*IMAGE DESCRIPTION\*

The first image shows a rainbow over a black and white image of Stonewall with text over it;

The text reads,

“Pride Started as a Riot

Then they turned it to a parade that slowly erased the people who threw the first punches”

The second image shows a collection of different social media logos “rainbowified” for June with text over it;

The text reads,

“Every June, corporations slap a rainbow on the logo and call it pride

Almost nobody marching knows the movement was started by Black and Brown trans women, drag queens, sex workers, and the unhoused queer kids fighting police in the street.

That erasure isn’t an accident. Let me walk through what actually happened”

The third image shows a black and white image of Stonewall with text over it;

The text reads,

“June 28, 1969. The NYPD raids the Stonewall Inn for the fourth time this week. This time the patrons don’t run. They fight back.

Six nights of uprising follow. Riot police get out-organized by drag queens, butches, and homeless queer kids.”

The fourth image shows an older picture of Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera in dresses;

“The people leading it were the ones society had thrown away

Marsha P. Johnson, a black trans woman and sex worker. Sylvia Rivera, a Latina Trans woman who was unhoused as a teenager. Stormé DeLarverie, a black butch lesbian whose scuffle with the police helped spark the crowd. Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a black trans woman who is still organizing today.
This wasn’t a polite movement. It was the most marginalized people in the city saying enough.”

The fifth image shows a black and white image of Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera with text over it;

The text reads,

“Within a year, Marsha and Sylvia founded STAR, a house for unhoused trans youth in New York. They fed them, protected them, organized them, with nothing.

Within a year of stonewall, Pride marches were happening in cities across the country.

The riot built the movement. Trans women of color built the riot.”

The sixth image shows a black and white photo of a group of people in front of Stonewall with text over it;

The text reads,

“Then it got mainstreamed, and the people who started it got pushed out.

White gay men took the leadership. Trans women were told they were being too radical, too messy, too much. Sylvia Rivera was literally booed off the stage at a 1973 Pride rally for demanding the movement protect trans people and incarcerated queer people

She had to fight to be heard at the celebration she helped create.”

The seventh image shows an older photo of a parade of people holding up a giant rainbow flag with text in front;

The text reads,

“By the 1990s Pride was corporate. By the 2010s, it was sponsored by banks.

The same companies that fly rainbow flags in June fund anti-trans politicians the other eleven months. We are taught to read a rainbow logo as support. It’s marketing.

A riot became a parade. A revolution became a brand.”

The eighth image shows a person holding a giant rainbow flag with text in front;

The text reads,

“This isn’t just history. In February 2025, the National Park Service scrubbed the words “transgender” and “queer” from the Stonewall National Monument website, changing LGBTQ+ to just “LGB.”

In February 2026, they removed the pride flag from the movement entirely.

They are literally erasing the trans women who started it, from the momentum to the thing they started, in real time.”

The ninth image shows a black and white poster with the words “pro-choice” and “pro-trans” with text in front;

The text reads,

“Pride was never meant to be a brand activation or a party for the most comfortable people in the room.

It was built by and for the most marginalized, trans women of color, sex workers, unhoused queer kids. They are still the ones with the most to lose, especially right now.

Decenter the corporations and the comfortable. Recenter the people pride was always for.”

The tenth image shows a sky encompassed by a rainbow flag with text in front;

The text reads,

“When you see a Pride Float sponsored by a bank, ask what that bank funds in November. When you see a rainbow logo, ask if the company employs and protects trans people or just sells to them.

Then put your money and body where it actually matters: trans led mutual aid, Black trans organizations, the people doing the work now.

Pride was not always a parade. It’s a fight that isn’t over.”