Important LGBT Events and LGBT Holidays
When we say "LGBT event", the first thing that comes into our minds is gay prides, right? Actually, the list of LGBT events and LGBT holidays is way larger, and it includes days or remembrance for those who lost their lives either due to homophobia or transphobia or to AIDS and many others.
Although the list is not huge, there are several LGBT events which are celebrated worldwide or only in some parts of the world. One thing is for sure: gay prides are the most common and well known LGBT events, and today lots of countries all around the world celebrate gay and LGBT prides yearly. The first gay pride was held 41 years ago, and nowadays gay prides have become so popular that even millions of people started to attend them, like it happened this year at Sao Paolo`s Gay Pride, where more than 3 million people are said to have attended the march.
Here`s a list of some of the most known LGBT events and LGBT holidays (in my opinion), which take place yearly. Although I browsed the Internet for like a couple of hours, I might have skipped one or two, sorry for that. So:
Transgender Day of Remembrance - TDOR is held on the 20th of November each year, and the purpose of this LGBT event is to remember all of our transgender sisters and brothers who died throughout time, due to transphobia or prejudice. This event is held in multiple countries. For further information about locations and schedule, feel free to visit a website dedicated to the Transgender Day of Remembrance.
Pride Month - The President of the United States of America declared this year`s June to be the LGBT Pride Month. The aim of this LGBT event is to try to make people more open minded and accept gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people for who they are, and also to commemorate the well-known Stonewall Riots from 1969, which had a very important role in the development of the LGBT community.
International Drag Day - The International Drag Day aims to show the artists (drag queens and drag kings) the appreciation that they deserve. This LGBT event is held on the 16th of July.
The Gay Games (also known as the Gay Olympics) - This LGBT event is specifically for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender artists and athletes, but everybody is welcome to participate, regardless of the sexual orientation or sexual identity.
Bisexuality Day - Held on September the 23rd, the Bisexuality Day is a good opportunity to celebrate bisexuality and pansexuality, as well as to inform people about what these sexual orientation suppose. Personal note: I`ve met many people who didn`t hear about pansexuality, so yeah, I guess it`s good to inform everybody, in order not to make mistakes.
The International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia - Celebrated on the 17th of March, this yearly LGBT event aims to highlight the horrible consequences that homophobia and transphobia have upon gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgenders (and I`m now talking about suicides and hate crimes). For further information regarding the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, please visit a website which is dedicated to this LGBT event.
Mister Gay Europe - This Gay event is, as you may already know, a beauty pageant for gay males from european countries. The Mister Gay Europe Contest started 5 years ago, and it is a yearly gay event.
The Intersex Awareness Day - Held each year on October the 26th, the Intersex Awareness Day wants to make people more aware of what the term of "Intersex" means. From what I have seen, many take intersex people for transsexuals, so I assume such an event is very important in order to clear things up and prevent misunderstanding of terms. For further information regarding the Intersex Awareness Day, please visit the Official Website.
To sum up, these are a few of the LGBT events and LGBT holidays that, in my opinion, every member of the LGBT community should be aware of. Why? Well, it doesn`t matter whether you`re bisexual, lesbian, gay or transgender, because at least one of these events is dedicated to your sexual orientation and they all have the same purpose: eliminate transphobia/biphobia/homophobia and prejudice, as well as to try obtaining equal rights for the LGBT community. However, as I said earlier, I might have unintentionally skipped some, but please feel free to leave comments and tell more if you know any other LGBT event/holiday!
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Persona non grata: Young, dedicated to writing articles and willing to make a change, whether we`re talking about how the people see us, the ones who are part of LGBT, or about writing some thoughts, opinions and other sort of material that hopefully others will find useful.
As a Sister in a Queer Nun order there are three others that aren't specifically mentioned.
One that just passed, World AIDS Day on December 1st is considered a High Holy Day by my order. I know that AIDS isn't just a gay disease but because of how hard it initially hit our community and still hits our community in a disproportionate degree I think it is very important to commemorate it, both as a chance to mourn those we have lost, but also to look toward the future with hope that some day there will be a cure or a vaccine and to celebrate the advances that have kept us from going through the horror that was the late 80's and early 90's which our order refers to as The Dying Years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_AIDS_Day
Another could logically be inferred by Pride but specifically Stonewall on June 28th. I like to do something specifically on June 28th to commemorate one of the first times that we rose up to resist the abuse that was often inflicted on our community in the form of unwarranted raids etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_riots
Lastly a day that is not even known about in a lot of cases. May 21st is the anniversary of the White Night Riots in San Francisco. An uprising in reaction to the minimal sentence of Dan White for the murder of Mayor Mossconne and Harvey Milk on November 27th, 1979. Amazingly no private property was damaged in this riot because the community leaders got word out quickly to target only the courthouse and the public property owned by the city. Making it a responsible riot. Not to say serious damage wasn't done as every window of the courthouse was broken out and several police cars were torched with Maltov Cocktails.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Night_riots
Those are just three that I think should be remembered because of the fact that they represent huge milestones for the community.
You`re right Aaron. I forgot about the World AIDS Day, don`t know how that happened, since I wrote an article about the World AIDS Day about a week ago, so I`m sorry I forgot to mention it. However, I am very thankful for your comment, you definitely pointed out important LGBT events that we should be aware of. Again, thank you!
My pleasure to do so and I figured the ommission of World AIDS Day was more than likely just because it was all over the place so recently so your subconcious probably told you it was mentioned. There are a few others that I personally observe for Seattle specifically but that is more because I a bit of a historian in the local community and as far as I know I am one of the only ones that thinks about them.
I would be more than pleased to read about the Seattle events you`re talking about, so please feel free to leave comments although you say you`re the only one who thinks about them!