Pride Float Akwesasne 2023

Starting with the Stonewall Uprising in June 1969 in New York City, Pride Month both commemorates and celebrates LGBTQ activism and culture through the years.

In the United States, the last Sunday in June was initially celebrated as "Gay Pride Day," but the actual day was flexible. In major cities in the U.S. and Canada – the "day" soon grew to encompass a month-long series of events. 

The Seven Dancers Coalition, Akwesasne, recently held a "Pride Float' gathering to celebrate LGBTQ+ community. Under smokey and cloudy skies community members filled canoes, kayaks, and pontoons as they enjoyed celebrating Pride month.

The LGBTQ+ community continues to face an uphill battle in many areas of the U.S. and around the world. The ACLU reports there are currently 491 pieces of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation being floated around the U.S., so there is much work to be done.

Some countries, including several in Africa, have recently moved to decriminalize same-sex unions and improve rights for LGBTQ people. There is a global trend toward decriminalizing same-sex acts. However, there are 64 countries that have laws that criminalize homosexuality resulting in penalties of lashes, jail time, including life imprisonment, and in some foreign countries – condemned to a death penalty.

So far, 33 countries in the world recognize same-sex marriages, and 34 others provide for some partnership recognition for same-sex couples.

The rainbow flag was created by artist Gilbert Baker in 1978 and is used as a symbol of LGBTQ pride – but did you know that each color on the flag has its own meaning? In the widely known six-color flag, red is symbolic of life, orange is symbolic of healing, yellow is sunshine, green is nature, blue represents harmony and purple is spirit. In the original eight-color flag, hot pink was included to represent sex and turquoise to represent magic/art.

There have been many variations on the flag. In 2021, the flag was altered in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter protests, including black to represent diversity, brown to represent inclusivity and light blue and pink, the colors of the trans pride flag.