There is a storied history of LGBTQ activism in the United States that dates back long before the Stonewall Riots. There was a gay rights movement before Pride Month. Given that many of the event's 50th anniversary celebrations were lost amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, now is the perfect time to look back at the history of Pride Month and LGBTQ activism in the United States. This year marks the 51st anniversary of the first gay pride march, which was held on the first anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.

Pride parades, which are traditionally held on the last weekend in June, commemorate the anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, a watershed moment in LGBTQ history when patrons of The Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Manhattan that is now a national monument, fought back against a police raid. Since 1970, the LGBTQ community has marked June as Pride Month-a time to celebrate what it means to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgender while demanding equality and liberation from cis and heteronormative constraints.