Skip to main content

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.

Comments

  1. .June 30, 2025 at 11:19 AM

    In our simple life, love plays a very specific role. Now we are able to make your love life healthy and it has no space for any type trouble. These all are possible with the help of PEACEFUL HOME SOLUTION. He helped me cast a spell that brought my long lost lover back within 48hours who left me for another woman. you can also contact him on ( peacefulhome1960@zohomail.com ) or WhatsApp on: ( +2348104102662 ) . and be happy forever like am now with his experience.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Disappearance of Kortne Ciera Stouffer: Silence Inside a Palmyra Apartment

Little Dickies The Disappearance of Kortne Ciera Stouffer Palmyra, Pennsylvania | July 29, 2012 Kortne Ciera Stouffer , 21, disappeared from Palmyra, Pennsylvania on July 29, 2012. Her whereabouts remain unknown. There are cases where the silence feels earned. Time passes. Leads dry up. Lives move on. And then there are cases where the silence feels manufactured . Kortne Ciera Stouffer vanished in the early morning hours of July 29, 2012, from an apartment building in Palmyra, Pennsylvania. She was 21 years old. She did not take her phone. She did not take her purse. She did not take her car. She did not take her dog. She did not leave a note. She did not say goodbye. She did not disappear into thin air. She simply stopped being seen. The Case Snapshot Name: Kortne Ciera Stouffer Age: 21 Last Known Location: 810 West Main Street, Palmyra, PA Date Last Seen: July 29, 2012 Case Status: Endangere...
2 comments
Read more

The Murder of Peggy Reber: The Girl the System Left Behind

The Murder of Peggy Reber The Girl the System Left Behind ⚠️ Reader Discretion Advised The following case involves the murder of a fourteen-year-old girl and includes references to sexual assault and extreme violence. Out of respect for the victim, graphic details are not presented in a sensational manner. However, the nature of the crime may still be distressing to some readers. Please take care while reading. Author’s Note Before we begin, let me be clear about something. There are three kinds of crimes I cannot abide in this world: crimes against children, crimes against animals, and crimes against people with intellectual disabilities. This case involves one of the worst of them. So we’re not here for spectacle. We’re here for the truth. Fourteen years old. A school portrait, a shy smile, and a life that should have stretched decades beyond this frame. Pegg...
2 comments
Read more

Missing in Monongahela: The Disappearance of Shelby Rhodes

Little Dickies, There are nights when a town goes to sleep and nothing changes. And then there are nights when someone steps outside, takes a short walk into the cold, and the story never comes back. This is one of those nights. This is the disappearance of Shelby Rhodes . The Man Behind the Missing Poster Before the alerts, the shares, and the frantic search along the riverbanks, Shelby Rhodes was a young man trying to build something out of his life. He was twenty six years old. Red hair. Red beard. A face that looked like it belonged in a music video or behind a microphone, not on a missing person flyer. Shelby was from the Monongahela and Monessen area, part of the old Mon Valley where the river has always been both lifeline and danger. Family described him as resilient, sensitive, and creative. He had been knocked down more than once in life, but he kept getting back up. Tha...
1 comment
Read more