This month, join HSPRD in honoring and celebrating the history and achievements of the LGBTQIA+ community and continuing the fight for equality throughout and beyond Pride Month.
HSPRD is proud to call Chicago—a city with a vibrant LGBTQIA+ community and with one of the strongest histories of hosting Pride parades—home. June marks Pride Month to commemorate the Stonewall Uprising on June 28, 1969, which began when LGBTQIA+ protesters stood up to police who violently raided a gay bar in New York City, the Stonewall Inn. On the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, thousands of people and activists took to the streets in New York City to march and bring awareness to the fight for equality, leading to the country’s first Pride parade. Chicago was one of the few cities to host its own Pride parade that year in solidarity. Today, Chicago’s Pride Month celebrations are among the largest in the country, drawing millions each year.
And yet, while HSPRD and Chicago celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community this month, we must also recognize the deeply troubling legislative attacks on LGBTQIA+ rights and continued threats to the LGBTQIA+ community’s physical safety. Last year, state legislatures across the country introduced a record number of bills, at least 510 and nearly triple the number in 2022, that aimed to restrict LGBTQIA+ rights. This legislative push focused on banning access to gender-affirming health care for transgender youth (25 states have laws banning gender-affirming care for transgender youth). This month also commemorates the anniversary of the horrific Pulse nightclub mass shooting on June 12, 2016. Pulse Remembrance Day on June 12th reminds us all of the continued threats and violence the LGBTQIA+ community faces in their fight to live free from discrimination. While advocates have achieved incredible progress since the Stonewall Uprising, the fight for equality continues.
HSPRD stands with the courageous activists, and especially the trans women of color, who face persistent discrimination and nevertheless continue to advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights. HSPRD remains committed to fighting for the rights and dignity of all LGBTQIA+ individuals, both through and beyond litigation.
Original source can be found here.