Pandemic Pride: LGBTQ struggle continues, learns from Black Lives Matter
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By C.J. Atkins

This weekend marks a half-century since the first Pride march took place on June 28, 1970. That initial event in New York City, called "Christopher Street Liberation Day," recalled the Stonewall Rebellion of a year earlier-the night a band of fed-up queers stood up, fought back, and launched a liberation struggle that transformed the world.

With Black and Latina trans sex workers and drag queens in the vanguard, the patrons of the Stonewall-and much of the Christopher Street neighborhood-declared they'd no longer submit to the genital inspections, arrests, and assaults that were regularly meted out by the "Public Morals Squad" of the mafia-corrupted NYPD. The confrontation that started in the bar on June 28, 1969, spilled onto the streets, with battles raging for several nights. The first Pride was, quite literally, a riot-a full-on uprising against police violence and harassment.

It was the end of the 1960s, a tumultuous decade in which the Civil Rights Revolution of Black Americans scored major victories, women demanded equality, wildcat strikes by workers shook the corporate world, anti-colonial struggles swept Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and the small country of Vietnam fought for its survival against the world's biggest imperialist power. Oppressed peoples were in motion everywhere-the Stonewall Inn was the place where gays joined the fight. Since then, the movement has grown, expanded to become more inclusive, and notched numerous wins.

But up until a few weeks ago, it looked as though the summer of 2020 might be first since 1970 to see no major public commemorations. Most cities and towns have canceled their Pride festivals due to coronavirus fears. Activists have been reimagining what Pride will look like in response. When COVID-19 scuttled all big events, organizers put together a 24-hour online Global Pride for June 27 to replace the typical floats and extravaganzas that typically take over the streets this weekend. But parade or not, Pride carries on. There is plenty to both protest and celebrate right now, and...

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