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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.

List of LGBTQ Awareness Days

National Coming Out Day

Complete List of LGBTQ Holidays and Commemorations

LGBTQ Pride Explained

Celebrating Transgender Day of Visibility

LGBTQ Pride Month

Library of Congress: About LGBTQ Pride Month

International Trans Day of Remembrance

Stonewall Riots

LGBTQ Calendar

LGBTQ History Month

Rainbow Holidays and Observances

International Lesbian Day Explained

What You Need to Know About National Coming Out Day

Celebrating LGBTQ Pride Month

Celebrating Pansexual Pride Day

Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week

World AIDS Day

Honor Our LGBTQ Elders Day

Intersex Awareness Day

Day of Silence

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

Lesbian Visibility Day
April 26

Lesbian Visibility Day is an annual observation that aims to increase visibility, representation, and support for the lesbian, sapphic, and WLW (Women-Loving-Women) communities. It is also a day to raise awareness of the issues faced by queer women, in workplaces, in culture and in health and wellbeing. It was started in 2008.

In the United Kingdom, the celebration extends beyond a single day and is called Lesbian Visibility Week.

International Lesbian Day, which is mostly celebrated in Australia and New Zealand, is held on October 8. It is a day for lesbians the world over to come together to celebrate lesbian history, diversity and culture. Recognized annually, the day gives an opportunity for women, families and friends to connect, celebrate and also raise awareness about the importance of community.
 

Lesbian Visibility Day: How It Started and Why We Need It

Info: Lesbian Community

Founder of Lesbian Visibility Week on Why It Matters
 

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)

California Becomes First State to Establish Transgender History Month
Info: Transgender Experience

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

Pansexual Pride Day
December 8

Pansexual Pride Day is an annual community celebration which recognizes, celebrates, and brings visibility to those who identify as pansexual and panromantic.  The celebration focuses on this often overlooked part of the LGBTQ community. It is an important opportunity for pansexuals and panromantics to celebrate their identities, raise awareness about pan rights, and create a more inclusive society.

Today, many pansexual people refer to themselves as “gender blind” when it comes to their romantic or sexual attraction to others, and is defined as “not limited in sexual choice with regard to biological sex, gender or gender identity.”  Celebrities, like Prince, Janelle Monae, Miley Cyrus, Wayne Brady, and Kristen Stewart, who have come out as pansexual, have helped to raise awareness and curiosity about this misunderstood sexual orientation.

Celebrating Pansexual Pride Day
Pansexuality Explained
Important Facts About Pansexuality
Info: Pansexuality

Spirit Day

October 20

Spirit Day is the world’s most visible anti-bullying movement inspiring LGBTQ youth, especially transgender and nonbinary youth to live their lives in their truth and authenticity.

Spirit Day is an annual LGBTQ awareness day observed on October 20. Started in 2010 by Canadian teenager Brittany McMillan, it was initially created in response to a rash of widely publicized bullying-related suicides of gay school students in 2010, including that of Tyler Clementi. Promoted by GLAAD, observers wear the color purple as a visible sign of support for LGBTQ youth and against bullying during National Bullying Prevention Month, as well as to honor LGBTQ victims of suicide.

GLAAD: Spirit Day
Spirit Day Explained
Info: Anti-LGBTQ Bullying

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