The Stonewall Uprising took place over a series of nights at the end of June 1969. Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter “That was the epicenter of the gay world,” he says of the early years of Pride. But, over the decades, Pride parades have evolved in a way that goes beyond the number of participants - and, having photographed five decades worth of them, Stellar has seen that evolution firsthand. In a year when large gatherings are prevented by the coronavirus and many Pride events have been cancelled or postponed, over 500 Pride and LGBTQIA+ community organizations from 91 countries will participate in Global Pride on June 27. in 1970, a year after the uprising at the Stonewall Inn that many consider to be the catalyst for the modern LGBTQ liberation movement. That unstoppable spirit is now marking its 50th anniversary: the first Pride parades took place in the U.S. When people would taunt us, cars would drive by and spit at us, yell at us constantly, Marsha would be there, looking outrageous and glorious in her own aesthetic, and she would say ‘pay them no mind.’ That’s what the ‘P’ is for, is ‘pay them no mind, don’t let them stop us.’” “There were marchers too - very brave souls with signs, like Marsha P. “It started as a small social thing,” Stellar, now 75, recalls.
