Answers to Go

Q.What is PRIDE month? I heard there was a parade?

A. According to the Library of Congress (loc.gov/lgbtpride- month/about/), “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Pride Month is currently celebrated each year in the month of June to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan. This month-long celebration demonstrates how LGBTQ Americans have strengthened our country, by using their talent and creativity to help create awareness and goodwill.

PRIDE Month is, essentially, an opportunity for everyone in every community to celebrate the freedom to be themselves. In the 1960s and preceding decades, harassment by the public and local governments prompted many gay individuals to seek out places where they could feel safe, be themselves and avoid confrontation with the police. At the time, samesex couples were prohibited in many places from even holding hands in public — this was behavior that could land them in jail. This is the reason many individuals met at gay bars and clubs — they were refuges for people looking for safe places to socialize. While there had been some movement for gay rights in the 1920s, it was quickly quashed by government and local citizens. The gay rights movement was sparked again by a conflict in New York City in 1969. This has since been called the Stonewall Uprising. As the History.com website notes:

The Stonewall Riots, also called the Stonewall Uprising, began in the early hours of June 28, 1969 when New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay club located in Greenwich Village in New York City. The raid sparked a riot among bar patrons and neighborhood residents as police roughly hauled employees and patrons out of the bar, leading to six days of protests and violent clashes with law enforcement outside the bar on Christopher Street, in neighboring streets and in nearby Christopher Park. The Stonewall Riots served as a catalyst for the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world.

The City of San Marcos, on it’s website (sanmarcostx. gov) explains that here in San Marcos, we celebrate SMTX Pride in September so the students from Texas State can participate. It all began with an event called Rainbow Night, thanks to SMTX citizen Sylvia Sandoval. Sandoval started it in 2009 with just a few friends who were looking for a place to stay safe while socializing. It grew quickly from there, and now there is a parade. The San Marcos Texas Pride Facebook page shows Sept. 9, 2023 as the PRIDE Parade, a family-friendly, fun parade for the entire community. For more information about the parade and other San Marcos PRIDE events in September, contact SMTXPride@ gmail.com.

For more information about LGBTQ community issues, check out these (and more) books and movies from your library: • “Family of Origin, Family of Choice: Stories of Queer Christians” by Katie Hays

• “The Gospel of Eureka [DVD]”

• “Raising LGBTQ Allies: A Parent’s Guide to Changing the Messages from the Playground” by Chris Tompkins

• “Say the Right Thing: How to Talk about Identity, Diversity, and Justice” by Kenji Yoshino

• “The Book of Pride: LGBTQ Heroes Who Changed the World” by Mason Funk

• “The Care We Dream of: Liberatory & Transformative Approaches to LGBTQ+ Health” by Zena Sharman Suzanne Sanders is the columnist for the library. She is the Community Services Manager for the San Marcos Public Library and came from the Austin Public Library in 2015 after having served there as a librarian for over 20 years. She gratefully accepts your questions for this column.