June is the month when thousands of people from around the world celebrate and commemorate LGBTIQ+ Pride. In a period of thirty days, different cities organize a great variety of activities to invite the world to be more tolerant and inclusive. The festivities end with a march where all the different forms of sexuality and gender diversity are welcomed. A parade of colors, chanting and dancing takes over the main streets of these cities to ask for equal rights.
The story behind Pride Month starts in New York City, in 1969. Stonewall Inn is a bar in which members of the LGBTIQ+ community used to spend their nights partying, dancing, and drinking. However, these were illegal acts back in the sixties, and police raids were common. The morning of June 28, 1969 another police raid took place, but this time people refused to be arrested.
A crowd fought against the police with beer bottles, bricks, and even pennies; nevertheless, The Tactical Police Force of New York took control over the situation. The people arrested were victims of police brutality. By Wednesday 1,000 protestors gathered again on the streets to claim justice for the fallen victims of the previous raids.
The first Pride Parades began as a consequence to these violent acts. They served, and still do, as a reminder of the fights of the LGBTIQ+ community. To this day, people will continue to take over the streets of different cities in the world until everyone is free to love whoever they want to love and be whoever they want to be.
Protest signs and marches are not the only resources the LGBTIQ+ community have to fight for their rights. Music is still the most powerful medium to spread messages of love, empowerment, and tolerance to the rest of the world.
Different musicians have joined the movement and have given their support to this community, whether they’re part of it or not. Through their music and lyrics, the fallen men and women of Stonewall, Pulse, and hundreds of other places can still keep fighting to make this an inclusive world,. Let music voice their struggles, victories, and stories.
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15. Same Love by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
“For those that liked the same sex
Had the characteristics
The right wing conservatives think it’s a decision
And you can be cured with some treatment and religion”
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14.I U She by Peaches
“I don’t have to make a choice, I like girls, I like boys ”
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13.Glad to be Gay by Tom Robinson
“So sit back and watch as they close all our clubs
Arrest us for meeting and raid all our pubs
Make sure your boyfriend’s at least 21
So only your friends and your brothers get done
Lie to your workmates, lie to your folks
Put down the queens and tell anti-queer jokes
Gay Lib’s ridiculous, join their laughter
‘The buggers are legal now, what more are they after?’
Sing if you’re glad to be gay”
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12. Take Your Mama Out by The Scissor Sisters
“It’s a struggle
Livin’ like a good boy oughta
In the summer
Watchin’ all the girls pass by
When your mama
Heard the way that you’d been talking
I tried to tell you
That all she’d wanna do is cry”
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11. All-American Boy by Steve Grand
“Be my All-American boy tonight, baby you light my fire. It’s gonna be alright”.
—
10. Girls Like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko
“Saw your face, heard your name
Gotta get with you
Girls like girls like boys do
Nothing new”
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9. Come To My Window by Melissa Ethridge
“I don’t care what they think
I don’t care what they say
What do they know about this love
Anyway”
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8. Standing in the Way of Control by Gossip
“Standing in the way of control
You live your life
Survive the only way that you know
I’m doing this for you
Because it’s easier to lose
And it’s hard to face the truth
When you think you’re dying
It’s part not giving in
And part trusting your friends
You do it all again
But you don’t stop trying”
—
7. Call the Doctor by Sleater-Kinney
“This is love and you can’t make it
In a formula or break me
I’m your monster I’m just like you
All my life is right before you”
—
6. Cherry Lips by Garbage
“With your cherry lips and golden curls
You could make grown men gasp when you go walking past
And in your hot pants and high heels
They could not believe that such a body was for real
It seemed like rainbows would appear
Whenever you came near the clouds would disappear
Because you looked just like a girl
Your baby blues would flash and suddenly a spell was cast”
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5. She’s so Lovely by The Butchies
“she’s a rocker dressed like a killer
she’s got lips like wine not sugar
I’m running running into timing
got a watch it’s stuck in shining
she’s so lovely yeah she’s so lovely yeah”
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4. Men in Love by Gossip
“I haven’t felt this way
Since I was seventeen
You know what I mean
Guilty of love in the first degree”
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3. Girls/Girls/Boys by Ally Hills (cover from Panic! At The Disco)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLmVGouFE_M
“Girls love girls and boys
Girls love girls and boys
And never did I think that I
Would be caught in the way you got me
But girls love girls and boys
And love is not a choice”
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2. Love They Say by Tegan and Sara
“You don’t need to wonder
If love will make us stronger
There’s nothing love can’t do”
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1. I Want to Break Free by Queen
“I’ve fallen in love for the first time
And this time I know it’s for real
I’ve fallen in love yeah
God knows God knows I’ve fallen in love”
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A day will come when Pride Parades won’t be necessary, when men and women will feel safe walking down the streets without fearing verbal or physical abuse. All people deserve and should give respect and equal rights.
