Pride Was A Riot — And LGBTQ Demonstrators Around The World Are Still Fighting For Equality

Rights for the LGBTQ community in the United States have come a long way — but that isn't the case everywhere in the world.

By
Pia Peterson
by Pia Peterson

BuzzFeed News Photo Editor

The first Pride marches were held in 1970, a year after the Stonewall riots in New York City. Over the last 50 years, Pride has turned from a solemn response to police brutality and discrimination against the LGBTQ community into a celebration of what it means to be queer.

Rights for the LGBTQ community in the United States have come a long way — but that isn't the case everywhere in the world.

People's rights are still quashed by anti-LGBTQ governments, and in countries like Iran, Myanmar, and Uganda, being gay is still considered illegal.

We looked at 10 years of Pride marches around the world to remind ourselves that, for many people, Pride is still a riot.

A person holding a pride flag walks the opposite direction of police
Bulent Kilic / AFP via Getty Images

A participant looks on as Turkish police block the way of the LGBTQ community's march during a Pride parade in Istanbul, on June 30, 2019. Turkish police fired tear gas at gay rights groups and activists who defied authorities to march in Istanbul Pride, banned for the fifth year in a row.

Jessica Rinaldi / Reuters

An asylum-seeker from Uganda, where being gay is illegal, covers his face with a paper bag in order to protect his identity as he marches with the LGBTQ Asylum Support Task Force during a Pride parade in Massachusetts in 2013.

A protester talks to a line of police officers while onlookers capture it with their smartphones
Francois Devos, via Reuters

In Warsaw, Margo, leader of the activist group Stop Bzdurom, was arrested in the street on Aug. 7, 2020. LGBTQ protesters attempted to stop them. A spontaneous demonstration was organized, severely repressed by the police, who used violence.

Hussein Malla / AP

A supporter of the LGBTQ community holds a placard during a sit-in to protest the ongoing criminalization of homosexuality and arbitrary arrests in Beirut in 2016.

Anadolu Agency / Getty Images

Protesters gather for a Pride march in Kyiv on June 7, 2015. At least nine police officers were injured and more than 20 people were arrested on June 6, 2015, in the city, as scuffles broke out between members of a rare Ukrainian Pride march and their nationalist opponents.

A police officer holding a baton runs after protesters
Anadolu Agency / Getty Images

Police clash with protesters during a Pride march in Kyiv on June 7, 2015.

James Akena / Reuters

Members of Uganda's LGBTQ community sit in a bus as police stopped their Pride march in Entebbe, near the capital, Kampala, before police asked members to abandon their gathering, Sept. 24, 2016.

Olga Maltseva / AFP via Getty Images

Russian riot police detain LGBTQ rights activists during World Day Against Homophobia and Transophobia in Saint Petersburg on May 17, 2019. About 10 activists took part in the protest with four arrested by the police in Russia's second-largest city.

Sopa Images / SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Protesters are gathered closely together at a demonstration in 2006. Women and LGBTQ people gathered in Kadköy for International Women's Day. The police later intervened at the march and arrested several transgender and LGBTQ activists.

Nurphoto / NurPhoto via Getty Images

Police officers arrest a protester during the Pride March Protest in Manila, Philippines, on June 26, 2020. At least 20 members and allies of the LGBTQ organization Bahaghari were brought to the Manila Police District Headquarters.

Officers surround and try to remove protesters sitting and lying on the ground
Janek Skarzynski / AFP via Getty Images

Police officers remove LGBTQ activists from blocking the road to a police vehicle transporting detained activist Margo in Warsaw, Poland, on Aug. 7, 2020.

An activist shouts while lying on the ground, surrounded by other people standing
Sopa Images / SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

LGBTQ activist is detained by the police during a demonstration in Turkey in 2006.

Officers kneel next to a kid holding a crucifix
Nurphoto / NurPhoto via Getty Images

Police officers talk with a detained child during the Equality Parade in Poland, Aug. 10, 2019.

Czarek Sokolowski / AP

Police scuffle with pro-LGBTQ protesters angry at the arrest of an activist in Warsaw on Aug. 7, 2020. The incident came amid rising tensions in Poland between LGBTQ activists and a conservative government that is opposed to LGBTQ rights.

Yamil Lage / AFP via Getty Images

Cuban police arrest demonstrators taking part in the LGBTQ march in Havana, on May 11, 2019. More than a hundred people participate in the demonstration.

Kirill Kudryavtsev / AFP via Getty Images

A Russian LGBTQ rights activist shows a sign reading "Love is stronger than homophobia" from inside of a Russian riot police van during an unauthorized rally in central Moscow on May 25, 2013.

Czarek Sokolowski / AP

Police scuffle with pro-LGBTQ protesters angry at the arrest of an activist in Warsaw on Aug. 7, 2020.

Yamil Lage / AFP via Getty Images

Cuban police arrest demonstrators taking part in the LGBTQ march in Havana on May 11, 2019.

Sopa Images / SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Women and LGBTQ people gathered in Istanbul for International Women's Day in 2013. The police later intervened at the march and arrested several transgender and LGBTQ activists.

A protester is being pulled from a cab by their face
Sopa Images / SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Transgender protesters who gave a speech were taken out of a cab and arrested by the police during the demonstration in Istanbul in March 2021.

Janek Skarzynski / AFP via Getty Images

Police officers remove LGBTQ activists from blocking the road to a police vehicle transporting detained activist Margo in Warsaw on Aug. 7, 2020.

Nurphoto / NurPhoto via Getty Images

Police officers arrest members and allies of the LGBTQ organization Bahaghari during the Pride March Protest in Manila on June 26, 2020.

Janek Skarzynski / AFP via Getty Images

LGBTQ activists sit to block a police vehicle transporting detained gay rights activist Margo in Warsaw on Aug. 7, 2020.

James Akena / Reuters

Uganda police officers question a member of Uganda's LGBTQ community during their pride parade in Entebbe on Sept. 24, 2016.

Nurphoto / NurPhoto via Getty Images

A protester holds a placard during the Pride March Protest in Manila on June 26, 2020.

A protester holds up a sign that says "Le-gay-lize"
Hussein Malla / AP

A supporter of the LGBTQ community holds a placard during a sit-in to protest the ongoing criminalization of homosexuality and arbitrary arrests, in front of Hobeich Police Station, where protesters say four men were being held for being gay, in Beirut, May 15, 2016.


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