The knowledge and outrage of the Stonewall Riots gave LGBTQ advocates the momentum necessary to turn their cause into a true nationwide movement.
The first pride march was held in 1970 in New York, a year after the Stonewall Riots, violent police raids on a gay- and transgender-friendly bar that led to four nights of rioting. So it’s particularly heartbreaking that it happened during LGBT Pride Month, a celebration that arose from violence, particularly police brutality, against LGBTQ people. The mass shooting at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando Sunday morning, which left at least 50 people dead, isn’t just the deadliest mass shooting in American history - it’s the also the deadliest act of anti-LGBTQ violence.
