How To Celebrate June Pride Month In Milwaukee

MILWAUKEE, WI — Pride Month starts Thursday and continues through June, with several ways in Milwaukee to participate in the celebration of LGBTQ culture, rights, and identity.

Among them is a kickoff event on Wednesday during which Milwaukee County officials will unveil upcoming events that the community is coming together to celebrate diversity and other Pride Month events being held around the county in June. The event will take place at 4 p.m. on Wednesday at Cathedral Square Park at 520 E. Wells St.

Last week, county supervisors approved a resolution to support Pride Month and the display of the Intersex Progress Pride Flag at county buildings and other locations around Milwaukee County.

Other events include:

PrideFest, which will be held from Thursday until Saturday will include several musical headliners and other entertainment. PrideFest will be held at the Summerfest Grounds, which is located at 200 N. Harbor Dr. in Milwaukee.

Milwaukee’s Pride Parade will be held at 2 p.m. on Sunday. The parade has been held since 2005 and has been in continuous operation with organizers working to provide a family-oriented celebration of LGBT Pride around the region.

Pride Month occurs during June in deference to the Stonewall Uprising, a tipping point in the struggle for equality among people who identify as LGBTQ. New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar, in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969. Such raids were common, but patrons fought back, resulting in days of violent clashes across Greenwich village.

The observance started as Gay Pride Day on the last Sunday in June, but soon grew to the point that June calendars are packed with pride parades, parties, workshops, symposiums and concerts across the nation and around the world.

In Wisconsin, about 3.8 percent of the population — or 207,000 people — identify as LGBTQ, according to the Movement Advance Project, which tracks legislation targets. They represent 4 percent of Wisconsin’s workforce, or 124,000 people.

The organization gives Wisconsin 18.5 points out of a possible 43.5 points. Our state received 13.25 points out of a possible 20 for sexual orientation policy and 5.23 points out of a possible 23 for gender policy. The overall ranking was graded “FAIR.”

Pride Month 2023 occurs amid a historic surge in bills targeting LGBTQ rights, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Nearly 500 pieces of legislation nationwide have been filed in state legislatures this year, according to the ACLU tracking.

LGBTQ rights remain status quo in Wisconsin. Lawmakers did not advance any bills this year.

“LGBTQ people are under fire, unlike possibly ever before and across virtually every aspect of our lives,” Logan S. Casey, a senior researcher at Movement Advancement Project, told The Washington Post in April. “This is part of a very clear and identifiable national effort in state legislatures that is and has been going on for years — and it’s really culminating this year.”