WorldPride Amsterdam 2026: Dates and Guide
WorldPride Amsterdam 2026 runs July 25 to August 8, with the Canal Parade on August 1. Here is how to plan the trip, what to pack, what to...
Pride Belongs
Belonging Blog
Flag histories, identity guides, and the practical end of it. Written by someone who wants to know who drew the thing and what the stripes were meant to say.
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What Does 'Love Is Love' Mean? The Story Behind It
Three words you see everywhere in June, but where did love is love come from and what does it really mean? We break down the phrase, its link...
Barbara Gittings: The Mother of LGBTQ+ Rights
Barbara Gittings spent more than fifty years on the work and never took a salary. She got homosexuality removed from the list of mental illnesses in 1973, edited...
LGBTQ+ Symbols and What They Mean: A Complete Guide
The rainbow flag is just the start. Here is what the pink triangle, lambda, labrys, and other major LGBTQ+ symbols mean, where they came from, and how to...
Rainbow Capitalism: How to Spot Rainbow Washing
Every June the corporate logos go rainbow, then vanish on July 1. Here is how to spot rainbow washing, what real allyship looks like, and where to put...
The Aromantic Pride Flag: Meaning, Colors, and History
Green where you would expect red. Here is what the five stripes of the aromantic pride flag mean, where the flag came from, and how it differs from...
What Does LGBTQIA+ Stand For? Every Letter Explained
The letters keep growing and it is easy to lose track. Here is what every part of LGBTQIA+ actually stands for, from lesbian and gay to intersex and...
Gilbert Baker: The Veteran Who Sewed the First Rainbow Flag
Gilbert Baker made the first rainbow Pride flag with volunteers in San Francisco in 1978. Learn why it started with eight stripes, became six, and still matters.
Anita Bryant: The Beauty Queen Who Tried to End Gay Rights
In 1977 Florida orange juice spokeswoman Anita Bryant launched Save Our Children, a campaign that overturned Miami-Dade's gay rights ordinance in a landslide. The backlash she sparked built...
Your First Pride Parade: What to Expect (2026 Guide)
Your first Pride parade can feel like stepping into a movie someone forgot to give you the script for. Here is what to expect, what to bring, what...
Don't Ask Don't Tell: The 18-Year LGBTQ+ Military Ban
From 1993 to 2011, Don't Ask Don't Tell forced LGBTQ+ servicemembers to lie about who they were or lose their careers. Roughly 14,000 were discharged. Here is the...
Obergefell v. Hodges: The Day Marriage Equality Became Law
The 5-4 ruling on June 26, 2015 made same-sex marriage legal in every state. Here is who Jim Obergefell was, what the decision actually says, and why it...
The AIDS Memorial Quilt: How One Cloth Made America Mourn
Cleve Jones taped names to a federal building in 1985 and the AIDS Memorial Quilt was born. Today it holds 50,000 panels for 110,000 lives lost. Here is...
The Daughters of Bilitis: The First Lesbian Rights Group in America
Eight women met in a San Francisco living room in September 1955 and built the first lesbian rights organization in America. Here is the story of the Daughters...
The Mattachine Society: How Gay Rights Started in Secret
Nineteen years before Stonewall, five gay men in Los Angeles started a secret society to fight for their lives. The Mattachine Society became the first lasting gay rights...
Christine Jorgensen at 100: How a GI Became a Trans Icon
Christine Jorgensen would have turned 100 on May 30, 2026. In 1952, the former Army clerk from the Bronx became the first trans woman whose story landed on...
Keith Haring: The Gay Pop Artist Who Made AIDS Visible
Keith Haring drew the radiant baby, the barking dog, and the dancing figures that became pop icons. Then he was diagnosed with HIV in 1988 and turned his...
Larry Kramer: The Playwright Who Made America Face AIDS
Larry Kramer co-founded GMHC, started ACT UP, wrote The Normal Heart, and refused to let America ignore AIDS. The real story of the playwright who built two of...
Alan Turing: The Codebreaker Who Won the War and Was Punished for Being Gay
Britain's greatest scientist broke the Enigma code, founded computer science, and imagined the first thinking machine. Then the country he saved arrested him for being gay. The real...
Harvey Milk: The Camera Shop Owner Who Changed Gay Politics Forever
The story of Harvey Milk: how a Wall Street stockbroker turned camera shop owner became California's most famous openly gay elected official, defeated Prop 6, and was assassinated...
Billie Jean King: The Tennis Icon Who Beat Bobby Riggs and Came Out the Hard Way
The full story of Billie Jean King: 39 Grand Slam titles, the 1973 Battle of the Sexes win that changed women's sports forever, the 1981 outing that cost...
Pauli Murray: The Lawyer Who Beat Jim Crow and Jane Crow
Pauli Murray was rejected from UNC for being Black and from Harvard for being a woman. They went on to shape Brown v. Board, mentor Ruth Bader Ginsburg,...
Edie Windsor: The 83-Year-Old Widow Who Took Down DOMA
Edie Windsor was 83 when she sued the U.S. government over a $363,053 estate tax bill. Her case ended DOMA and made nationwide marriage equality possible. Here is...
Frank Kameny: The Astronomer Who Started Gay Rights
The Harvard astronomer who got fired by the federal government in 1957 spent the next five decades inventing the modern gay rights movement. Here is the full story...