Pride History ‘Pride’ began as an anniversary event, commemorating an incident that took place in New York on June 28, 1969. On that day, policemen raided a gay bar named the Stonewall Inn, on the pretext of illegal alcohol sales, during a series of consecutive raids in similar bars in the area, while general abuse of gay and transsexual persons was commonplace. The arrests and violence that ensued enraged the people outside the bar, who attacked the police vehicles with rocks, bottles, even trashcans. A large crowd then gathered to demonstrate and, as a result, clashes with police continued over the following days and nights. The next month, gay activists distributed flyers demanding a mass “gathering for gay liberation”. The alliance formed during this meeting adopted the name ‘Gay Liberation Front’. Its demands included a stop to police harassment, protection at the workplace, abolition of sodomy laws and the enactment of legislation against discrimination. Other protest rallies ensued and gay and lesbian rights organisations were formed throughout the United States. This was considered to be the first modern LGBT movement. The following year, the ‘Stonewall march’ took place to commemorate the event, while also being a protest against the discrimination and violence suffered by gays, lesbians and transsexuals in New York City. In the strictest sense of the term, this could be considered the first Pride event ever held. In 1999, on the 30th anniversary of the New York events, the Stonewall Inn was declared a National Historic Landmark, while on the 40thanniversary, the President of the United States, Barack Obama, declared June 2009 to be LGBT Pride Month. International Spread Over the years, the anniversary took on a celebratory character, initially spreading to other American cities and, subsequently, to numerous other countries, mainly in the Western world, while June 28 was established as Gay Pride Day. For this reason, most Pride events are held in June throughout the world. The most popular Pride events around the world are those held in New York, San Francisco, Berlin, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Tel Aviv, Rome, Madrid, Sidney, etc., but smaller events are also held in other cities. In recent years, it has spread to cities such as Moscow, Warsaw, Prague, Istanbul, Manila, Taipei, Buenos Aires, New Delhi, Sofia and Zagreb. history1 The 80s and 90s The first attempt to hold a Pride event in Greece was made by AKOE (Greek Gay Liberation Movement) on 28 June 1980 in Athens, characterising the event as a cultural one, and was repeated 2 years later at the Zappeion building. It was 10 years before similar events were held again, mostly following private initiatives (Strefi Hill 1992, 1994, 1995, Field of Mars 1993, 1996 and at indoor venues 1998 and 1999). At the same time, similar events were held on the waterfront of Thessaloniki by OPOTh (Homosexuals’ Initiative of Thessaloniki) and the magazine ‘O Pothos’. history2 Athens Pride Since 2005, ‘Athens Pride’ has been held every year in June in the centre of Athens (Klafthmonos Square), with great success and ever-increasing participation. Europride and Worldpride In the early 1990s, the Europride institution was established, which entails the organisation of a larger and more impressive festival in a different city each year, which becomes the informal LGBT capital of Europe. The institution of World Pride was also established, being a similar event at the international level. It is held every 6 years, with Rome being the first world capital in 2000, followed by Jerusalem in 2006 and London this summer.