Celebrating Pride: A Reflection on the Fight for LGBTQI+ Equality and Acceptance
By: Anthony Galante, Designer & Creative Director, Anthony Thomas Galante, Custom Collaborative Advisor @anthonythomasgalante
Pride Month is observed every June, and is dedicated to the celebration and commemoration of the LGBTQIA+ community. It started being observed after the 1969 Stonewall uprising, a series of events lasting 6 days between NYC police and LGBTQIA+ protesters. 54 years later, Pride Month serves as an annual time of reflection on the activism and advancements made supporting the equality and acceptance of this diverse community. It is also a time to openly discuss the real and unique challenges queer individuals face in this divisive, often harsh world.
My personal journey of self acceptance is nuanced, and not dissimilar from other queer kids who have decided similarly to proclaim their "non-straightness". I was 18 when I came out to my family and close friends, feeling liberated by moving from a small-rural town in Illinois, to Chicago for college. Coming out was both scary and difficult, for an introverted, shy and closeted teen, but in my case tolerance opened the door to acceptance, which is not something I take for granted. The path of acceptance was also supported by a close-knit community of underdogs, i.e. other queer people my age who lived in a liberal haven. We had faced similar hardships both in general and associated with coming out, which allowed us to create a strong chosen family to learn from and lean on.
I often think on how much has changed since I was a teenager, and nearly 20 years later, being queer and a part of the LGBTQIA+ community, while not universally celebrated by any means, is now much more recognized and accepted overall, only possible thanks to a number of historic moments in the fight for equality and acceptance.
The Fight for LGBTQI+ Rights in the US
1977: In San Francisco, Harvey Milk made history as the first openly gay elected official in California, and one of the first in the U.S. His camera store and campaign headquarters were centers of community activism for a wide range of human rights, environmental and labor issues.
1980's: The US was the focal point for the HIV/AIDS epidemic with over 100,000 in the decade alone. The prevalence of the disease among gay men resulted in a harmful stigma, fear and misconceptions around how HIV/AIDS was spread. Attitudes among the population slowly began shifting with information and education became more readily available.
1993: The anti-gay "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy was adopted within the US military, banning "homosexual activity."
2011: President Obama officially revoked the discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law, signaling a major shift in public opinion about the LGBTQI+ community.
2015: The Supreme Court officially declared same-sex marriage a Constitutional right nationwide, meaning all states must allow Americans to get married, regardless of their gender or sexual orientation.
Challenges and the Need for Continued Advocacy
Today a supermajority of non-LGBTQIA+ Americans, 84%, support equality for LGBTQIA+ people. While tremendous progress has been made, the community, and more specifically black and brown trans youth and teens, face significant challenges including overt and subtle discrimination, hate crimes, and their rights being taken away.
We have been seeing a record number of threats and attacks from extremists groups in the past few years this year, unfairly targeting the most vulnerable of this community. We’ve also seen an aggressive push to implement anti-trans legislation across the US, and there are currently over 500 anti-LGBTQIA+ bills across the country, especially in states like Florida and Texas. Some of the legislation denies gender-affirming care to youth, and criminalizes those health-care providers that attempt to provide it. Other bills block trans students from participating in sports, and others have banned books with LGBTQIA+ content. All of these efforts, spearheaded by the far (and near) right, strategically aim to make being trans in the U.S. harder.
In Texas, a politician's legislative proposal to ban children from attending drag shows, just two weeks after 19 elementary students were shot and killed by a gunman in the city of Uvalde shows how these legislative efforts are being made to distract from mass shootings and guns. Now more than ever, it's important for the LBTQIA+ community and its allies to stand up, and speak out about what's going on in this country.
Pride Month to Me, and Striving for a More Inclusive Future
I often think about how cities foster both diversity and creativity in their bubbles of safe-spaces for the LGBTQIA+ community. It was in a city that I felt my most authentic self, and it was in a city that I fell in love with fashion on a deeper level, finding a platform where anyone could come and express their authentic selves through design and creativity. Being embraced for being queer seemed like something that would never happen, but I've been embraced, through the struggles of many. During Pride Month, and beyond this year, I'm encouraged and encourage you to share more about this community's history and progress and ongoing hardships. Celebrate, yes. Laugh and find joy, yes. But talking openly about and raising awareness about the backlash against our community is even more important this Pride Month, and beyond.
ATG
Creative Director and Designer
+1-312-523-7542
