Latest news with #Stonewall
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Pride flags surround Stonewall National Monument for Pride Month in NYC
NEW YORK CITY (PIX11) — Volunteers put up pride flags at Stonewall National Monument on Sunday to kick off Pride Month in New York City. It's an annual tradition at the landmark park for LGBTQ rights, but it has been touched by controversy in recent years. More Local News The park has been hit continuously with vandalism. Just last year, dozens of the pride, trans and progress flags were ripped off the fence, some snapped in half. There is a mobile security camera now in the area. Even still, the monument holds great importance to the movement. The Stonewall riots of 1969 ignited the LGBTQ pride movement, and this was designated a national monument in 2016. Pride Month lines up with a mayoral election in New York City this year. Candidates in the Democratic primary shared their ideas about how they'll advocate for the LGBTQ community at a forum this weekend. Watch the video player for the full story. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Pride Month starts this weekend. Here's what to expect
Pride Month kicks off with events around the world starting this weekend. It's an annual series of parades and other gatherings to celebrate LGBTQ+ culture and rights. At its heart, Pride is both a party and a protest. In the U.S. this year, that means speaking out against a slew of policies that impose restrictions on transgender people and that try to end diversity, equity and inclusion programming in government, education and businesses. Here's a look at the event's roots and this year's events and themes. When Pride Month began The monthlong global celebration began with Gay Pride Week in late June 1970, a year after the violent police raid at New York's Stonewall Inn, a gay bar. At a time when many LGBTQ+ people kept their identities private, the June 28, 1969, raid sparked a series of public protests and catalyzed the gay rights movement. The first pride week featured marches in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco, and it has since grown to other cities. On the calendar are events in Philadelphia this weekend; New Orleans on June 14; Chicago on June 21 and 22; and New York over the weekend of June 28 and 29. Many other events in big cities and small towns are also planned. There are pride celebrations around the world, including in Tokyo on June 8; Toronto on June 27-29; Sao Paolo on June 22; and Paris on June 28. Some events fall outside of June, too. World Pride, a biannual event held this year in Washington, D.C., began in May and goes through June 8. Pride in London is in July; a big celebration in Rio de Janeiro is in November and Atlanta's is in October. Former President Bill Clinton proclaimed June as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month in 1999, marking the first time a U.S. president did so. How Trump is targeting trans people and DEI policies When President Donald Trump returned to office in January, he quickly attempted to roll back LGBTQ+ rights. He's especially targeted transgender people with policies that halted allowing people to change the sex listed on their passport, removed transgender military troops and sought to stop using federal insurance programs to pay for gender-affirming care for transgender people under age 19, and keep transgender athletes out of girls and women's sports competitions. All of those changes are being challenged in court. His actions follow years of policies in Republican-controlled states that bar gender-affirming care for transgender minors and dictate which sports transgender people can play and which school and other public bathrooms they are allowed to use. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule this month on whether Tennessee's ban on medical treatment is constitutional. One of Trump's orders called for removing references to what he and some other conservatives call 'gender ideology' from government publications and websites. A result of that: References to transgender people have been removed from government websites, including the one for the Stonewall National Monument, site of the event that inspired Pride. About half of U.S. adults approve of how Trump is handling transgender issues, an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found last month. About 4 in 10 voters approve of his job as president overall. But support for his individual policies on transgender people is not uniformly strong, with a clearer consensus against policies that affect youth. This year's celebrations in the U.S. Organizers of Milwaukee's PrideFest are prepared for close to 50,000 people at the event scheduled for June 5-7. 'We're feeling that people will be showing up, and that's their protest,' said Wes Shaver, the president and CEO of Milwaukee Pride, Inc. The event's theme is 'Celebrating the Power of Pride' and for the first time, one of the entertainment stages one night will feature only transgender performers. Shaver said that's an intentional move in response to Trump's policies. Another night, the stage will feature only performers of color. Jeremy Williams, the executive producer of Philly Pride 365 in Philadelphia, said he didn't expect more protest than in the past there. 