5 Things You Didn’t Know About Pride
With Dublin’s Pride Parade taking place this weekend , we wanted to take a look back through the years and learn about the origins of Pride and see just how far we have come with LGBTQ rights. Dublin Pride alone has gone from eight people protesting homophobic laws in 1974 to 60,000 people celebrating LGBTQ Pride in 2018 and we expect this number to keep on growing!
1.The First LGBTQ rights demonstration in Ireland.
In 1974, a group of 8 incredibly brave people protested the numerous Irish laws that made homosexuality a crime outside of the Department of Justice and the British Embassy.This was seen as an extremely brave thing to do as it was illegal to be gay at this time and many homosexuals were subject to h orific assaults.
2.The First Pride Parade in Ireland
In 1983 around 200 people marched from St.Stephens Green to Grafton Street and onwards to the GPO proudly and noisily, landmarking the very first Pride Parade in Ireland. At the time, this was known as the ‘Gay Rights Protest March’. This march was fueled by murder of an LGBTQ man called Declan Flynn a few months prior (his killers were never prosecuted). The marriage equality referendum passed 33 years after the first ever Irish Pride parade.
3.Where it all began
LGBTQ Pride Month now takes place every June as the first pride demonstration commemorated the Stonewall Riots in New York which ended in June 1969. The Stonewall Riots were violent demonstrations that were orchestrated by members of the LGBTQ community in defiance of a police raid that occurred on June 28th 1969 at the Stonewall Inn.
4.The original Rainbow Flag
The rainbow flag consisting of 6 colours that we know today as the symbol for Pride was originally 8 colours. It was first debuted in the year 1978 and designed by Gilbert Baker but was changed to 6 colours in 1979. Each of the 8 colours had their own meaning behind them too! Hot Pink: Sexuality, Red: Life, Orange: Healing, Yellow: Sunlight, Green: Nature, Turquoise:Magic/Art, Blue:Serenity, Purple: Spirit. 30 volunteers hand stitched and dyed the original two flags created for the San Francisco Pride Parade in 1978.
5.Pride Celebrations Keep Getting Bigger & Bigger!
The world’s largest Pride parade took place in Sao Paulo in Brazil in 2011 with an estimated 3.5 million attendees! The Longest Gay Pride Celebration lasts three to four weeks in Sydney, Australia each February ending with Mardi Gras. In 1994, the world’s largest flag according to guinness book of world records was a 30 feet wide rainbow flag created for pride.
MadFlowers have procured a very special bouquet to celebrate Pride Month! Our rainbows bouquet is the perfect gift for your significant other or a beautiful center piece for your pride party! We are giving a special discount on this bouquet until the end of pride month. It was €59 and is now just €35 for pride, saving you a whopping €24!
Order this Rainbow Pride Bouquet From MadFlowers Here: https://www.madflowers.com/home/products/view/624/rainbows/?row=1
