Monday, March 23, 2009

GLBT Pride 2009

A very cool video done in preparation of this year's 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots which was the start of the modern Gay Rights movement - June 28th, 1969.



(from JMG)

From the upcoming CD "Pride at 40," (JGLsongs LLC).
Performed by Jon Gilbert Leavitt featuring Kevin Hannan
Music and lyrics by Jon Gilbert Leavitt


Footage includes:
"Two Men Dancing" - Thomas Alva Edison (1895); "Dizzy Red Riding Hood" - Betty Boop cartoon (1931)
"Call Her Savage" (1932); Tel-Aviv Pride; Manchester (UK) Pride; Bangkok Pride; Toronto Pride; Copenhagen Pride; Christopher Street Day, München (Munich).


Most of the Pride celebrations are held in commeration of this day. New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles had their first the following year, 1970 where they proclaimed Gay freedom Day or Gay Liberation Day. (It was changed to Gay Pride in the eighties)

Here in Montréal, Pride events take place mid summer when we mark the July 15th Québec's own "Stonewall" - the Sex Garage" riot which took place in 1990.

(from Montreal Pride.com) ...

"That night 400 primarily gay, lesbian and transgender revellers are taunted, brutalized and arrested while trying to leave the party. Enraged and no longer willing to settle for unfair targeting, giant protests occur on that same night and the night following outside MUC Station 25. Images of the brutality outside the « Sex Garage » party circulate around the globe and nearly three million Montrealers are finally made aware of the fear and conditions constantly faced by Montreal’s LGBTA population."


The battle for full civil rights isn't over. In Canada we've achieved legal rights, but as in the US, religious fanaticism and ignorance continue to cast a shadow over the lives of many who ask nothing but to be treated fairly and equally.

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