Pride as Protest: Never Forget Our Radical Roots
June 22, 2025
Welcome to Week 4 of our Pride Month journey! As we enter the final stretch of our celebration, it's crucial that we remember something that corporate sponsors and sanitized parades often obscure: Pride began as a riot. It started with transgender women of color, drag queens, butch lesbians, and sex workers throwing bricks at police who were terrorizing them for the crime of existing authentically.
As someone who's been part of the sexual liberation movement for over three decades, I've watched Pride evolve from radical protest to mainstream celebration—and while increased acceptance is wonderful, we must never forget that the fight for true liberation is far from over.
Today, let's honor Pride's revolutionary roots and examine the urgent battles still requiring our activism in 2025.
The Revolutionary Origins of Pride
Pride didn't begin with rainbow flags and corporate floats. It began on June 28, 1969, when patrons of the Stonewall Inn—led by transgender women like Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson—fought back against a police raid that was part of systematic harassment and criminalization of LGBTQ+ people.
The context was brutal. In 1969, homosexuality was illegal in every state except Illinois. Police raids on gay bars were routine, designed to humiliate, arrest, and terrorize LGBTQ+ people. Cross-dressing was illegal. Being openly gay could cost you your job, your family, your housing, and your freedom. The Stonewall Inn, like many gay bars of the era, was run by the mafia because legitimate businesses wouldn't serve LGBTQ+ customers.
What made Stonewall different wasn't the police raid—it was the community's response. For the first time, LGBTQ+ people fought back en masse, throwing bottles, coins, and bricks at police while chanting "Gay Power!" The uprising lasted several days and marked the beginning of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement. The most marginalized members of the community led this rebellion—transgender women of color, drag queens, hustlers, and those who had nothing left to lose because society had already rejected them completely.
This wasn't a polite request for tolerance. It was a revolutionary demand for the right to exist without fear, and it changed everything.
The Radical Agenda of Early Pride
The first Pride marches weren't celebrations—they were political demonstrations with radical demands that challenged the very foundations of how society treated sexuality and gender. Early activists called for complete decriminalization of consensual adult sexual activity and gender expression, an end to police harassment and violence targeting LGBTQ+ people, and protection from employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
They also demanded that the medical establishment stop treating LGBTQ+ identities as mental illnesses requiring "cure," fought for custody rights and adoption rights for same-sex couples, and advocated for recognition of chosen families. Perhaps most importantly, they connected LGBTQ+ liberation to broader goals of sexual freedom that challenged all forms of sexual shame and repression.
These early activists understood something crucial: LGBTQ+ liberation was part of broader struggles against all forms of oppression—racism, sexism, classism, and sexual shame. They didn't want to assimilate into existing power structures; they wanted to transform those structures to create space for everyone to live authentically.
How Pride Became Commercialized
Over the decades, Pride has undergone significant transformation that's both heartening and concerning. Corporate participation has exploded, with companies that once fired LGBTQ+ employees now sponsoring Pride events—though often with minimal year-round commitment to LGBTQ+ rights. The pressure to make Pride "family-friendly" has pushed the most marginalized community members, including sex workers and leather communities, to the background or out of Pride entirely.
Many Pride events now focus more on celebration than activism, sometimes avoiding controversial political stances that might alienate mainstream audiences or corporate sponsors. The rising costs of Pride participation have excluded grassroots organizations and low-income community members, while "pinkwashing"—the use of LGBTQ+ imagery to distract from harmful policies—has become increasingly common.
While increased mainstream acceptance represents real progress, we must guard against losing the radical edge that created change in the first place. The danger isn't celebration itself, but celebration that forgets the ongoing struggle for true liberation.
Current Battles Requiring Our Activism
Despite decades of progress, LGBTQ+ people still face significant challenges that require sustained activism. The current anti-transgender legislative assault represents one of the most serious threats to LGBTQ+ rights in decades. Over twenty states have banned or restricted gender-affirming healthcare for minors, with some targeting adults as well. Laws preventing transgender youth from participating in school sports often cut off their only source of social connection and belonging.
Bathroom bills criminalizing transgender people's use of appropriate restrooms create dangerous situations and force people to choose between safety and dignity. Some states have passed laws allowing child welfare services to investigate parents who support their transgender children, tearing families apart for the crime of unconditional love. Educational censorship laws ban discussing LGBTQ+ topics in schools, erasing community history and cutting off support for struggling youth.
Beyond the legislative attacks, ongoing discrimination remains a daily reality for many LGBTQ+ people. Workplace discrimination persists despite legal protections, particularly affecting transgender people and those in conservative regions. LGBTQ+ people, especially youth and transgender individuals, face higher rates of homelessness and housing discrimination. Many still struggle to find competent, affirming healthcare providers, while laws allowing discrimination based on religious beliefs continue to target LGBTQ+ individuals across multiple sectors.
The global picture is even more dire. Homosexuality remains illegal in over seventy countries, with death penalties in several nations. LGBTQ+ people worldwide face epidemic levels of violence, with transgender women of color at highest risk. LGBTQ+ refugees fleeing persecution often face additional discrimination in destination countries, while digital persecution through online harassment and doxxing campaigns has become increasingly sophisticated and dangerous.
The Intersection of Sexual Liberation and LGBTQ+ Rights
As someone who's worked in sexual liberation for decades, I see clear connections between LGBTQ+ rights and broader sexual freedom that often get overlooked in mainstream discussions. The fight for LGBTQ+ rights strengthens consent culture by asserting everyone's right to define their own sexuality without external coercion or shame. Since many LGBTQ+ individuals have worked in sex industries, decriminalization becomes a crucial safety issue for community members.
