It feels appropriate that the fight for justice for violence against Black Americans at the hands of police is spreading now, during Pride month. It’s been 51 years since the Stonewall Uprising — a series of spontaneous and often violent demonstrations by members of the LGBT community in response to a violent police raid of NYC’s Stonewall Inn on June 28, 1969. Many Today, LGBTQ+ Pride parades are held all around the world to commemorate Stonewall.
The Stonewall demonstrations are often considered an ember that sparked the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBTQ+ rights in America. And just as Stonewall sparked the pride movement, the death of George Floyd at the hands of police was the tipping point for the BLM movement and America’s awakening to our country’s deep history of systemic racism. Two embers that sparked powerful, fiery, important movements.
Today, June 26, marks the fifth anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage in all 50 states. We want to honor how far America has come toward more equal rights for same-sex couples and their families, but we know that we still have so much further to go.
This June, BAM is making equality, inclusion, and diversity a priority. Earlier this month, BAM closed for a company-wide day of reflection in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. We are committed to long-term change and are in the process of creating a formal diversity and inclusion program at BAM. We are a team of storytellers with diverse stories and everyone’s story deserves to be heard.