By Ava Gates
Happy Pride Month everyone! Pride Month is the celebration of being proud of your identity and a moment for folks in the LGBTQ+ community to come together and celebrate each other. Staying informed about Pride and what is going on in the queer community is also essential to the celebration.
Why Do We Celebrate Pride?
There are many celebrations, parades, and marches throughout the month of June to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community. It’s important to celebrate Pride because the fight for equality is never over.
In recent months, we have seen attacks on this community, especially on transgender rights throughout the United States barring trans folks from joining the military, even discharging those currently serving, and banning gender-affirming care, specifically for trans youth, in many states.
An article by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation outlines the bans on gender-affirming care by state as well as explaining why it is safe and medically necessary for youth experiencing body dysmorphia. Attacks on trans individuals have even gone as far as the National Park Service removing the TQ+ from any mentions of the LGBTQ+ community on the Stonewall National Monument webpage. The HRC Foundation has a petition available to sign to help protect queer history and restore the full acronym to the webpage.
Additionally, at the start of the Trump Administration regaining office, President Trump revoked DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) positions throughout the government and in schools’ admissions policies. Since revoking this protection, many corporations began to roll back their own DEI initiatives.
DEI policies originated from civil rights acts and laws and were suggestions for companies, schools, and the government that aligned with anti-discrimination protections that were already in place in these spaces.
How Can You Celebrate?
Activism is important to protect the rights so many have fought for, and there are so many ways to stay involved, even in Lancaster County.
Lancaster Pride is holding their 2025 Pride Festival on June 28 and more details on the event will soon be available on their website.
Lancaster County Chooses Love, formerly Lititz Chooses Love, held their Pride Festival on June 7, but even if you missed it, they always have other events running that you can be a part of. They also have various volunteer opportunities to stay involved with the organization.
Tellus360 will be holding an event in partnership with the Demuth Foundation called “Exhibit PRIDE!: A Drag Showcase” on June 29. Folks must be 21 years of age or older to attend this event!
To end the month, Lancaster Pride will be holding a Pride Vigil on June 30 to honor members of the LGBTQ+ community who have passed away. More information can be found on Lancaster Pride’s Facebook page.
The History of Stonewall
Pride Month began as a riot known as Stonewall. The Stonewall protests started on June 28, 1969, after police raided a gay club in New York City called the Stonewall Inn. The next few days following the police raid were filled with protests and fighting with police outside the Inn.
At the time of the riots, being openly queer in public was illegal and gay bars or clubs were penalized and shut down because they were encouraging the “disorderly” gathering of queer people.
For the one-year anniversary of Stonewall, thousands of queer folks marched the streets for “Christopher Street Liberation Day.” This march is recognized as America’s first Pride parade.
Now, Stonewall wasn’t necessarily the start of the gay rights movement, but it did spark the fire of activism that would lead to more civil rights for members of the LGBTQ+ community.
The Meaning Behind the Acronym
The acronym LGBTQ+ refers to the various identities that are a part of the queer community. The plus symbol stands for the many other orientations that aren’t named.
The L stands for Lesbian, women who are attracted to other women, and comes first in the abbreviation following the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. In the years prior, G was the first letter of the acronym standing for Gay men. Lesbians began volunteering at hospitals and donating blood after gay men were banned from donating due to the risks of HIV and AIDS. They created groups called “Blood Sisters” that ran blood drives. Lesbians did what they could to show that they supported members of the queer community in any way they could, earning them the first letter in the acronym.
As previously mentioned, the G stands for Gay, which is most commonly referring to gay men, men who are attracted to other men, but can also be a blanket term for being homosexual. The term originated from the Anglo-French word gai meaning cheerful and became commonly used to describe homosexual relationships in the mid-1900s.
The B is for Bisexuals, people who are attracted to more than one gender. Bisexuality usually means being attracted to only two genders whereas pansexuality means all genders even those who identify as non-binary (folks who identify as neither gender or a mix of both) or transgender rather than just cisgender folks (identifying with the gender you were assigned at birth). Some people use the terms interchangeably, but what matters most is using the term that you feel describes you the best.
T stands for Transgender which is for folks who identify as a different gender than they were assigned at birth. Gender refers to the social expectations and constructed roles of males and females and sex is the biological difference between male and female genetics. This can refer to individuals who are bigender (identifying with two or more genders), pangender (identifying with multiple genders), non-binary, genderqueer (identifying outside the male or female binary) and gender-fluid (gender identity changes over time).
Finally, the Q stands for Queer or Questioning. This can mean a lot of things, but typically it’s used by folks whose sexuality or gender identity is not exclusively heterosexual or cisgender. Queer can also be used as a term to describe the community without explicitly saying the LGBTQ+ community.
There are so many other identities that make up the queer community. The Trevor Project has an online guide called “The Coming Out Handbook” that helps to further explain the many queer identities and hopefully answer any questions you may have.
Continue to Have Pride
There is no “right” or “wrong” way to celebrate Pride and honor the meaning behind it. It’s most important to be aware. Stay informed on what’s happening in the world and show up for your friends and communities who are celebrating or grieving. Support is what matters most.
References
“1969 Stonewall Riots.” History.Com, A&E Television Networks, 28 May 2025, www.history.com/articles/the-stonewall-riots.
GCN, Intern. “Lesbian ‘blood Sisters’ Were a Crucial Part of the Battle against AIDS in the 1980’s.” GCN, 5 Mar. 2021, www.gcn.ie/lesbian-blood-sisters-crucial-1980s-aids/.
Lancaster County Chooses Love | Lititz Pride – LGBTQ+ Advocacy & Support in Lancaster, PA, lancasterchooseslove.org/. Accessed 5 June 2025.
Lancaster Pride, www.lancasterpride.org/. Accessed 5 June 2025.
LGBTQ Meaning and Definition – What Does the Q in LGBTQ Stand For?, www.seventeen.com/life/a18209179/lgbtq-meaning/. Accessed 5 June 2025.
“Milestones in the American Gay Rights Movement.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/stonewall-milestones-american-gay-rights-movement/. Accessed 5 June 2025.