'Everybody's just there to be together,' he said. The 10th anniversary of same-sex marriage legalized nationwide One milestone that's likely to be celebrated: This month marks the 10th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's Obergefell v. Hodges ruling, which recognized same-sex marriage nationwide. It was a watershed event in establishing rights for LGBTQ+ people across the country. About two-thirds of LGBTQ+ adults in the U.S. said the case made the nation more accepting of same-sex couples, according to a Pew Research Center poll released last week. The poll found that LGBTQ+ people don't always feel accepted, though. About 6 in 10 said they see 'a great deal' or 'a fair amount' of social acceptance for those who are lesbian, gay or bisexual. But only about 1 in 10 said the same is true for nonbinary and transgender people. Which companies are backing off on sponsorships Several big companies have pulled back on sponsorships for Pride events this year. Among them: Anheuser-Busch, the St. Louis-based brewer, declined to sponsor PrideFest in its home city after three decades of support, leaving organizers $150,000 short of last year's budget, they told The Associated Press. NYC Pride said about 20% of its corporate sponsors dropped or reduced support, including PepsiCo and Nissan. The carmaker said it was reviewing all its marketing costs. In other cities, such as Kansas City, Missouri, pride events lost about half their budgets. Several companies that have pulled back have not explained why to the AP. But some experts see the change as part of a broader retreat from brand activism. Still, the groups behind many Pride events say some companies have kept contributing but have asked not to be listed publicly as sponsors.
The Independent
a day ago
- General
- The Independent
Pride Month starts this weekend. Here's what to expect
Pride Month kicks off with events around the world starting this weekend. It's an annual series of parades and other gatherings to celebrate LGBTQ+ culture and rights. At its heart, Pride is both a party and a protest. In the U.S. this year, that means speaking out against a slew of policies that impose restrictions on transgender people and that try to end diversity, equity and inclusion programming in government, education and businesses. Here's a look at the event's roots and this year's events and themes. When Pride Month began The monthlong global celebration began with Gay Pride Week in late June 1970, a year after the violent police raid at New York's Stonewall Inn, a gay bar. At a time when many LGBTQ+ people kept their identities private, the June 28, 1969, raid sparked a series of public protests and catalyzed the gay rights movement. The first pride week featured marches in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco, and it has since grown to other cities. On the calendar are events in Philadelphia this weekend; New Orleans on June 14; Chicago on June 21 and 22; and New York over the weekend of June 28 and 29. Many other events in big cities and small towns are also planned. There are pride celebrations around the world, including in Tokyo on June 8; Toronto on June 27-29; Sao Paolo on June 22; and Paris on June 28. Some events fall outside of June, too. World Pride, a biannual event held this year in Washington, D.C., began in May and goes through June 8. Pride in London is in July; a big celebration in Rio de Janeiro is in November and Atlanta's is in October. Former President Bill Clinton proclaimed June as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month in 1999, marking the first time a U.S. president did so. How Trump is targeting trans people and DEI policies When President Donald Trump returned to office in January, he quickly attempted to roll back LGBTQ+ rights. He's especially targeted transgender people with policies that halted allowing people to change the sex listed on their passport, removed transgender military troops and sought to stop using federal insurance programs to pay for gender-affirming care for transgender people under age 19, and keep transgender athletes out of girls and women's sports competitions. All of those changes are being challenged in court. His actions follow years of policies in Republican-controlled states that bar gender-affirming care for transgender minors and dictate which sports transgender people can play and which school and other public bathrooms they are allowed to use. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule this month on whether Tennessee's ban on medical treatment is constitutional. One of Trump's orders called for removing references to what he and some other conservatives call 'gender ideology' from government publications and websites. A result of that: References to transgender people have been removed from government websites, including the one for the Stonewall National Monument, site of the event that inspired Pride. About half of U.S. adults approve of how Trump is handling transgender issues, an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found last month. About 4 in 10 voters approve of his job as president overall. But support for his individual policies on transgender people is not uniformly strong, with a clearer consensus against policies that affect youth. This year's celebrations in the U.S. Organizers of Milwaukee's PrideFest are prepared for close to 50,000 people at the event scheduled for June 5-7. 