June is Pride Month, a season intended to celebrate the lives and experiences of LGBTQ+ people and to protest threats to hard-won civil rights.
In the U.S., this year’s Pride celebrations are taking place as legislators in many states seek to ban drag shows, restrict gender-affirming health care, and limit how teachers can talk about sexuality and gender in the classroom. In Colorado in November, five people were killed and several injured when a gunman shot them in a gay club. In Israel, Tel Aviv celebrated Pride for the first time since the country’s new far-right government, stacked with anti-LGBTQ+ members, took office.
For more than a half-century, the annual marches have been an opportunity to demand action on specific issues such as the AIDS epidemic and same-sex marriage while also serving as a public celebration. These days, Pride celebrations and events — teeming with images of rainbows, a symbol of hope, unity and diversity for LGBTQ+ people — can be found all over the world.
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