Fifty years ago this month, a group of people — young and old; men and women; poor and not poor; black, white and Latino; in drag and out — rose up to say ‘No. No More!’ It was a riot. Protesters choked intersections, climbed lamp poles, lit fires and sang in the streets. The immediate cause was the police raid on the Stonewall Inn in New York City, but the uprising that followed ended up shaking the world — and shaking history.
We live in the wake of that rebellion. Stonewall is still a place — and still a bar. It’s where LGBTQ folks gathered in 2015 to celebrate the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States. A year later, it’s where the community met to mourn the shooting at the Pulse nightclub. And today, it’s often the site of demonstrations against the Trump administration’s assaults on LGBTQ people.
But Stonewall is more than just a place. It’s a state of mind, a touchstone, one of many, for LGBTQ people around the world who are in the struggle today — whether that’s in India, where the Supreme Court recently struck down sodomy laws, or in Brazil, where LGBTQ people are under fire from the far-right government of Jair Bolsonaro.
On this occasion, HuffPost is proud to present a series of profiles that highlight the next generation of LGBTQ change-makers. Our heroes span the globe—from the U.K. to Korea to Canada and India — and they cut across identities and professions and passions. But each and every one is engaged in the NOW of it. They’re pushing boundaries and raising a fuss. They are Proud Out Loud, and HuffPost is more than proud to celebrate them.
Pride Features
Video
I've Created My Own Space To Be Black And LGBTQ
Lee Gray came out to his traditional Caribbean family in an unusual manner but thankfully they were welcoming of his decision to come out. However, Lee is well aware that his experience isn’t the norm across the black community and has set up a podcast helping black people navigate through the world of LGBTQ. His advice? Create your own space to be the person that you want to be.Finding A Space For Myself To Be Muslim And Queer
Ferhan Khan knew he wasn’t like other people at school, never having an attraction to the opposite sex but with a traditional Muslim family and section 28 preventing teachers from discussing same sex relationships he had nowhere to find out about himself until university. What happened was a difficult relationship with his faith, which through time, has been rekindled and he now talks about this through advocacy work in schools.Carmen Liu | Why My Lingerie Is Helping Trans Women
When Carmen Liu began the transition from male to female, she found that the options for underwear left her feeling like an outsider and different from other women. Carmen decided to change that, telling her story to the world and developing a line of lingerie for trans women that helps them feel more confident and happy in themselves.Clik here to view.
For Indigenous Artist Kiley May, Being 2-Spirit Means 'Walking Between Worlds'
"There's always been room for crossing genders," she says.Jake and Hannah Graf | Why We're Vocal About Being Trans
Jake and Hannah Graf have been called Britain’s “Trans Power Couple”. They discuss how they’ve become the role models they never had and the importance of speaking out.Clik here to view.