'We're feeling that people will be showing up, and that's their protest,' said Wes Shaver, the president and CEO of Milwaukee Pride, Inc. The event's theme is 'Celebrating the Power of Pride' and for the first time, one of the entertainment stages one night will feature only transgender performers. Shaver said that's an intentional move in response to Trump's policies. Another night, the stage will feature only performers of color. Jeremy Williams, the executive producer of Philly Pride 365 in Philadelphia, said he didn't expect more protest than in the past there. 'Everybody's just there to be together,' he said. The 10th anniversary of same-sex marriage legalized nationwide One milestone that's likely to be celebrated: This month marks the 10th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's Obergefell v. Hodges ruling, which recognized same-sex marriage nationwide. It was a watershed event in establishing rights for LGBTQ+ people across the country. About two-thirds of LGBTQ+ adults in the U.S. said the case made the nation more accepting of same-sex couples, according to a Pew Research Center poll released last week. The poll found that LGBTQ+ people don't always feel accepted, though. About 6 in 10 said they see 'a great deal' or 'a fair amount' of social acceptance for those who are lesbian, gay or bisexual. But only about 1 in 10 said the same is true for nonbinary and transgender people. Which companies are backing off on sponsorships Several big companies have pulled back on sponsorships for Pride events this year. Among them: Anheuser-Busch, the St. Louis-based brewer, declined to sponsor PrideFest in its home city after three decades of support, leaving organizers $150,000 short of last year's budget, they told The Associated Press. NYC Pride said about 20% of its corporate sponsors dropped or reduced support, including PepsiCo and Nissan. The carmaker said it was reviewing all its marketing costs. In other cities, such as Kansas City, Missouri, pride events lost about half their budgets. Several companies that have pulled back have not explained why to the AP. But some experts see the change as part of a broader retreat from brand activism. Still, the groups behind many Pride events say some companies have kept contributing but have asked not to be listed publicly as sponsors.
Associated Press
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Pride Month starts this weekend. Here's what to expect
Pride Month kicks off with events around the world starting this weekend. It's an annual series of parades and other gatherings to celebrate LGBTQ+ culture and rights. At its heart, Pride is both a party and a protest. In the U.S. this year, that means speaking out against a slew of policies that impose restrictions on transgender people and that try to end diversity, equity and inclusion programming in government, education and businesses. Here's a look at the event's roots and this year's events and themes. When Pride Month began The monthlong global celebration began with Gay Pride Week in late June 1970, a year after the violent police raid at New York's Stonewall Inn, a gay bar. At a time when many LGBTQ+ people kept their identities private, the June 28, 1969, raid sparked a series of public protests and catalyzed the gay rights movement. The first pride week featured marches in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco, and it has since grown to other cities. On the calendar are events in Philadelphia this weekend; New Orleans on June 14; Chicago on June 21 and 22; and New York over the weekend of June 28 and 29. Many other events in big cities and small towns are also planned. There are pride celebrations around the world, including in Tokyo on June 8; Toronto on June 27-29; Sao Paolo on June 22; and Paris on June 28. Some events fall outside of June, too. World Pride, a biannual event held this year in Washington, D.C., began in May and goes through June 8. Pride in London is in July; a big celebration in Rio de Janeiro is in November and Atlanta's is in October. Former President Bill Clinton proclaimed June as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month in 1999, marking the first time a U.S. president did so. How Trump is targeting trans people and DEI policies When President Donald Trump returned to office in January, he quickly attempted to roll back LGBTQ+ rights. He's especially targeted transgender people with policies that halted allowing people to change the sex listed on their passport, removed transgender military troops and sought to stop using federal insurance programs to pay for gender-affirming care for transgender people under age 19, and keep transgender athletes out of girls and women's sports competitions. All of those changes are being challenged in court. His actions follow years of policies in Republican-controlled states that bar gender-affirming care for transgender minors and dictate which sports transgender people can play and which school and other public bathrooms they are allowed to use. