The Postal Service will observe LGBTQ+ Pride Month, held each June to honor the contributions and hard-fought battles of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer or questioning Americans.
LGBTQ+ Pride Month traces its roots to June 1970, when Gay Pride Week was held in New York City.
The week included the Christopher Street Liberation Parade on June 28, a year to the day after the Stonewall riots — the Greenwich Village uprising that sparked the gay liberation movement.
Stonewall riot anniversary activities also took place that year in Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
In June 1999, Bill Clinton became the first U.S. president to issue a proclamation for a Gay and Lesbian Pride Month, declaring it a time “to remember … the gay and lesbian Americans whose many and varied contributions have enriched our national life.”
Numerous LGBTQ+ individuals have been honored with USPS stamps over the years, including author James Baldwin, politician Harvey Milk, astronaut Sally Ride and poet Walt Whiman.
One of the Postal Service’s most celebrated releases, the first Love stamp issued in 1973, was based on the iconic Love sculpture, which featured a tilted O, designed by gay artist Robert Indiana. He was a former partner of abstract artist Ellsworth Kelly, who was honored with his own set of stamps in 2019.
The Library of Congress website’s LGBTQ+ Pride Month page has more information.