*The months of June and October are especially significant to members of the LGBTQ+ community*
LGBTQ+ Pride is currently celebrated each year in the month of June to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan. It began in the overnight hours of June 28, 1969 when New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay club located in New York City's Greenwich Village. Although LGBTQ patrons were finally allowed to be served alcohol, engaging in "gay behavior" in public (holding hands, kissing, or dancing with someone of the opposite sex) was still illegal, so police harassment of gay bars continued and many of them still operated without liquor licenses--mainly due to the fact that they were owned by the Mafia.
On June 28, bar patrons and neighborhood residents decided to fight back. The raid sparked a riot among bar patrons and neighborhood residents as police roughly hauled employees and patrons out of the bar, culminating in six days of protests and violent clashes with law enforcement outside the bar on Christopher Street, in surrounding streets, and in nearby Christopher Park. The Stonewall Riots served as a catalyst for the gay rights movement in not just the United States but also around the world.
The date of October 11 was chosen as National Coming Out Day to commemorate the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights which took place on October 11, 1987. Its success, size, scope, and historical importance have led to it being called "The Great March." It marked the first national coverage of ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), an international, grassroots political group working to end the AIDS pandemic. The month of October is also LGBTQ History Month.
