June has become synonymous with the Pride movement. Throughout the month, events ranging from the carnivalesque to the sombre are organized the world over by LGBTQ activists to commemorate past and ongoing struggles of the community and to assert their identity across public spaces, usually hostile to such colourful expression of queerness. But one must ask, why is June so significant for the LGBTQ community?

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While the queer community in the United States has been organizing as early as 1924, events at Stonewall Inn in 1969 has shaped the modern LGBTQ movement, most notably in the celebration of Pride Month. The Inn, located in New York’s Greenwich Village, was a regular haunt for LGBTQ youth back in the day. However, in the wee hours of June 28, cops would raid the Inn, detaining employees for serving alcohol without a license, assaulting customers, etc.

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As events unfolded, a large crowd began to gather outside the bar, including many from the queer community. Having borne the brunt of police brutality, they would not hold back! Tossing coins, bottles and debris at police officers, the over 400-strong crowd outside the Inn was in the mood to retaliate. Years of violence meted out to them at the hands of law enforcement officers would distil into a singular moment of an uprising, forcing the officers to scurry for cover, effectively barricading themselves inside the bar.

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Reinforcements would arrive to diffuse the furore, but protests continued for five days, striking a match that would ignite over the years. The Stonewall Uprising-as it is now known- serves as the ignition key for the LGBTQ movement and the primary reason behind June being declared as Pride Month. First, President Clinton would rubberstamp the month as dedicated to celebrating the queer community in 1999 and 2000, followed by successive declarations by President Obama and President Biden. However, never needing official sanction, the queer community has embraced the Stonewall Uprising, claiming June for spreading awareness, demanding greater civil rights and celebrating the community and its many icons.