Celebrating Pride Month: First Los Angeles Pride Parade 1970

The first gay pride parade in Los Angeles was held June 28, 1970, the day after the first pride parade was held in Chicago.  The parades were started to commemorate the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots which occurred in New York City in 1969.

Celebrating Black History Month: Marsha P. Johnson, gay black transgender activist

Marsha P. Johnson, born Malcolm Michaels in 1945, was one of the most visible people in New York City's gay scene from the 1960's to the 1990's.  Although Johnson never had the surgical transition, she was a popular drag queen and is identified as one of the first to fight back during the Stonewall riots in 1969.

She remained active in gay rights movements and AIDS awareness until her suspicious death in 1992.