CINCINNATI — Why do we celebrate Pride Month in June? Its roots trace back to a gay bar in New York City, but when it comes to LGBTQIA+ history, Cincinnati has played a leading role.
Fifty-four years ago this month, the New York Police Department executed a raid on the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street — like it had done countless times before. At the time, the New York State Liquor Authority was cracking down on gay and lesbian clubs like Stonewall, as seeking out or soliciting same-sex relations was still considered a crime in 1969 New York.
But this time, the bar and its clientele had had it and decided to fight back. The ensuing uprising became the spark that lit the Pride fire across the U.S.
It's widely considered the tipping point in the fight for what today are considered LGBTQIA+ rights. The first recognized Pride march took place in New York City on the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, according to the Library of Congress.
Ups and downs in Cincinnati pride
It only took four years for the movement to reach the Queen City when Cincinnati held its first Pride celebration on Fountain Square in 1973. In the years to follow, that celebration grew and moved around the city's neighborhoods, from Northside to Clifton and back again. Parades would pass by City Hall on Plum Street downtown.
That sense of pride came to a screeching halt, though, in the early 90s, when — as an apparent backlash against City Council's historically early approval of a human rights ordinance — voters amended the City Charter and passed Article XII, which mandated that the city shall make "no special class status...based upon sexual orientation, conduct or relationships."
WCPO file video from 1993 shows an unnamed opponent of the amendment saying, "The wording of the amendment specifically removes gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals from ever being able to petition the government on cases of discrimination."
"After it passed, the community was so demoralized," said Scott Knox, a local attorney active in the gay community for decades. "It sure felt a lot like your community doesn’t want you here."
It would be five years before the local LGBTQIA+ communities would organize another large Pride event.
"We were the only city in the country that had a regulation that said City Council was prohibited from passing any law that would protect LGBTQ people from discrimination," Knox said. "It said this one set of people had no access to the government."
All the way to the Supreme Court
Unbeknownst to him at the time, Knox would become instrumental in the grassroots 2004 repeal of Article XII. He described himself as just one of many "worker bees" in the effort.
"It was a sea change," he said. "We went door to door and asked people, ‘Do you think someone should be fired if they’re doing a good job just because they’re gay or lesbian?‘ and uniformly, they said, 'No.'"
Pride celebrations continued to gain momentum, all seeming to lead up to what became a pivotal moment in not just Cincinnati history but American history, as well — a moment during which, once again, Cincinnati took center stage.
CINCINNATI -- Jim Obergefell, 48, sits with a framed photo from his wedding day with John Arthur July 11, 2013.
In June 2015 — after years moving through federal circuit courts, 22 years after Article XII passed, and 46 years after the uprising at Stonewall Inn — a couple of University of Cincinnati alumni took their fight for marriage equality all the way to the United States Supreme Court.
"In that very first hearing in federal district court, the city attorney stood up and said, 'Your Honor, we agree with John and Jim. Their marriage deserves to be recognized,'" said Jim Obergefell, the named plaintiff in the case that ultimately would legalize same-sex marriage nationwide.
Obergefell and his late partner, John Arthur's initial case combined with others from Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee before finally arriving in Washington, D.C. Both men graduated from UC and considered Cincinnati to be home turf.
"I have some very personal, very unique to me moments when Cincinnati really became this welcoming supportive place," Obergefell said.
Cincinnati's Pride parade stepped off the day after the Supreme Court ruling, with Obergefell riding up front, tears in his eyes for blocks.
