In Beaumont, Pride first hit the streets in 2014 with a marching route that stretched roughly a mile, terminating at the Beaumont Municipal Court. Over the last four decades of Pride in Houston, the celebration has grown into one of the largest Prides in the country. Unlike New York, Houston’s uprising was in response to an appearance made by anti-gay singer Anita Bryant. Much like New York nearly a decade before, Houston’s first Pride was an uprising. Pride celebrations in Houston formally began in 1978. It has been a long, slow road-marriage equality for same-sex couples was only just achieved in 2015, and the transgender community fights for acceptance and recognition even today. What began as a three-day uprising in Greenwich Village in the summer of 1969 has evolved into an equality movement that has transformed the nation across not only the political sphere, but within the realm of social acceptance, too. Incredibly, it’s been 50 years since the modern movement toward LGBTQ rights was kicked off at the Stonewall Inn in New York City. How two cities-one that has celebrated Pride for five years, and one for over forty-are showing up for equality. It’s been 50 years since the birth of the modern LGBTQ liberation movement.
