Happy pride month! This is another post following my topic on Queer Ecology (read about it here!: ) that is celebrating queer culture on this forum. For today’s topic, we will be diving into the history of the LGBTQ+ movement in the UK.
Stonewall Inn Riot
The Stonewall Riot occurred in New York City, USA on June 28th, 1969 when a group of New York City police raided the famous gay bar. Numerous raids had occurred prior to this day, but this particular one saw a rebellion of patrons fighting back including well-known gay and trans activists Marsha P. Johnson and Stormé DeLarverie. The incident acted as a spark for the gay rights movement in the USA. The year after the riot, pride marches occurred in major cities across the US.
Gay Liberation Front
In 1967, the Sexual Offences Act was passed in the UK which decriminalized private same-sex intercourse. Prior to its passing, over a thousand men were imprisoned (including the famous case of Oscar Wilde) and homosexual continued to be persecuted despite its passing. In 1970, activists and LSE students, Bob Mellors and Aubrey Walter, began to organize secret meetings for fellow queer students and activists which formed the Gay Liberation Front. A month after their first meeting, the two travelled to the USA as gay rights representatives at the Black Panthers’ Revolutionary Convention. At the convention, they solidified the GLF’s list of demands. Despite the group only formally existing until 1973, the held numerous protests and demonstrations and acted as a jumping off point for many other groups to be formed.
First Pride
One of these GLF demonstrations included a protest aimed at lowering the age of consent for gay males to the same of heterosexual couples. This march from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square has become known as the Pride Before Pride. The following year, the first pride march took place on July 1st, 1972 being the closest Saturday to the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. The event included over 2000 people marching, partying, protesting, attending talks, and dancing at concerts despite being met with heavy police intervention at Hyde Park. This tradition has continued to today, but is often criticized for losing its protesting roots to pander to corporations. Despite this, London Pride boasts over a million attendees celebrating their identities.
Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage
Even with pride celebrations occurring for more than fifty years, same-sex marriage has only been legal in the UK for just over ten. The same year the first pride march occurred, the 1971 Nullity of Marriage Act explicitly barred same-sex couples from marrying. The act was repealed relatively quickly, but same-sex marriages continued to be denied and were operated under a different legal system. This is evident in the 1973 Matrimonial Causes Act which governs divorce law, but only for opposite-sex couples. In 1992, five same-sex couples filed for marriage licenses as an organized protest of the validity of their partnerships. Eventually, in 2004, same-sex civil partnerships became recognized by the Civil Partnership Act. This gave same-sex couples the same legal rights as married opposite-sex ones, but failed to fully encapsulate the couples’ love and commitment. In the following years, several groups and campaigns emerged for marriage equality which would overturn the legal phrasing of marriage being between a man and woman, In 2014, the Marriage Bill passed and allowed same-sex marriage. The passing of the bill saw couples getting married just minutes after it went in place!
It is important to protect the celebration and meaning behind pride during recent years where over-commercialization and transphobia has run rampant. Pride is an incredibly fun season, but will always be a platform for speaking political truths and advocating for one another. 