Tracing the history of Pride and LGBTQ rights in India Premium

We trace the history of the Pride movement and LGBTQ rights around the world and India

In June 2023, countries across the world celebrated Pride Month, set apart each year as a celebration of alternative sexual and gender identity. It is an occasion for members of the LGBTQ community to mark progress made on legal and social fronts on their rights.

The same month, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni signed into law the Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2023, which criminalises same-sex conduct, including a potential death penalty for those convicted of “aggravated homosexuality.”

This duality is in keeping with the varying nature of protection for LGBTQ rights around the world. This is why, as LGBTQ organisations highlight, Pride is still a protest today, as it was at the outset.

Why is June Pride Month?

 The short answer: the Stonewall Riots. To understand the significance of the Stonewall Riots, one must consider the socio-political climate of North America in the 1960s. Besides apartheid and racial inequality, most cities in America also saw discrimination of another sort; homosexual activity was illegal in all major American cities. This included cities like New York and Philadelphia.

This did not prevent gatherings and socializing at underground gay bars across the country. One of these was the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village, New York City— an epicentre for gay gatherings in the city. The Stonewall Inn was reportedly operating without a liquor licence.

These bars were subject to frequent police interference and raids. In the early hours of June 28, 1969, nine policemen entered the Stonewall Inn for one such raid, arresting employees for selling alcohol sans licence and emptying the place of its colourful patrons. At the time, New York had a criminal statute in place which authorised the arrest of anyone not wearing at least “three articles of gender-appropriate clothing.” Many Stonewall patrons were in contravention of this and were taken into custody by the police.