As you know, June is Pride Month and a time to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community. Pride Month celebrates LGBTQIA+ culture, achievements, and activism through organized activities, including film festivals, art exhibits, marches, concerts, and other programs. Through these efforts, the LGBTQIA+ community and its allies also aim to increase awareness over ongoing issues of inequality as well as commemorate the lives lost to hate crimes and HIV/AIDS. The month-long celebration is really a call for greater unity, visibility, and equality for the LGBTQIA+ community, and an opportunity to recognize our AHC team and participants that identify as LGBTQIA+ for their contributions to the House and for the important and unique perspective that they bring to our work.
That said, while it's a time to look toward a fairer, kinder future, it's also a moment to recognize all the advances- and setbacks- in the last few decades. Although the movement began long before 1969, we recognize that year’s Stonewall uprising in New York City as a catalyst to recognize the rights, the dignity, and the solidarity with our LGBTQIA+ family. Stonewall began when Marsha P. Johnson, a Black transgender woman, and a coalition of gay rights activists spurred an act of rebellion against the laws that oppressed the community. Today, these acts have become an inclusive celebration of LGBTQIA+ visibility. When we think about all they have accomplished, we thank those who marched at Stonewall and in movements throughout the country, for it is their courage and vision that gave birth to the LGBTQIA+ movement. Sincerely, The DEI Committee Kristy Kolzow Juan Carlos Linares Jemina Lyle Nicole Reed Drew Williams Aasta Ziegler
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