On June 28, 1970, the first Gay Pride marches took place in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York commemorating the first anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion. Today, Pride events are held annually throughout the world toward the end of June to mark the Stonewall anniversary.

The Stonewall Rebellion (also known as the Stonewall riots) was a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Very few establishments welcomed openly GLBT people in the 1950s and 1960s. Those that did were often bars, although bar owners and managers were rarely gay. The Stonewall catered to an assortment of patrons, but it was known to be popular with the poorest and most marginalized people in the GLBT community: drag queens, newly self-aware transgender individuals, effeminate young men, hustlers, and homeless youth. Police raids on gay bars were routine in the 1960s, but officers quickly lost control of the situation at the Stonewall, and attracted a crowd that was incited to riot. Stonewall is frequently cited as the first instance in American history when people in the GLBT community fought back against a government-sponsored system that persecuted sexual minorities, and has become the defining event that marked the start of the GLBT rights movement in the United States and around the world.

Pride was celebrated in Memphis back as early as 1976 with a picnic in Overton Park that was covered by Gaiety, Memphis’ first GLBT newspaper. The first of several Pride marches was organized beginning in 1980 by the Memphis Gay Coalition. Marchers first used the sidewalks along Cooper from Peabody Park to Overton Park where a rally was staged at the Overton Park Shell. That same year the Gay Pride River Ride was first held; it continued for 20 years. The marches lost popularity and were discontinued but a picnic and the River Ride became annual events. GayFest, a larger-scale festival, was begun in 1987 by the Coalition and was held for three years. The Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center (MGLCC) began its Gay Expo in 1990 and has continued holding Pride events ever since.

The 1993 March on Washington inspired a new Memphis march in June. In the autumn of that year, Memphis Pride, Inc., began organizing and spun off from its roots in the MGLCC.  Pride 1994 is significant as it was the first event planned as a Parade. The rationale was that some people will come to a March but everybody loves a Parade. The Pride Festival was added in 1995, Representative Steve Cohen, then a state senator, addressed the GLBT community at the 1996 Festival,  and the original 100-foot Rainbow Flag appeared in 1997.

Memphis Pride, Inc. had celebrated its 10th consecutive year of planning Pride events in 2003.  No meetings were scheduled thereafter.  A group of individuals met in March of 2004 in order to guarantee there would be Pride celebrations that year and founded Mid-South Pride. A Parade was organized and a mini-Festival and cookout was organized by MGLCC.  It was then learned that Memphis Pride had been disbanded leaving Mid-South Pride to continue the tradition.  Mid-South Pride hosted the Prides of the Southeast Conference with representatives from InterPride, acquired a 100-foot section of the eight-stripe Sea to Sea Flag and the Festival returned.  A new 100-foot replacement for Memphis Pride’s Parade Flag was created in 2008 which enabled three huge Pride flags to appear in that year’s parade.  Mid-South Pride is committed to continuing the tradition of Pride celebrations in the Memphis area.

All of the various celebrations throughout the world are unique; however, there is one common element: the gay pride or rainbow flag.  This symbol was the creation of Gilbert Baker in response to local activists saying that the community needed a symbol of unity, and was unveiled during the San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Festival in 1978.  Its design was actually inspired by the earlier black civil rights and "hippie" movements.  And today, even the International Association of Flag Manufacturers has acknowledged the flag.  The rainbow flag has become the most visible icon of the GLBT community, and is a symbol that is recognized worldwide.  The community has united with pride, determination and diversity under its colors.