Reclaim Pride Coalition is a coalition of

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

groups and individuals that initially gathered in New York City in 2019 to create the

Queer Liberation March The Queer Liberation March is an annual LGBT protest march in Manhattan, organized by the Reclaim Pride Coalition as an anti-corporate alternative to the NYC Pride March. A grassroots collective of queer rights activists and supporters held th ...

in honor of the 50th Anniversary of the

Stonewall riots The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, or simply Stonewall) were a series of spontaneous protests by members of the gay community in response to a police raid that began in the early morning hours of Ju ...

and to protest the commercialization of LGBT Pride events. The following year, in solidarity with

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...

, the coalition organized the Queer Liberation March for Black Lives & Against Police Brutality.

History

The Reclaim Pride Coalition was created to gather members of the extended LGBT community, especially those most at its fringessuch as

gender nonconforming Gender variance or gender nonconformity is behavior or gender expression by an individual that does not match masculine or feminine gender norms. A gender-nonconforming person may be variant in their gender identity, being transgender or non-bina ...

individuals, queer youth of color,

drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and part o ...

sex worker A sex worker is a person who provides sex work, either on a regular or occasional basis. The term is used in reference to those who work in all areas of the sex industry.Oxford English Dictionary, "sex worker" According to one view, sex work is d ...

s, and

radical lesbians Radical lesbianism is a lesbian movement that challenges the status quo of heterosexuality and mainstream feminism. It arose in part because mainstream feminism did not actively include or fight for lesbian rights. The movement was started by l ...

who seek to march in honor of the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall riots that effectively started the

gay rights movement Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movements are social movements that advocate for LGBT people in society. Some focus on equal rights, such as the ongoing movement for same-sex marriage, while others focus on liberation, as in the ...

in the United States in 1969. It planned the

in New York City on June 30, 2019, from the

Stonewall Inn The Stonewall Inn, often shortened to Stonewall, is a gay bar and recreational tavern in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City, and the site of the Stonewall riots of 1969, which is widely considered to be the s ...

, up Sixth Avenue, to Central Park for a rally on the

Great Lawn The Great Lawn and Turtle Pond are two connected features of Central Park in Manhattan, New York City, United States. The lawn and pond are located on the site of a former reservoir for the Croton Aqueduct system which was infilled during the ...

. The main concern of the coalition was to protest against a perceived lack of activism increasingly present in the corporate-sponsored floats and police-lined streets in the general celebratory

NYC Pride March The NYC Pride March is an annual event celebrating the LGBTQ community The LGBT community (also known as the LGBTQ+ community, GLBT community, gay community, or queer community) is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay, bisexual, t ...

that is an annual tradition coordinated by organization

Heritage of Pride Heritage of Pride (HOP), doing business as NYC Pride, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that plans and produces the official New York City LGBTQIA+ Pride Week events each June. HOP began working on the events in 1984, taking on the work previ ...

. The Reclaim Pride Coalition believes that removing corporate sponsors and the police presence will better connect the march itself to the people, especially those who are believed to be excluded by the heavily sponsored, and much larger, World Pride parade. The result was a second, activist-oriented pride march, the Queer Liberation March, which was held on the same day as the NYC Pride March to mark the 50th Anniversary of Stonewall. The Queer Liberation March encouraged anyone to march without prior registration.

Reclaim Pride UK

The Reclaim Pride movement has also reached the LGBT community in the UK and is seeing strong support, especially in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, and

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

, where Reclaim Pride groups are visibly challenging organizers that run Pride money-making events, where many in the communities have no actual input to the events themselves. Their strong support of Stonewall and the belief that "Pride is Freedom, and Freedom is Free" motivates these coalitions. In

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, the Unite trade union's LGBT committee blasted the charges imposed on organizations taking part in Glasgow's 2019 Pride event and took aim at big companies using the event merely to "enhance their customer reach".Unite to boycott Pride Glasgow over 'over-commercialisation'
16 August 2019 As such, they boycotted the event and encouraged other sections of the local gay community to do likewise. Describing Pride as a protest, Unite Scotland's LGBT committee wrote:

The Pride movement started as a riot 50 years ago this year at Stonewall Inn and as we remember this, we remember those we have lost and also celebrate the gains we have made. Yet, for some large commercial organizations, support for LGBT equality merely extends to paying a fee for a Pride March or temporary rainbow branding to enhance their customer reach. Once Pride season is over, there is no wider benefit to the LGBT community. We hear nothing about what is happening in our communities, about rising intolerance and hate crime, and the violence being perpetrated against LGBT+ citizens of our country. When people are abused and beaten for being themselves, the response from Pride is deafening in its silence. The politics has been driven from Pride by over-commercialisation and greed of those involved in making it ever more commercial for financial gain.'

Reclaim Pride in Brighton self describe as "An independent autonomous affinity group for radical pride actions, Queer Unity, Mutual Aid and protest movements", expressing Queer Anarchist politics in their 'Reclamation Zine' and have performed year-round anti-capitalist projects including a 'Free Store'. They have also hosted multiple demonstrations on LGBT issues such as perceived transphobia by the BBC. The group takes a Republican view of the British Monarchy In September 2022, Reclaim Pride Brighton announced plans to protest an event organized by activist

Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, also known as Kellie-Jay Keen and Posie Parker, is a British anti-Legal status of transgender people, transgender rights activist and founder of the group Standing for Women. She describes herself as a Women's rights ...

References

External links

Reclaim Pride Coalition

World Pride NYC Stonewall 50
{{LGBT in New York LGBT organizations based in New York City 2019 establishments in New York City

History

Reclaim Pride UK

See also

References

External links