers.
It had to be fought for, as it has been fought elsewhere, and continues to be fought in countries grappling with religious dogma, societal and cultural pressure.
Transgender activist and drag performer Marsha P. Johnson was one of dozens of trans women who fought back when cops raided a gay pub that gave rise to Gay Pride.
Image: Netflix
The Stonewall Riots
On June 28, 1969, all hell broke loose in New York when cops raided a gay bar called Stonewall as they had for the umteenth time, but patrons fought back that evening, leading to six days of riots that made headlines around the world.
Big butch guys, dikes and fem boys bashed back. Trans women like Marsha P. Johnson became icons for their brave pushback against authority.
Gay Pride
When the first anniversary of Stonewall approached, it was suggested that the event be named "Gay Power", but this was shelved and replaced with "Gay Pride" because the organisers knew that power had not been attained, and may never be achieved in some countries.
It was the actions of these few individuals that gave rise to a global fight for civil rights, with the rallying cry being: "Recognise our relationships".