Orange County NC Website
1 <br /> ORANGE COUNTY <br /> BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br /> Meeting Date: June 15, 2021 <br /> Action Agenda <br /> Item No. 4-c <br /> SUBJECT: Proclamation Recognizing June 2021 as Pride Month in Orange County <br /> DEPARTMENT: Human Rights and Relations <br /> ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: <br /> Commissioner Renee Price, <br /> Proclamation (919) 245-2130 <br /> Annette Moore, Human Rights and <br /> Relations, (919) 245-2317 <br /> PURPOSE: To consider a proclamation recognizing June 2021 as Pride Month in Orange <br /> County, North Carolina. <br /> BACKGROUND: Each year the month of June affords the opportunity to celebrate the legacy of <br /> individuals who have fought and continue to fight for the equality of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, <br /> Transgender and Queer (to include intersex and asexual groups) (collectively referred to as <br /> "LGBTQ+") residents and recall the trials they have endured. <br /> The month of June was selected as Pride Month in honor of the uprising at the Stonewall Inn in <br /> June 1969, which sparked a liberation movement. In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, <br /> New York police raided a gay bar, the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village. Officers began shoving <br /> customers and employees into police vehicles when one lesbian, instead of going quietly, began <br /> fighting and cried to the crowd watching, "Why don't you guys do something!" Instead of <br /> dispersing as they normally did, the crowd began chanting, throwing bottles and bricks. Violent <br /> demonstrations continued over the following days. Stonewall's violent demonstrations amid the <br /> protest over the Vietnam War, civil rights and gender equality, marked a decisive break from the <br /> passive sexual-orientation politics of the day. In the wake of Stonewall, organizations flourished <br /> that were not afraid to use confrontation to push reform such as the Gay Liberation Front. <br /> The Pride marches began after young activists in 1969 at the Eastern Regional Conference of <br /> Homophile Organizations called for nationwide demonstrations each June to honor the Stonewall <br /> Uprising. In 1970, the first Pride March called, "Christopher Street Liberation Day" was held in <br /> New York City. The event attracted thousands of people. Now cities and towns around the world <br /> host Pride marches. These marches were not only the first highly visible public events for gay <br /> people to express their sexuality, but also to demonstrate their political expression. In 1987, the <br /> Washington, D.C. Pride March coincided with first showing on the AIDS Memorial Quilt on the <br /> National Mall. The Quilt covered a space larger than a football field adorned with 1,920 panels <br />