Happy LGBTQ+ Pride Month!
Each year during the month of June, Americans celebrate LGBTQ+ month. The purpose of the commemorative month is to recognize and celebrate the impact that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals have had on culture throughout history, and to pay homage to those who have fought for their individuality and their right to be seen before us.
"I believe that telling our stories, first to ourselves and then to one another and the world, is a revolutionary act."
– Janet Mock, writer, model, actor, activist
CRYSTALS FOR CONFIDENCE, COURAGE + EMPOWERMENT
The first official Pride Parade was held on June 28th, 1970, on the first anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. The NYPD raided the Stonewall Inn, which resulted in bar patrons, staff, and local residents to riot into the street outside the inn.
"Personally, coming out was one of the most important things I've ever done, lifting from my shoulders the millstone of lies that I hadn't even realized I was carrying."
– Sir Ian McKellen, actor
That night wasn't the first time that police had raided a gay bar. In 1969, it was illegal to be gay in the state of New York, and it did not become legal until the New York v. Onofre case in 1980.
What happened that night and in the six days following would change the course of LGBTQ+ activism across the United States. The message of the people was clear: protestors cried out for the establishment of places where LGBTQ+ people could go and be open about who they were without fearing arrest or detainment.
"I think being gay is a blessing, and it's something I am thankful for every single day."
– Anderson Cooper, broadcast journalist
CRYSTALS FOR COLLECTIVE HEALING + RECONNECTING
The Parade that followed a year later was seen as a chance for the community to "commemorate the Christopher Street Uprisings, in which thousands of homosexuals went to the streets to demonstrate against centuries of abuse, from government hostility to employment, and housing discrimination, Mafia control of Gay bars, and anti-Homosexual laws" (sourced from Christopher Street Liberation Day Committee Fliers). The Stonewall Inn has now been designated as a National Monument.
"We are not what other people say we are. We are who we know ourselves to be, and we are what we love. That's okay."
– Laverne Cox, actor, activist
CRYSTALS FOR GROUNDING + PROTECTION
Bisexual activist, Brenda Howard, is largely credited as the founder of Pride Month. Known as, "The Mother of Pride," Howard organized Gay Pride Week and the Christopher Street Liberation Day Parade, which eventually morphed into what we now know as the New York City Pride March, and from where parades and marches across the world evolved.
Additionally, Howard, along with the bisexual activist Robert A. Martin (aka Donny the Punk), and gay activist are credited with popularizing the word "Pride" to describe these festivities.
"We are powerful because we have survived."
– Audre Lorde, writer, activist
CRYSTALS FOR PASSION + SEXUALITY
Sage Crystals is an inclusive space and brand, owned and operated by a queer couple consisting of a cis-femme and a masculine presenting non-gendered person. Sage Crystals stands with the LGBTQ+ community and proudly celebrates this month of Pride with all of you.