Keith Haring, Stonewall 20th Anniversary Exhibition, Detail from Poster/Flyer, National Museum of Lesbian and Gay History, 1989. Size: 17 x 11 inches
We’re celebrating LGBT Pride Month in June because it was on 28 June 1969 that the Stonewall Riots shook up the status quo and initiated the slow process of securing equal rights for everyone regardless of sexual orientation. During the period when being gay was still illegal, it was business-as-usual for the police to raid Stonewall Inn and make arrests. This time though, people angry over repressive laws and continual harassment fought back, which led to more demonstrations.
The symbolic importance of the Stonewall riots was quickly recognized. One year later, on June 28, 1970, there were gay-pride marches in four US cities. The idea spread quickly from there, and in response to these events, in 1999 President Bill Clinton designated June as “Gay and Lesbian Pride Month.” In 2009, President Barack Obama expanded the title to “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month.” He went farther in 2016, when he designated the Stonewall building and Christopher Street Park as Stonewall National Monument, the first LGBT historic site in the US.
Gay pride has been an important art-world focus from the 1970s onward. It is regularly encountered in gallery exhibitions and in performances taking place in nightclubs and other venues. You will find below some announcement cards, posters and other LGBTQ-related items from Gallery 98’s extensive collection of vintage art ephemera.
Visit Gallery 98’s LGBTQ page
Fred W. McDarrah, Gay Pride: A Stonewall Anniversary, Announcement Card with Illustrated Two-Page Xerox Press Release, Artetindustrie, 1997. Card Size: 7 x 5 inches. Press Release Size: 11 x 8.5 inches — Available
As the Village Voice‘s principal photographer, Fred McDarrah documented the second night of the Stonewall riots. On the 1997 anniversary of Stonewall, the Soho gallery artetindustrie mounted a McDarrah exhibition based on his 1994 book Gay Pride: Photographs from Stonewall to Today.
Stonewall, VIP Membership Card, West Village Location, 1990s. Size: 3.5 x 2.25 inches — Available
The original Stonewall Inn went out of business soon after the riots, but the name Stonewall has lived on in other gay bars that occupy the same complex of connected buildings on Christopher St. and Seventh Avenue in New York’s Greenwich Village.
Celebrating Life… Not Just A Lifestyle, Gay Pride Weekend at Sound Factory, Photo by Hans Fahrmeyer, Music by Junior Vasquez, Double-Sided Folded Poster, 1994. Size: 17.5 x 11.5 inches — Available
Kisses Ass Gay Pride Weekend, 101 Avenue A and MEAT, Double-Sided Card, 1991. Size: 5.5 x 3.5 inches — Available
Festival of Lesbian and Gay Film, Produced by Women Make Films, 24-Page Catalogue, 1989. Size: 11 x 8.25 inches — Available
RuPaul, Supermodel of The World, Tommy Boy, Poster, 1993. Size: 37 x 24 inches — Available
The 6th Annual Drag March, Tompkins Square Park, Flyer, June 25, 1999. Size: 11 x 8.5 inches
Wigstock, Tompkins Square Park, 72 Page Program/Catalogue, 1993. Size: 8.5 x 7 inches — Available
“Wigstock” (Woodstock with a drag twist) began in 1984, when Lady Bunny and others from the Pyramid nightclub, spontaneously decided to put on a show in Tompkins Square Park. From that point on, Wigstock became an annual downtown event that continued for over twenty years and began attracting crowds of up to 50,000 people. Gallery 98 has a large collection of Wigstock posters and catalogs.
Mariposa Film Group, Word is Out: stories of some of our lives, a Film with Conversations with 26 Gay Men and Women, Card, 1977. Size: 7.25 x 3.5 inches — Available
