The Reporter's Notebook, Ep. 21: LGBTQ+ Pride Month
Violet Jaure, 3, shelters under an enormous gay-pride rainbow umbrella while attending Las Cruces Pride Week activities Saturday, June 17, 2017. (Beth Waters / For the Las Cruces Sun-News)
After 50 years of Pride celebrations, these events have become so varied that you can usually find a way to celebrate that feels best to you, whether it’s the raucous jubilation of the NYC Pride parade, or the massive crowds that attend World Pride — held in a different city every two years.
The Stonewall riots started with a police raid on a hot summer night in Greenwich Village. In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, police stormed the Stonewall Inn, a well-known gay bar, arresting patrons and forcing them into waiting police vehicles. But a nearby crowd grew restless and angry, and eventually someone started spurring onlookers into fighting back. They pelted the police, forcing homophobic cops to retreat, and aggressive street confrontations continued over the next few nights.
The Stonewall riots are generally viewed as the beginning of the modern LGBTQ rights movement.
We’ll talk to Las Cruces residents Kat Sanchez, J.T. Perez, and Casey Combs about why — more than 50 years after Stonewall — it’s important to continue observing Pride month.
This podcast was originally published by the Las Cruces Sun-News.
