Stonewall Lit the Flame. We Keep It Burning.

by Emma Goos

Let’s get one thing straight (pun intended): Pride isn’t just a party. It’s a protest.

Yes, Pride Month is full of joy. There are parades, drag shows, music, glitter, and rainbow flags flying high. That celebration is powerful—and necessary. But behind all of it is a truth we can’t afford to forget:

Pride began with a riot.

In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at a small, scrappy bar in New York City called the Stonewall Inn, queer and trans people finally had enough. Police had stormed into the bar—something that happened constantly back then. Being gay was criminalized. Dressing in “too many clothes of the wrong gender” could get you arrested. Being out was dangerous, and queer people were harassed, beaten, humiliated, and jailed just for living.

But that night was different.

As the police lined people up and started dragging them out, the crowd started fighting back. Witnesses say it was a mix of rage, exhaustion, and defiance that sparked the uprising. The energy turned electric—and explosive. Bottles and bricks were thrown. People chanted. Fires were set. Barricades went up. The police had to retreat.

And that resistance didn’t end in one night. For six days, people gathered outside the Stonewall Inn and demanded justice. The queer community—especially trans women of color like Marsha P. Johnson, a Black trans activist, and Sylvia Rivera, a Latina trans woman—stood on the front lines. They weren’t wealthy or politically connected. But they were brave. They were loud. And they refused to be erased.

That moment—fueled by fury and resilience—ignited a movement. Within a year, the first official Pride marches took place in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago to commemorate the uprising. Pride wasn’t created by corporations or sanctioned by city governments. It was created by people who risked everything just to be seen.

And today, over 50 years later, we still fight.

Because in 2025, the attacks haven’t stopped:

• States are banning gender-affirming care.

• Politicians are criminalizing drag shows and erasing LGBTQ+ books from classrooms.

• Trans youth are being used as political pawns.

• Hate crimes are rising.

So yes, we celebrate. We wear our colors. We sing and dance and kiss in public. That joy is revolutionary. But don’t confuse it with surrender.

Our joy is resistance. Our love is defiance. Our visibility is power.

Pride isn’t just about looking back—it’s about carrying the spirit of Stonewall forward. That same courage, that same anger, that same refusal to stay silent lives on in every one of us who shows up today.

This June, and every day, remember: Pride is a protest. Pride is a promise. We will not go back. We will not be erased.

And we will never stop fighting for our right to live, love, and thrive.

Carter, David. Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution. St. Martin’s Press, 2004.

Duberman, Martin. Stonewall. Penguin Books, 2019.

Gessen, Masha. “The Meaning of Pride Is Resistance.” The New Yorker, 28 June 2019, www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-meaning-of-pride-is-resistance.

Human Rights Campaign. “State Equality Index 2024.” HRC, www.hrc.org/resources/state-equality-index. Accessed 3 June 2025.

Library of Congress. “LGBTQ+ Politics and History: Stonewall Riots.” Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/lgbt-pride-month/about/. Accessed 3 June 2025.

PBS. “Stonewall Uprising.” American Experience, 22 Apr. 2011, www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/stonewall/.

Rao, Leighton. “Who Was Marsha P. Johnson?” National Women's History Museum, www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/marsha-p-johnson. Accessed 3 June 2025.

Stryker, Susan. Transgender History: The Roots of Today’s Revolution. Seal Press, 2017.