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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Police clash with protesters during a Pride march in Kyiv on June 7, 2015.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Police officers remove LGBTQ activists from blocking the road to a police vehicle transporting detained activist Margo in Warsaw, Poland, on Aug. 7, 2020.
LGBTQ activist is detained by the police during a demonstration in Turkey in 2006.
Police officers talk with a detained child during the Equality Parade in Poland, Aug. 10, 2019.
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.
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.
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.
Police scuffle with pro-LGBTQ protesters angry at the arrest of an activist in Warsaw on Aug. 7, 2020.
Cuban police arrest demonstrators taking part in the LGBTQ march in Havana on May 11, 2019.
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.
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.
Police officers remove LGBTQ activists from blocking the road to a police vehicle transporting detained activist Margo in Warsaw on Aug. 7, 2020.
Police officers arrest members and allies of the LGBTQ organization Bahaghari during the Pride March Protest in Manila on June 26, 2020.
LGBTQ activists sit to block a police vehicle transporting detained gay rights activist Margo in Warsaw on Aug. 7, 2020.
Uganda police officers question a member of Uganda's LGBTQ community during their pride parade in Entebbe on Sept. 24, 2016.
A protester holds a placard during the Pride March Protest in Manila on June 26, 2020.
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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Pia Peterson is a photo editor at BuzzFeed News, and is based in Brooklyn.
Contact Pia Peterson at pia.peterson@buzzfeed.com.
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