Dalai Lama once said, “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.”

Indeed, love is powerful, and it resonates even more when we celebrate Pride Month. It is a time to honor LGBTQIA+ activism, culture, and accomplishments through various Pride Month activities. These activities include film festivals, art exhibits, marches, and concerts. The LGBTQIA+ community and its allies also hope to honor the lives lost to AIDS and hate crimes. It hopes to raise awareness of current inequity concerns through these initiatives.

Why Is Pride Month Celebrated in June?

In honor of those who participated in the Stonewall Riots, an exciting and enthusiastic sequence of LGBTQIA+ Pride Month activities is set to happen in June. The fundamental purpose is to establish a safe atmosphere for the LGBTQIA+ community. It's an avenue where there is no prejudice regardless of their chosen gender. 

Being gay was against the law in most places in the late 1960s. Particularly in New York, a statute declared even the mere presence of a gay person or genderqueer to be disorderly.

On June 28, 1969, after police conducted a raid at the Stonewall Inn, a well-known pub with a sizable LGBTQIA+ clientele, the people resisted. The ensuing altercation sparked the Stonewall Uprising. It was a series of days-long riots and demonstrations. This paved the way to let the community hear the sentiments of the LGBTQIA+ community.

How Did Pride Month Begin?

Known as Gay Pride Day, marked every year on the last Sunday in June, Pride Month had modest beginnings. As public awareness grew, more activities and events were scheduled throughout the month. This transformed into the month-long celebration now known as Pride Month.

President Bill Clinton proclaimed June as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month in 1999. His administration supported designing the month to honor the LGBTQIA+ community's accomplishments and support the group.

Still, another, Brenda Howard, a bisexual activist, is credited with creating Pride Month. A year after the Stonewall Riots, Brenda, dubbed "The Mother of Pride," organized the Christopher Street Liberation Day Parade and Gay Pride Week. The event evolved into the New York City Pride March. This catalyzes similar parades and marches worldwide even up until today.

Another homosexual California citizen and former Air Force commander Dennis Peron helped push for the legalization of marijuana. When Peron's partner Jonathan West passed away from AIDS, everything began. His dying months were made easier by cannabis. Thus, Peron was motivated to spread the word about the plant's health advantages. 

When AIDS first appeared, he started a cannabis community buyers club. He created this group to get cannabis to as many sufferers as possible. This opened the door for Proposition 215 to the public. This is done to establish a powerful cannabis community for LGBTQIA+ people globally.

Pride Month Activities to Try

You can join any national Pride festival during June. Whether reading LGBTQIA+ literature or sharing a poignant Pride Month quotation on Instagram, you do you!

The cradle of the contemporary LGBTQIA+ rights movement is found in New York City. One of the largest Pride Month parades in the nation is the NYC Pride March, which was held on June 25 this year. It attracted approximately 2 million spectators.

Celebrating Pride Month has changed throughout the years. The top five LGBTQIA+ Pride Month activities are listed below.

LGBTQIA+ Paint Party

Since art is a form of self-expression, LGBTQIA+ individuals turn to the arts. This is their safe space. It is a secure setting to explore and grapple with issues related to their sexuality. It gives them the confidence to discover their gender identity and sense of self. 

Since the ancient Greeks up till the present, queer art has been portrayed in various ways. There is still a long way to go before LGBTQIA+ people are accepted completely, even though LGBTQIA+ rights have advanced more in the previous 30 years. In the 20th century, the LGBTQIA+ art movement had a major boom, with more artists tackling this topic.

You can paint or have fun playing with colors after a challenging week. An LGBTQIA+ paint party can be enjoyable and soothing. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other non-heterosexual, non-cisgender issues are often represented in LGBTQIA+ art, sometimes called queer aesthetics. This term describes current and contemporary visual art practices. 

Rainbow-Colored Cocktails

Drinking colorful beverages is another example of Pride Month activities to try. These vibrant drinks honor the beauty and joy of the Pride world. Each color in a Rainbow Cocktail offers a unique flavor and sensation, making each sip feel like a journey over the rainbow.

Coming-Out Box

Another suggestion is to make 420 stoner buddies an LGBTQIA+ care box. An assortment of goodies for Pride Month is a way to acknowledge the progress made by the LGBTQIA+ community. It's the perfect way to celebrate gay pride with someone special! It makes a beautiful present for a coming-out party. 

Responding and saying the right things might be difficult when a transgender person comes out. Using the proper pronouns and other terms while placing an order is ensured by this care package. The package aims to provide the recipient with a practical instrument to ease their transition. It also has apparel that supports its identity and the opportunity to provide supportive words.

Yummy Rainbow Desserts

The traditional Pride flag is the cherry on top of a joyous supper with rainbow desserts. Making delicious rainbow cupcakes, cookies, or other baked products is a great way to honor the Pride tribe. What is even more exciting is the inclusion of cannabis in pastries. Cannabis can be added to the desserts to add an extra kick to the food for 420 enthusiasts. 

If you want to know about yummy recipes when it comes to baking munchies or goodies with a kick of cannabis while reading current news about the world of weed, 420CanNews is a great avenue to learn at the same time enjoy weed while celebrating Pride Month on a high!

Donate! Donate! Donate!

Last but not least, think about supporting an LGBTQIA+ organization. As the country gets closer to the conclusion of Pride 2023, it's a great time to talk about how we can encourage representation. Thus, allyship throughout the year, especially in charity, is another example of Pride Month activities.

To support LGBTQIA+ issues, several wonderful groups work hard. Donations, volunteers, and funds are all necessary. Consider groups pushing equality, combating bigotry, and more for the LGBTQIA+ community as you observe Pride Month. 

Bottomline

Even in nations like Serbia, Turkey, and Russia, where Pride Month activities have been met with anti-gay violence, gay pride celebrations are considered essential rallies against repression and seclusion. The increased violence, murders, and threats at Pride Month events illustrate the ongoing discrimination against the LGBTQIA+ community. Unfortunately, this currently endures, even in the United States at present.

In honor of Pride Month, we recognize and honor all life's accomplishments, big and small. These are the kind of people who have provided a safe space for the LGBTQIA+ community in every country. Although rainbows and glitter might catch your eye, Pride Month is a time to commemorate liberation. It's freedom from the past 50 years of advancement while urging increased equality, visibility, and inclusivity for the LGBTQIA+ community.

The most enjoyable Pride Month activities celebrate the beautiful identities of the LGBTQIA+ community. Never overlook how the Stonewall riots influenced Pride. At Stonewall, they remained steadfast. LGBTQIA+ people are still fighting today and will keep fighting until they have complete freedom, liberty, joy, and pride.