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule this month on whether Tennessee's ban on medical treatment is constitutional. One of Trump's orders called for removing references to what he and some other conservatives call 'gender ideology' from government publications and websites. A result of that: References to transgender people have been removed from government websites, including the one for the Stonewall National Monument, site of the event that inspired Pride. About half of U.S. adults approve of how Trump is handling transgender issues, an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found last month. About 4 in 10 voters approve of his job as president overall. But support for his individual policies on transgender people is not uniformly strong, with a clearer consensus against policies that affect youth. This year's celebrations in the U.S. Organizers of Milwaukee's PrideFest are prepared for close to 50,000 people at the event scheduled for June 5-7. 'We're feeling that people will be showing up, and that's their protest,' said Wes Shaver, the president and CEO of Milwaukee Pride, Inc. The event's theme is 'Celebrating the Power of Pride' and for the first time, one of the entertainment stages one night will feature only transgender performers. Shaver said that's an intentional move in response to Trump's policies. Another night, the stage will feature only performers of color. Jeremy Williams, the executive producer of Philly Pride 365 in Philadelphia, said he didn't expect more protest than in the past there. 'Everybody's just there to be together,' he said. The 10th anniversary of same-sex marriage legalized nationwide One milestone that's likely to be celebrated: This month marks the 10th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's Obergefell v. Hodges ruling, which recognized same-sex marriage nationwide. It was a watershed event in establishing rights for LGBTQ+ people across the country. About two-thirds of LGBTQ+ adults in the U.S. said the case made the nation more accepting of same-sex couples, according to a Pew Research Center poll released last week. The poll found that LGBTQ+ people don't always feel accepted, though. About 6 in 10 said they see 'a great deal' or 'a fair amount' of social acceptance for those who are lesbian, gay or bisexual. But only about 1 in 10 said the same is true for nonbinary and transgender people. Which companies are backing off on sponsorships Several big companies have pulled back on sponsorships for Pride events this year. Among them: Anheuser-Busch, the St. Louis-based brewer, declined to sponsor PrideFest in its home city after three decades of support, leaving organizers $150,000 short of last year's budget, they told The Associated Press. NYC Pride said about 20% of its corporate sponsors dropped or reduced support, including PepsiCo and Nissan. The carmaker said it was reviewing all its marketing costs. In other cities, such as Kansas City, Missouri, pride events lost about half their budgets. Several companies that have pulled back have not explained why to the AP. But some experts see the change as part of a broader retreat from brand activism. Still, the groups behind many Pride events say some companies have kept contributing but have asked not to be listed publicly as sponsors.
WIRED
3 days ago
- General
- WIRED
Trump's Administration Wants to Erase Queer History. An Unconventional Book Club Is Fighting Back
May 30, 2025 6:00 AM Drag Race star Miss Peppermint is coleading Queer History 101, a virtual book club merging stories of queer resistance with community. Photo-illustration: Jacqui VanLiew; Getty Images Hugh Ryan has two things to say. The first will be alarming, but the second might offer some comfort: 'The future is so much stupider than I expected, but the past is so much smarter.' Ryan would know. As a queer historian and author, he's used to talking about state of queer affairs, past and present, especially with actress, activist, and season 9 Ru Paul's Drag Race contestant, Miss Peppermint. Together, the two are currently running Queer History 101, a monthly book club that's taking a more expansive approach to history than simply reciting dates or names, at a time when their mission couldn't be more important. The queer community, especially transgender Americans, are under attack. The current administration is systematically wiping away trans people's health information, gender autonomy, history, and employment opportunities, even in the case of national monuments like Stonewall, which is considered the birthplace of the modern movement for LGBT rights. 'It's shameful because we're seeing the cover up in front of our eyes,' Peppermint says. Many companies are also backing off their initiatives that once celebrated queer pride as part of greater crackdown on DEI. But all is not lost, as long as queer communities are still able to preserve their own history. The answers might just not be directly in front of us, but behind. 