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Minnesota Pride: Timeline of Achievement

By MNR News posted 06-24-2022 08:00 AM

  
In the early morning hours of a sweltering June night in 1969, a unit of the New York City Police Department’s Vice Squad raided the Stonewall Inn, a bar on Christopher Street frequented by members of the gay community. The patrons, who had endured many such raids there and at other gathering places, were beyond fed up. A scuffle spilled onto the streets, arrests were made, and a revolution ignited. A year later, in commemoration of the uprising, the Christopher Street Liberation Day Committee organized the first Pride march. It became the model and inspiration for movements across the globe, including Minnesota.

As we celebrate Minnesota Pride, Minnesota Realtors (MNR) takes a look back at some significant milestones. And while there is a long way to go on the road to social equity, what was once the work of a few is now the common cause of many. MNR is proud to stand with the LGBTQ+ community.
1973
  • On the third anniversary of Stonewall, a gathering of remembrance is held in Loring Park in Minneapolis. 50 people, most of them students, attend.
1973
  • The American Psychiatric Association removes homosexuality from its list of mental disorders.
  • During the Gay Pride Week celebration in Minneapolis, 150 people march, attend a picnic, dance, softball game, and canoeing event.
1974
  • Minneapolis and St. Paul adopt gay rights ordinances that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.
1980
  • 2,000 people attend Gay Pride Week in Loring Park.
1981
  • Working with the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union, the Pride Committee wins the right to block off a portion of Hennepin Avenue for the parade portion of the event.
  • The annual event is renamed Lesbian-Gay Pride, and later modified to Lesbian and Gay Pride.
1992
  • Attendance at Twin Cities Pride reaches 20,0000. 
1995
  • Twin Cities Pride expands beyond the parade into a festival that includes a lineup of performers on multiple stages. Over 100,000 people attend. 
1998
  • Attendance at Twin Cities Pride doubles to 200,000. 
2013
  • On August 1, same-sex couples win the right to legally marry in Minnesota.
2015
  • On the weekend following the Supreme Court’s ruling that same-sex marriage is legal nationwide, almost 500,000 people turn out for Twin Cities Pride, the highest attendance in the festival’s history. 
2018
  • A report from the University of Minnesota Extension estimates that the Minnesota Pride celebration generated an estimated $13.4 million of economic activity in Hennepin County.
2021
  • After being cancelled in 2020 due to COVID-19, an estimated 150,000 people return to Loring Park in July to celebrate the 49th annual Twin Cities Pride.
2022
  • The Twin Cities Pride Festival will celebrate its 50th anniversary in Loring Park on June 25 – 26. Learn more by visiting TCPRIDE.ORG.
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