LGBTQ+ people need access to comprehensive reproductive healthcare, including fertility services and abortion care, while inclusive sex education benefits all young people by providing accurate information about diverse sexualities and identities. Fighting censorship of LGBTQ+ content protects everyone's access to sexual information and expression, creating more sexually literate and healthy communities overall.
These connections matter because they remind us that liberation isn't just about winning specific rights for specific groups—it's about creating a world where everyone can express their authentic sexuality without fear, shame, or violence.
Activism Strategies for Today
Modern LGBTQ+ activism employs diverse strategies that have evolved from those early days of street protests. Electoral politics now plays a major role, with activists supporting pro-LGBTQ+ candidates and ballot measures while holding elected officials accountable for their promises. Legal challenges use courts to fight discriminatory laws and establish protective precedents, while corporate accountability campaigns pressure companies to go beyond rainbow marketing to support LGBTQ+ employees and communities year-round.
Grassroots organizing remains crucial, building power at the community level through education, voter registration, and local advocacy. Mutual aid provides direct support to community members facing discrimination, violence, or economic hardship, while cultural work uses art, media, and storytelling to change hearts and minds about LGBTQ+ issues. International solidarity connects local struggles to global movements for LGBTQ+ rights and human dignity.
The most effective contemporary activism combines multiple strategies, understanding that lasting change requires work at every level from individual hearts to international law.
The Role of Different Generations
One of the most beautiful aspects of current LGBTQ+ activism is how different generations bring unique strengths to the movement. LGBTQ+ elders who lived through the early days of liberation offer historical perspective and hard-won wisdom about effective activism, having survived decades of systematic oppression and fought for every advance we now take for granted.
Generation X activists who came of age during the AIDS crisis and early legal battles understand both the power of protest and the importance of institutional change. They bridge the gap between the radical origins of the movement and the legal and political strategies that have won concrete victories.
Millennials, as digital natives, have used technology to create new forms of activism and community organizing, while Generation Z—the most LGBTQ+-identified generation in history—brings fresh energy and intersectional analysis to activism. Each generation contributes essential perspectives, and effective movements require intergenerational collaboration and mutual learning.
Intersectional Activism
Modern LGBTQ+ activism must address the complex ways different forms of oppression intersect in people's lives. This means centering the leadership of LGBTQ+ people of color and addressing how racism compounds discrimination. It means connecting LGBTQ+ rights to broader struggles for economic equality and workers' rights, recognizing that many LGBTQ+ people face economic marginalization.
Intersectional activism ensures that LGBTQ+ advocacy includes and advocates for disabled community members, supports LGBTQ+ immigrants and refugees facing multiple forms of persecution, and addresses how the criminal justice system disproportionately harms LGBTQ+ people, particularly transgender women of color.
This approach recognizes that people don't experience oppression in separate categories—they experience it as whole human beings with complex identities that interact in complex ways.
Reclaiming Pride's Radical Spirit
To honor Pride's radical roots while building for the future, we must remember our full history, including the roles of sex workers, transgender people, and other marginalized community members who are often written out of sanitized versions of LGBTQ+ history. We need to center the leadership of those facing the greatest oppression rather than allowing the most privileged voices to dominate movement discourse.
Pride events should maintain their political edge, using celebration as a tool for education and mobilization rather than replacing activism with entertainment. Building coalitions with other justice movements strengthens all liberation struggles, while supporting grassroots organizations ensures that frontline activists have the resources they need to continue their work.
Most importantly, we must practice solidarity—showing up for other marginalized communities and expecting the same support in return, understanding that justice is indivisible and liberation is collective.
Your Role in the Movement
Whether you're LGBTQ+ or an ally, there are countless ways to contribute to ongoing liberation work. Education remains fundamental—learning about current issues affecting LGBTQ+ communities beyond what makes mainstream news helps you understand where your advocacy is most needed. Participating in electoral politics at all levels and advocating for pro-LGBTQ+ policies creates concrete change in people's lives.
Supporting organizations doing LGBTQ+ advocacy and direct service work provides the resources needed for sustained activism. Using your platform to share information about LGBTQ+ issues and amplify community voices helps build broader understanding and support. Showing up to rallies, protests, and community events demonstrates visible solidarity and builds movement power.
Having difficult conversations about LGBTQ+ issues in your family, workplace, and community helps change hearts and minds one relationship at a time. Supporting LGBTQ+ businesses builds community economic power and resilience. Every action, no matter how small it might seem, contributes to the larger project of liberation.
The Work Continues
Pride's transformation from riot to celebration shows both our progress and the ongoing need for vigilance. While we can celebrate how far we've come, we must remain committed to the radical vision of those early activists who demanded nothing less than full liberation for all people.
The fight continues as long as transgender youth face legislative attacks, as long as LGBTQ+ people experience violence and discrimination, as long as queer refugees flee persecution, as long as sexual minorities lack basic civil rights, and as long as any person is made to feel ashamed of their authentic self.
This Pride Month, let's remember that our celebration is built on the courage of those who refused to accept oppression. Let's honor their legacy by continuing the work they started, understanding that true pride comes not from acceptance by systems that have oppressed us, but from our refusal to accept anything less than full liberation for all people.
The revolution isn't over. It's just getting started.
How will you honor Pride's radical roots in your own activism and advocacy? What current issues are you most committed to addressing? Let's ensure that our celebration includes a commitment to continuing the work of liberation.
In Love,
Nina