Historical Context: Stonewall UpRising resources include primary sources that reflect the time period in which they were recorded and may not correspond with today's terminology.
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This episode unpacks the history behind the Christopher Street Liberation Day March, which we replicate during PRIDE Month in various ways, and celebrates PRIDE's past, present, and future through an international lens.
Primary Source Text
Primary Source Audio of the June 28, 1970, Christopher Street Liberation Day March
These short films by Lilli Vincenz juxtapose the Annual Reminder picket at Independence Hall in Philadelphia on July 4, 1968, and the Christopher Street Liberation Day March in New York City on June 28, 1970 — the first commemoration of Stonewall.
"The Second Largest Minority" is a short film by Lilli Vincenz that documents the July 4th, 1968 Reminder Day Picket. The Annual Reminders were a series of pickets held yearly from 1965 through 1969 and organized by the East Coast Homophile* Organization (ECHO). The Reminder took place each July 4 in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia and was among the earliest demonstrations in the United States for LGBTQ rights and equality. The pickets were designed to remind the public that LGBTQ people did not have equal rights and Constitutional protections. After the Stonewall uprising in 1969, ECHO decided to discontinue the July 4 pickets and shift their focus to organizing the Christopher Street Gay Liberation Day demonstration to commemorate the anniversary of Stonewall.
*The term 'homophile' was coined in 1960 to designate a person belonging to a social group. From Greek: homo "same " + phile "loving"
"Gay and Proud" is a short film by Lilli Vincenz that documents the first commemoration of Stonewall, Christopher Street Gay Liberation Day, held in New York City on June 28, 1970. Several hundred people gathered in front of the Stonewall Inn that morning (on Christopher Street) and marched up 6th Avenue toward Central Park–arriving with thousands of people to celebrate their visibility and pride.
Previous demonstrations and pickets organized by homophile and gay rights groups in the 1960s purposefully carried their message in relative quiet and with a few dozen people. Christopher Street Gay Liberation Day in New York City, however, was loud and festive and pronounced visibility as a revolutionary act. Sister marches occurred in Los Angeles and San Francisco (named Christopher Street West) but were not as large and boisterous as New York City’s event.