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| Oscar Wilde |
Sunday, June 1, 12 a.m. – Tuesday, July 1, 12 a.m.
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month (LGBT Pride Month) is currently celebrated each year in the month of June to honor the 1969 Stonewall riots in Manhattan. The Stonewall riots were a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States. In the United States the last Sunday in June was initially celebrated as “Gay Pride Day,” but the actual day was flexible.
In major cities across the nation the “day” soon grew to encompass a month-long series of events. Today, celebrations include pride parades, picnics, parties, workshops, symposia and concerts, and LGBT Pride Month events attract millions of participants around the world. Memorials are held during this month for those members of the community who have been lost to hate crimes or HIV/AIDS.
The purpose of the commemorative month is to recognize the impact that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals have had on history locally, nationally, and internationally.
In 1994, a coalition of education-based organizations in the United States designated October as LGBT History Month. In 1995, a resolution passed by the General Assembly of the National Education Association included LGBT History Month within a list of commemorative months.
LGBT History Month is also celebrated with annual month-long observances of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history, along with the history of the gay rights and related civil rights movements. National Coming Out Day (October 11), as well as the first “March on Washington” in 1979, are commemorated in the LGBT community during LGBT History Month.
Executive and Legislative Documents
The Law Library of Congress has compiled guides to commemorative observations, including a comprehensive inventory of the Public Laws, Presidential Proclamations and congressional resolutions related to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month Pride.
Library of Congress Event- June 3
LGBT Poetry Celebration (LJ-119, 12pm) This inaugural event will feature readings by established and emerging gay and lesbian poets Joan Larkin, Kamilah Aisha Moon, D. A. Powell, and Dan Vera, as well as featuring a display of the Library's rare LGBT materials. Book sales and a signing will follow. Presented by the Library of Congress Poetry & Literature Center in partnership with Capital Pride. Co-sponsored by the Library of Congress Rare Books and Special Collections Division.
http://www.loc.gov/lgbt/about.html
Photo: LC-USZ62-2883
