California Blog #29: Pride Month

 The rainbow means the colors of the pride flag. So every month of June, we celebrate pride month. Maybe when my future in California begins, maybe we can celebrate pride month together and go to a festival somewhere in the park at the Northern California area. San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Scotts Valley, or somewhere else like it. This is what the picture of the pride flag looks like when you see it.

First off when we celebrate, we can watch or join a parade in honor of the celebration.

Second of all, we must find a park somewhere in the Northern California area to join the party.

Last but not least, we might wanna have some fun together and party, hang out, and maybe see some music there too.

Now here’s a bit a little known info about how pride month was started. Back in the day, First, President Bill Clinton declared June "Gay & Lesbian Pride Month" in 1999 and 2000. Then from 2009 to 2016, each year he was in office, President Barack Obama declared June LGBT Pride Month. Later, President Joe Biden declared June LGBTQ+ Pride Month in 2021.

It all started part of that with Harvey Milk.

He was an American politician and the first openly gay elected official in the history of California, where he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Although he was the most pro-LGBT politician in the United States at the time, politics and activism were not his early interests; he was neither open about his sexuality nor civically active until he was 40, after his experiences in the counterculture movement of the 1960s.

In 1972, Milk moved from New York City to the Castro District of San Francisco amid a migration of gay and bisexual men. He took advantage of the growing political and economic power of the neighborhood to promote his interests and unsuccessfully ran three times for political office. Milk's theatrical campaigns earned him increasing popularity, and in 1977 he won a seat as a city supervisor. His election was made possible by a key component of a shift in San Francisco politics.

Milk served almost eleven months in office, during which he sponsored a bill banning discrimination in public accommodations, housing, and employment on the basis of sexual orientation. The Supervisors passed the bill by a vote of 11–1, and it was signed into law by Mayor George Moscone. On November 27, 1978, Milk and Moscone were assassinated by Dan White, a disgruntled city supervisor.

Despite his short career in politics, Milk became an icon in San Francisco and a martyr in the gay community. In 2002, Milk was called "the most famous and most significantly open LGBT official ever elected in the United States". Anne Kronenberg, his final campaign manager, wrote of him: "What set Harvey apart from you or me was that he was a visionary. He imagined a righteous world inside his head and then he set about to create it for real, for all of us." Milk was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.

Speaking of which, you also remember the time when people celebrated pride month in California long time ago. That means you and Uncle Mark also, plus my Aunt Tammy and the girls here in Oregon. Although I couldn’t find the pictures of you celebrating pride month on your Facebook page, but in case you didn’t know, here’s a picture of Sequoia and Aurora celebrating pride month in Oregon.

Also, not to mention that pride month is also celebrated in TV, film, and all of media. RuPaul is also part of celebrating pride month too. Plus, pride month is the home for its LGBT audiences on the television channel Logo TV which was launched in 2005.

Another thing I remember as LGBT-themed is a soundtrack of a musical movie I listened to back in the day, which is “The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert”. I love the nightlife. Shout out to Jennifer and Rachel Unruh for good times and getting down with the disco.

If you’d like the first time I come over to see you or when I get to call you, we could plan on celebrating pride month here in California somewhere in that area. Another idea we can celebrate also is maybe at the beach in the boardwalk, Capitola, Monterey Bay, or at San Francisco in the hills or at a campsite forest somewhere. I almost forgot to tell that also.

So there you have it for now, my story about how pride month was celebrated.

If you like this blog, feel free to get me info about maybe some future plans to celebrate it in the California area. Aunt Leta, this is for you. And I hope that you and uncle Mark will enjoy it. Oh and before I forget, if you guys wanna help me out with some ideas on watching or joining the pride month parade, please let me know.

P.S.  Los Angeles also celebrates pride month too.