Victoria Cruz is a longtime trans activist and LGBTQ+ campaigner, and a senior domestic violence counselor and advocate for the Anti-Violence Project (AVP). But the Stonewall genie was out of the bottle being out and visible at marches and demonstrations was the LGBTQ+ rights movement’s most public statement.īelow, participants and organizers of America’s first ever dedicated LGBTQ+ marches in 1970 talk to The Daily Beast about the era, why they marched, the drama and color of the day, how they feel the movement has evolved since, what they would like to see in the future-and what advice they have for the next generation of activists. To organize and attend those marches was brave this was an era in which being LGBTQ+ and being out brought considerable personal risk. That weekend there were also the first Pride marches in Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco-although in their first iteration “Pride” was not in their names.
But on June 27 and 28, 1970, one year after the riots, New York City wasn’t making history alone.
This year saw the 50th anniversary of the city’s first Pride march, known as the Christopher Street Liberation Day March. The 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York City was marked in June 2019.
