Pride Month

June is Pride Month — jiao’ao yue (骄傲月) in Chinese — because of what happened in June 1969: the Stonewall uprising, the symbolic ignition point of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement. The commemorative marches that began the following year grew, over five decades, into a global annual season of pride parades, film festivals, talks, and markets, with the rainbow flag everywhere in sight.

Why “pride”? Because it answers shame. For generations, sexual and gender minorities were instructed to be ashamed of existing; pride is not arrogance but its precise opposite — “I do not apologize for who I am.”

Register note: neutral and universal. Local calendars vary — some cities hold their pride events outside June (several Southern Hemisphere cities, for instance, pick friendlier seasons). In much of the Chinese-speaking mainland there are no large public June events; Pride Month there lives more online and in private gatherings.

Common misreadings: hearing “pride” as conceit — it is a refusal of shame, not a claim of superiority; and taking the month for pure festivity — it is equally remembrance and advocacy, a celebration built on contested history (see the history timeline). A related ongoing debate concerns “rainbow-washing”: corporations that fly the flag in June are easy to find; employers that respect their people year-round are the real thing.