'They were smart,' Peppermint says of queer communities in the past. 'Not because they had access to the tools or the science or the technology that we have access to. They're smart because they figured out how to navigate systems of oppression that are still here. 'We need those folks to teach us—and the only way we can do it now is to read their stories.' Queer History 101 is a fully virtual, monthly book club. The pair releases one video episode a month, as well as the occasional live chat; in April, the two hosted an interview with Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert author Bob the Drag Queen, also of Drag Race and Traitors fame. It's a read at your own pace club, though it also includes a discord, called Kiki, where readers can talk to each other or propose questions for authors. June's bookclub selection is Caro de Roberts' So Many Stars: An Oral History of Trans, Nonbinary, Genderqueer, and Two-Spirit People of Color. Queer History 101 is a revival of sorts, the reincarnation of a book club that began with an online indie store started by Eric Cervini and Adam Powell, built with the goal to pay and promote queer authors. In 2024, Cervini and Powell launched AllStora alongside Drag Race host and queer icon, RuPaul. The book club has been revamped to fit the new hosts' vision for queer history. '[Allstora] wanted to just really stick with scholarly non-fiction,' Ryan says. 'We knew that was not going to work for us.' The pair wanted to reach readers who weren't already interested, weren't already huge history buffs, so they expanded their selections to include young adult novels, memoirs, poetry, and many other genres. 'I don't care if you come to queer history through a comic book or through TV or any of the books in our book club,' Ryan says. 'Queer history, it's always a history of resistance, because that's what queerness is,' he adds. Whether it's sexual or gender identity, being queer is non-normative. 'Institutions, even well-meaning ones, even schools that try really hard, even great public schools, they're invested in a version of history that's from the top down. And queer history is never that way.' Ryan says that to 'meet this moment,' it was important to not just discuss histories of what it means to be queer and Black, or trans in the 19th century—they had to get people connecting to one another. 'We're bringing a history of revolution, but we're also trying to make community,' he says. The way people connect and build community has changed, thanks to social media and smart phones. Michael Bronski, a Harvard professor of the practice in media and activism, has been involved in LGBT politics and activism since 1969. He's authored several books on queer history and politics. His students today, he says, are often astounded at the work that was done without social media. 'All those new technologies are incredibly useful and efficient, but they often lack interpersonal relationships,' he says. Civil rights of all kinds began as community actions. 'It's really important to prioritize the reality of community,' Bronski says. 'We actually don't form communities by tweeting. That may be useful for contacting people for something, but that's not a community. Community means being together—physically, often, but virtually as well. 'Now people get together on Zoom, which is good too,' he says. Written histories do exist and are being added to every day. Our phones make it easier than ever to preserve the record; everyone's able to take photos, video, and record audio. But websites can be changed, media can be removed. 'What good is it gonna be if Amazon can just flick a switch everybody's watching a commercial at the same time,' says Peppermint. 'We are in this era of technology, but we clearly have to go back to an analog way of recording history as well.' She points to Marion Stokes, an civil rights activist and archivist who recorded 24-hour television broadcasts for over 30 years, and in doing so created an indispensable record between 1979 and 2012. 'We're gonna need that, and we're gonna need people to do things like that,' Peppermint says. Despite the changes being made now, the Trump administration will not be in power forever. It's possible that every step backwards for the queer community will be ground regained in the future. At the very least, says Bronski, Trump cannot truly erase trans or queer Americans. 'There's an interesting contradiction that every act of erasure admits that something was there before,' he says. 'The active erasure is actually an affirmation that it was existing to begin with.' At 76, Bronksi has a long memory of events like Pride before corporations swooped in, when they were protest marches, not parades. He says it's important for queer communities, however they're formed, 'to keep this knowledge alive within themselves'—whether that's publishing their own books and magazines, telling oral histories, or preserving other aspects of their culture. 'What the administration is doing is horrible and destructive, for the moment,' he says. 'We have to think of ways around that. The government has a lot of power, but it's just the government—it's not a community.'
