Photographs of Gay Liberation Day March and Dance, 1970s

In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, violent protests and street demonstrations took over the streets of New York after a police raid of Stonewall Inn, the now-legendary Greenwich Village gay bar. Known as the Stonewall Riots, these protests are commonly considered the tipping point at which the LGBT community coalesced into political cohesion and the birth of the modern gay rights movement. On that June morning, equality for all seemed a distant but necessary dream — a dream that has finally become reality a day shy of 44 years later.

In 1970, to mark the first anniversary of the Stonewall uprisings, the very first Gay Pride marches took place in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago.

Philadelphia's first Gay Pride rally and march, June 11, 1972 (Photograph: Kay Tobin Lahusen via NYPL)

Annapolis students at Philadelphia's first Gay Pride rally, 1972 (Photograph: Kay Tobin Lahusen via NYPL)

Gay couple at Toronto's first Gay Pride Week, August 1972 (Photograph: Kay Tobin Lahusen via NYPL)

Philadelphia's first Gay Pride rally, 1972 (Photograph: Kay Tobin Lahusen via NYPL)

Philadelphia's first Gay Pride rally, 1972 (Photograph: Kay Tobin Lahusen via NYPL)

Gay Liberation Day march and dance, New York City, June 27, 1970 (Photograph: Kay Tobin Lahusen via NYPL)

New York City Gay Liberation Day, Christopher Street, June 27, 1970 (Photograph: Diana Davies via NYPL)

Gay Liberation Day march and dance, New York City, June 27, 1970 (Photograph: Barbara Gittings and Kay Tobin Lahusen via NYPL)

Gay Liberation Day march and dance, New York City, June 27, 1970 (Photograph: Barbara Gittings and Kay Tobin Lahusen via NYPL)

Lesbian couple at Toronto's first Gay Pride Week, August 1972 (Photograph: Kay Tobin Lahusen via NYPL)

New York City Gay Liberation Day, Christopher Street, June 27, 1970 (Photograph: Diana Davies via NYPL)

Chicago Gay Pride celebration, 1972 (Photograph: Kay Tobin Lahusen via NYPL)

Toronto Gay Pride march, 1972 (Photograph: Kay Tobin Lahusen via NYPL)

Philadelphia's first Gay Pride rally, 1972 (Photograph: Kay Tobin Lahusen via NYPL)

(New York Public Library archives, via Brain Pickings)