Ella Piazzi marks Pride Month
It’s June, time for picnics at the park, holidays and Pimm’s.
It’s also Pride Month.
On June, 28th 1969, when New York police raided the Stonewall Inn, an LGBT bar in Greenwich Village, patrons and local residents fought back when police became violent, organising in the next week’s safe places where LGBT people could go with no fear of being prosecuted. Since then, every June we celebrate our existence. We are here, we are queer, we are not going anywhere.
Amazing, right? Yes. On paper.
The Stonewall Riots was 52 years ago and there aren’t that many people that still can say they saw it. That’s why it’s so important for us to remember: so that we won’t make the same mistakes again. Because 52 years later, despite the fact that we are not considered criminals anymore in 80% of the world, we can get married, have children and mortgages, we are still persecuted, prosecuted, beaten, abused, ridiculed, rejected by our families and forced into hiding or worse: in fact, conversion therapy is still a reality in the UK. And it’s legal.
