06/04/2026
Pride is often remembered through symbols, and those symbols shape how we understand its history.
The rainbow flag has become a widely recognized symbol of LGBTQ+ visibility and celebration. The Stonewall uprising is often remembered through another image, a brick, associated with resistance during a moment of police violence, brutality, and ongoing harassment at the Stonewall Inn in 1969.
These symbols matter, but they do not tell the full story.
Stonewall was shaped by Black and Puerto Rican trans women, drag performers, q***r youth, and community members who were already navigating multiple layers of marginalization, including racism, transphobia, poverty, and systemic policing.
Among them were Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, whose leadership helped shape early LGBTQ+ organizing and the foundations of what Pride has become today.
Pride holds both things at once: the symbols people recognize, and the people who made that resistance, care, and community possible.
At Aeon Counseling, we recognize that affirming mental health care is part of that ongoing commitment to dignity, belonging, and community. We are proud to offer LGBTQIA+ affirming therapy and strive to create a space where people can show up as their full, authentic selves and feel supported in the process.
