PIONEERS OF PRIDE

The very first Pride parade took place on Saturday 27 June 1970 in New York City. A year earlier, the Stonewall riots had taken place when LGBT+ individuals stood up against police raids at the Stonewall Inn gay bar on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village. The shadow of this event would loom long and large over the LGBT+ community and the following year the Christopher Street Liberation Day march was held. Proposed as a demonstration against the unfair treatment of LGBT+ individuals and as a campaign for greater rights, anywhere between 3,000 and 20,000 people are said to have participated. Today, Pride month is celebrated throughout the world and is a chance for the LGBT+ community to be recognised, share their experiences and to continue the fight against discrimination and prejudice.

In 2020, much has changed and true equality can seem far closer than it must have in 1970. Yet the greater recognition that we see today would not have occurred without the hard work and sheer bravery of millions of LGBT+ people. Throughout the centuries, numerous groups and activists have made immeasurable sacrifices and fought against incredible odds to love and live freely and without fear. Here, we celebrate ten people whose work and courage has helped gain greater recognition for the community as a whole.

KARL HEINRICH ULRICHS

1825-1895

One of the forefathers of the modern gay rights movement, German lawyer and author Karl Heinrich Ulrichs was arguably the first individual to publicly ‘come out’. Born in 1825, Ulrichs often felt different from other boys and, despite having his first sexual encounter at the age of 14, kept his homosexuality secret for many years. Graduating in history and Latin in 1848, he began his law career in the district of Hildesheim. However, in 1862 he would use his spare time to compose a series of landmark essays on the subject of homosexuality, collected as . Written initially under a pseudonym, Ulrichs’ papers