June is Pride Month!
Pride Month is a celebration of LGBTQ+ culture and accomplishments and is also a time for activism and commemoration. This month, the New York State Museum is showcasing our recently opened New York Pride: The Fight for Marriage Equality exhibition, offering special programming, and sharing additional educational resources on this page and on social media.
The celebration and commemoration of Pride Month in June originated in the Stonewall Uprising. When police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s Greenwich Village, on the night of June 28, 1969, the LGBTQ+ community fought back—for six days. At the time, there were numerous laws that criminalized homosexuality, and raids, as well as resistance to them, were not uncommon. However, the events at the Stonewall Inn lit a spark that led to new organizing and calls for equal rights.
On June 28, 1970, the Christopher Street Liberation Day Parade was held in New York City to commemorate the first anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, and other marches took place in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Since then, Pride observances have grown to a whole month, celebrated in more and more communities across New York State, the country, and the world.
Related Programs
History & Hops: Queer Stories Uncovered—A Pride Month Celebration
- Off-Site
BrainFood: LGBTQ+ Stories from the Collections – Celebrating Pride Month
- Huxley Theater
Love Wins: A Celebration of Marriage Equality in New York
- Huxley Theater
Pride Day at the New York State Museum
- Huxley Theater
2025 Pride Month Statewide Events
Around the Museum
New York Pride: The Fight for Marriage Equality
On view through February 22, 2025
New York was central to the fight for marriage equality, from early activism in the 1970s to the landmark Marriage Equality Act of 2011. Driven by the AIDS crisis and grassroots efforts, the state’s progress helped pave the way for nationwide legalization in 2015.
Explore LGBTQ+ Stories in our Galleries
Throughout its history, New Yorkers have led the charge for equality, including fighting for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) individuals. Discover several objects currently on display throughout the NYSM that are a reflection of some of these important and unique stories.
Additional Resources from the Office of Cultural Education
New York State Archives
Explore LGBTQ+ history through ready-to-use primary sources and standards-aligned, teacher-created learning activities on ConsidertheSourceNY.org. Historical records offer students an opportunity to practice their document-analysis skills and discover the history LGBTQ+ communities in New York State. Resources include LGBTQ+ laws passed in New York and documents related to advocacy and Pride events.
https://considerthesourceny.org/featured-collections/pride-month-resources
Public Programs:
- Documenting LGBTQIA+ History in New York (Online via Zoom)
Tuesday, June 3
Register Now
New York State Library
Visit the State Library's website to learn more about the resources the Library has to offer.
Public Programs:
- Queer Revolutionary: The Trials of Robert Newburgh (Online)
Friday, June 27, 2025 at 12 pm
https://nyslibrary.libcal.com/event/11985296
Talking Book and Braille Library
Pride Month Reading List:
https://nyslibrary.libguides.com/blogs/tbbl/news
In celebration of Pride Month, please enjoy a curated selection of braille and audiobooks available from the NYS Talking Book and Braille Library (TBBL). This free library service is available to New York residents of all ages (in upstate NY, outside of NYC and Long Island), who have temporary or permanent visual, perceptual, or physical limitations that prevent them from reading standard print materials.
Our collection is similar to what’s found in a large public library, including popular fiction and nonfiction titles, as well as informational and recreational materials for all ages and tastes.
Know someone who might be interested in this service? Please share our booklist or explore our other resources on the Talking Book and Braille Library website: https://www.nysl.nysed.gov/tbbl/
Related Resources
The Pride Center of the Capital Region
The Pride Center of the Capital Region is the oldest continuously operating LGBTQ+ community center in the country.
To commemorate the Pride Center’s 50th anniversary in 2020, the New York State Museum partnered with the Center to collect oral histories from members of the community, ultimately resulting in the creation of a panel exhibition and recorded interviews that were featured in the Pride Center’s 50th Anniversary Documentary.
View the Panel Exhibition, the 50th Anniversary Documentary, and Community Member Oral Histories here:
https://www.nysm.nysed.gov/pride/pride-center
New York Minute in History Podcast, The Persistence of Dr. Mary Walker
Dr. Mary Edwards Walker was a women’s rights activist, suffragist, and medical doctor who served as a surgeon during the Civil War. Walker advocated for the reform of traditional dress for women, which in the middle of the 19th century included heavy, floor-length skirts that dragged on the ground picking up dirt and restricted women’s movements. For much of her life, Walker wore either a shorter skirt with trousers underneath (known by various names, including the Bloomer costume, the reform dress, and the Turkish trousers), or later, just a jacket and trousers—and often, her signature top hat. For dressing outside of gender norms, she was arrested multiple times and faced widespread discrimination, to which she replied, “I don’t wear men’s clothes, I wear my own clothes.”
NYSM Collection Spotlight: FAGBUG
On Tuesday, May 29, 2018, the NYSM acquired the FAGBUG from owner Erin Davies. Watch this short video to discover how Davies turned a single ugly and damaging event into a positive personal journey and public outreach project that touched the lives of many.
Art Resources
The New York State Museum’s collections include works by artists who today might identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community, including photographer Berenice Abbott and member of the Byrdcliffe Arts Colony, Zulma Steele. Arts communities in New York, from enclaves of artists in New York City to upstate communities like the Byrdcliffe and Maverick Colonies in Woodstock, were often welcoming places for people of a variety of identities.
Berenice Abbott: Photographer
From 1935-1940, Berenice Abbott (1898–1991) worked on a photographic project documenting the unprecedented growth and changes taking place in a burgeoning New York City. The project, "Changing New York," became one of the monumental achievements in 20th-century photography.
Historic Woodstock Art Colony
Long before the famous music festival in 1969, Woodstock, New York, was home to what is considered America’s first intentionally created, year-round arts colony—founded in 1902 and still thriving over 100 years later.
Countee Cullen
Located in the NYSM's ongoing exhibition Black Capital: Harlem in the 1920s is the book On These I Stand by prominent queer Black poet Countee Cullen (1903–1946). While he was friends with many openly gay writers, Cullen himself remained closeted and struggled to come to terms with his sexuality and the shame he felt with it. He had two brief marriages to women and also quietly dated men.
New Discovery: Countee Cullen’s Bookplate While not on display, the Museum recently found this bookplate in Cullen’s copy of Precis D’Explication Francaise: Methode et applications (Precise Analysis of French: Methods and Applications). The imagery may relate to the Greek myth of Orpheus, a musician, poet, and prophet.
Let Your Pride Colors Shine!
Download these Pride-themed coloring sheets to decorate and share.