Although many communities celebrate LGBTQIA Pride at different times of the year, Minneapolis celebrates its Pride in June, which is when the first Pride was celebrated. Pride has its origins on June 28, 1969, which is when a brutal police force raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in the Greenwich Village area of New York City. In the 1960s, it was still illegal for a person to wear fewer than three “gender appropriate” pieces of clothing, so places like Stonewall were a place of community refuge. Through the following year, queer community activists participated in a variety of marches and demonstrations, culminating in what came to be known as the first Pride march on June 28, 1970.
You might be wondering why the history lesson, but here at DLO, Pride is a very special time for lots of people in our network: from employees to friends of the firm to families we help with second parent adoptions. This year, our Pride celebrations are bigger and better than ever!
Here are some of the Pride activities we’re up to this month:
- On Friday, June 1 and Saturday, June 2, Chuck helped with the DFL’s Stonewall Caucus Annual Fundraiser and general membership meeting in Rochester. As you can see, Chuck is an active participant in the caucus—in everything from fundraising to endorsements/screening. Davis, Emily & Sara were all in attendance!
- On Thursday, June 14, Davis will be honored as a 2018 Twin Cities Business of Pride award recipient—if you’re planning to be at the event, let us know & say hi! Otherwise, you can read all about Davis and the other honorees here.
DLO is also immensely proud of our National LGBT Chamber of Commerce Certification and our participation in the Minnesota Lavender Bar Association—to each and every member of the DLO team, the struggle for LGBTQIA rights and equity is something we take seriously all year long and it’s always great to celebrate those achievements during Pride month!
Happy Pride!
Davis, Emily, Sara, Mohamed & Chuck