UC Pride Blog

Happy pride 2025!

June 9, 2025 -

As we enter summer, we are also entering Pride Month! While San Diego celebrates Pride Month in July, most cities actually celebrate Pride in mid-to-late June. However, not everyone knows the history behind the celebration of the LGBTQIA+ community.

The first Pride celebrations took place in several cities in June 1970 as a direct response to the Stonewall Riots and the struggle for equality. Before the resistance began, it was common for gay bars to be targeted by police and the Public Moral squad; on June 28th, 1969, officers entered the Stonewall Inn and violence against patrons reportedly unfolded. Patrons and bystanders pushed back, and the resistance efforts are what are now known as the Stonewall Riots for LGBTQ+ liberation.

The movement for liberation was led by transgender women and Black lesbians of color Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, and Stormé DeLarverie. The first Pride Month (then called ‘Gay & Lesbian Pride Month’) was recognized by President Bill Clinton in June 1999. In 2009, President Barack Obama declared June LGBT Pride Month. 

If you would like to learn more about the history of the Stonewall Riots, you might want to check out ‘Stonewall: The Definitive Story of the LGBTQ Rights Uprising that Changed America’ by Martin Duberman.

“No pride for some of us without liberation for all of us.” - Marsha P. Johnson