Laurent and (next to her) Canadian queen Jene Chandler (who later starred in Strange Shadows in an Empty Room). (Opposite) Drag performers from NYC’s 82 Club at the fourth annual Gay Pride Day in 1973 including (far right) trans performer Chrysis St. Here’s a look back in photos at this 53-year tradition of Pride and protest. Ahead of Pride month 2022 when there are new and pointed attacks on trans folks and queer kids with more than 300 anti-LGBTQ+ bills in the works around the country, Pride and protest go hand-in-hand as much as ever. Times have changed, but the resilience of Pride remains. (There was even a White House protest by the East Coast Homophile Organization in 1965.) The latter gave rise to The Advocate, founded the same year. Pride, of course, was preceded by many protests over harassment: in Philadelphia at Dewey’s Lunch Counter (1965) in San Francisco at Compton’s Cafeteria (1966) in New York at Whitehall Street (1964) and the Julius Sip-in (1966) and in Los Angeles at the PatchBar (1968) Coopers Do-nuts (1959) and the Black Cat (1967).
A year after Stonewall, Pride marches sprang up in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and later spread to cities worldwide. Pride began after the New York City Stonewall uprising in 1969, a riot turned movement turned a decades-long push and pull between celebration, liberation, and protest that exists in cities across the U.S.
