Before Pride Had a Parade

Before Pride Had a Parade

Before there were parades, there was resistance.
Before the glitter, the floats, the brand sponsors, and the rainbow capitalism, there were bricks. There were bruises. There were jail cells. And there were the brave souls who stood tall anyway.

The people we now call heroes were often treated like criminals. They were mocked, ignored, fired, assaulted, institutionalized or worse. Their love was outlawed. Their existence was debated. Their legacy was erased.

But they still fought.

---

The Queer Roots of Resistance

This series exists to restore the names and legacies of five trailblazers who didn’t just make history they shaped it. These were not quiet allies or accidental icons. These were the architects of our movement. They stood up when it was dangerous. They created change when it was forbidden.

Meet the legends we’ll be honoring:

• Marsha P. Johnson – The trans revolutionary and heart of Stonewall.
• Harvey Milk – The gay political visionary who turned hope into action.
• Bayard Rustin – The Black civil rights strategist whose queerness was buried but not broken.
• Sylvia Rivera – The fierce Latina trans warrior who demanded justice, even when the movement rejected her.
• Barbara Gittings – The lesbian librarian who changed medicine, media, and minds.

---

Why This Series Matters

These five queer pioneers weren’t just part of the movement—they were the movement. And they’ve too often been left out of the history books, watered down for comfort, or excluded for being "too much" of something too loud, too poor, too Brown, too trans, too radical.

This is not a sanitized celebration. It’s a reckoning. A remembrance. A revival.

Let’s start at the beginning.
Let’s remember the resistance.
Let’s honor the roots.

---

👉 Next up: Part Two – “Pay It No Mind: The Saint of Christopher Street”
Marsha P. Johnson’s story begins June 2nd.

💬 Leave a comment: Who is a queer hero that has inspired you?
🔗 Share this post: #Pride2025 #QueerHistory #TheSassyGazette #RootsOfTheRainbow

---

Tags: Pride Month 2025, LGBTQ History, Queer Activists, Marsha P. Johnson, Harvey Milk, Sylvia Rivera, Bayard Rustin, Barbara Gittings, The Sassy Gazette, Roots of the Rainbow, Pride Is Political, Queer Liberation, Trans Rights, Gay Rights, Pride Series

A Note on the Visuals:
All images in this post were AI-generated by The Sassy Gazette editorial team.
These visuals are crafted to sharpen the mood, elevate the message, and scream metaphor — not mirror reality.

The glitter is fake. The fury is not.
When the truth needs a little edge, we hand it a spotlight and let it shine.