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IMPORTANT DAYS
 

List of LGBTQ Awareness Days

Wikipedia: LGBTQ Pride

Stonewall Riots

LGBTQ History Month
Wikipedia: National Coming Out Day

Rainbow Babies: LGBTQ Holidays & Observances

Complete List of LGBTQ Holidays and Commemorations

Important LGBTQ Events

Stonewall Riots – June 28, 1969

Legalization of Same Sex Marriage in the US – June 26, 2015

Non-Discrimination of LGBTQ Employees - June 15, 2020

Pulse Nightclub Shooting - June 12, 2016

Harvey Milk’s Birthday – May 22, 1930

LGBTQ Holidays and Observances

Holidays and cultural observances bring people together for both celebration and reflection. Throughout the year, the LGBTQ community unites in pride and in protest, in recognition of a rich heritage, and in hope for the future. There are LGBTQ holidays that recognize various aspects, issues, and concerns of the LGBTQ community, including pride, history, identity, coming out, bullying, and AIDS.

Some critics wonder why LGBTQ people need to have all these special days. Why do gay people have to flaunt their gayness?  To be fair, straight people certainly do flaunt their straightness all day, every day, in every part of this country.  Some might ask, why isn’t there a straight pride parade?  Probably for the same reason there aren’t soup kitchens for rich people.

Gay pride was not born out of a need to celebrate being gay, but instead to demonstrate the right to exist without persecution.  So, instead of wondering why there isn’t a straight pride movement, just be thankful you don’t need one.

LGBTQ Calendar

LGBTQ Pride Month

National Coming Out Day

World AIDS Day

LGBTQ History Month

Day of Silence

Honor Our LGBTQ Elders Day

International Transgender Day of Remembrance

LGBTQ Pride Month | June

LGBTQ Pride Month is a cultural expression that has grown and evolved and continues to do so.  Now in large part celebratory, the observance has its roots in both pride and protest. The initial events in the development of Pride Month were commemorations of the first anniversary of the Stonewall Riots of June 28, 1969. In New York, a few hundred gay men and lesbians marched from Washington Square to Central Park for a “Gay-In” demonstration. As they progressed, they attracted more and more participants. The number variously estimated at from 5,000 to 15,000, making it the largest gay power demonstration as of that time. The anniversary of Stonewall was also observed with a march in Los Angeles and rallies in San Francisco and Chicago.

Library of Congress: About LGBTQ Pride Month

This is Me: Celebrate LGBTQ Pride Month

Wikipedia: LGBTQ Pride

Celebrating LGBTQ Pride Month

Info: LGBTQ Pride Celebrations

National Coming Out Day | October 11

Inspired by the success of the March on Washington for Lesbian & Gay Rights on October 11, 1987, Jean O’Leary, then Executive Director of the National Gay & Lesbian Rights Advocates, joined with Rob Eichberg to create an event that would increase the visibility of LGBTQ people and encourage those previously silent to make their voices heard. On the first anniversary of the march, they launched National Coming Out Day. CNN and National Public Radio reported on events held in eighteen states, and the Oprah Winfrey Show also took note of the celebrations of pride.

The idea of National Coming Out Day did not find favor with everyone in the LGBTQ community at first since there was some fear that it might compromise individuals’ privacy. Outing people, however, was not the intent; rather, National Coming Out Day offered LGBTQ people the opportunity to choose to be identified with the community and to make a commitment to the goal of achieving equal rights. The symbol of National Coming Out Day, Keith Haring’s image of a person joyously bursting from a closet, underscores the individual nature of this step, fosters solidarity among those who have made it, and offers hope to those who, for whatever reason, have not yet been able to kick open the door. National Coming Out Day has become a joyous occasion, particularly on college campuses, where young people are able to discover community and support.

Wikipedia: National Coming Out Day

About Gay Life: National Coming Out Day
What You Need to Know About National Coming Out Day
Info: The Coming Out Process

Celebrating National Coming Out Day
Why National Coming Out Day Matters

The Universal Experience of Coming Out

World AIDS Day | December 1

To call attention to and mobilize support for the fight against the ongoing scourge of HIV/AIDS, UNAIDS (the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS) observed the first World AIDS Day on December 1, 1988. In 2005 the task of administering the project was transferred to the independent organization The World AIDS Campaign. Given the widespread impact of the disease, much of the attention is on people who have contracted the virus by means other than same-sex sexual contact. Nevertheless, World AIDS Day remains significant to LGBTQ people because of the devastating losses in the gay community due to HIV/AIDS.

World AIDS Day

What is World AIDS Day?

Info: AIDS/HIV Data

CDC: World AIDS Day

LGBTQ History Month | October

Rodney Wilson, a history teacher in a suburban St. Louis, Missouri high school, understood the difficulties of LGBTQ students picked on and bullied by their classmates since he had been their advocate when they turned to him in their distress. He was also troubled by the lack of acknowledgment of the homosexuality of prominent men and women who have made significant contributions to history. In response to these problems, he set about to establish a teaching initiative through which the achievements of LGBTQ people would be recognized. His stated goals were to “fight for the right of every child in every school in America to be safe from fear and intimidation, fight for the right of every teacher in every school in America to be free to live openly and honestly without fear of job loss, and fight for the right to have accurate information about lesbians and gays included in the textbooks and curricula of every school.” 

Wilson proposed October as LGBTQ History Month because it was during the school year and included National Coming Out Day. National organizations such as Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the HRC, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and the National Education Association were quick to lend support. In 2006 the Equality Forum took over the task of coordinating the project and launched an LGBTQ History Month web site. Each year the site features famous LGBTQ people who have made significant social, political, or artistic contributions.

LGBTQ History Month

Wikipedia: LGBT History Month

Info: LGBTQ Historical Perspective

Transgender Day of Visibility | March 31

March 31 is International Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV). It is a time to celebrate transgender people around the globe and the courage it takes to live openly and authentically, while also raising awareness around the discrimination trans people still face. TDOV has also been defined as an annual awareness day dedicated to celebrating the accomplishments of transgender and gender nonconforming people while raising awareness of the work that still needs to be done to achieve trans justice.

Transgender Day of Visibility Explained

TDOV: Honoring the Visible and Invisible (2020)

Celebrating Transgender Day of Visibility

TDOV: Honoring the Visible and Invisible (2019)

Transgender Day of Remembrance | November 20

The Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR), held in November, memorializes those who have been killed as a result of anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. The event began in 1998 to honor Rita Hester, whose murder on November 28, 1998 inspired the “Remembering Our Dead” web project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Since then, the Transgender Day of Remembrance has been observed in dozens of cities and at numerous colleges and universities. The Transgender Day of Remembrance serves to raise public awareness of hate crimes against transgender people, while also honoring the lives of individuals who might otherwise be forgotten.

International Transgender Day of Remembrance

Trans Deaths Are Real Deaths

HRC: Epidemic of Violence Against Trans People

Transgender People Killed in 2018

Info: Transgender Issues

CNN: Killings of Trans People in US Increasing

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