Pride Month starts this weekend. Here’s what to expect

AP Pride Month kicks off with events around the world starting this weekend It s an annual series of parades and other gatherings to celebrate LGBTQ heritage and rights At its heart Pride is both a party and a protest In the U S this year that means speaking out against a slew of policies that impose restrictions on transgender people and that try to end diversity equity and inclusion offerings in authorities instruction and businesses Here s a look at the event s roots and this year s events and themes When Pride Month began The monthlong global celebration began with Gay Pride Week in late June a year after the violent police raid at New York s Stonewall Inn a gay bar At a time when a multitude of LGBTQ people kept their identities private the June raid sparked a series of constituents protests and catalyzed the gay rights movement The first pride week featured marches in Chicago Los Angeles New York and San Francisco and it has since grown to other cities On the calendar are events in Philadelphia this weekend New Orleans on June Chicago on June and and New York over the weekend of June and A great number of other events in big cities and small towns are also planned There are pride celebrations around the world including in Tokyo on June Toronto on June - Sao Paolo on June and Paris on June Particular events fall outside of June too World Pride a biannual event held this year in Washington D C began in May and goes through June Pride in London is in July a big celebration in Rio de Janeiro is in November and Atlanta s is in October Former President Bill Clinton proclaimed June as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month in marking the first time a U S president did so How Trump is targeting trans people and DEI policies When President Donald Trump returned to office in January he rapidly attempted to roll back LGBTQ rights He s especially targeted transgender people with policies that halted allowing people to change the sex listed on their passport removed transgender military troops and sought to stop using federal insurance programs to pay for gender-affirming care for transgender people under age and keep transgender athletes out of girls and women s sports competitions All of those changes are being challenged in court His actions follow years of policies in Republican-controlled states that bar gender-affirming care for transgender minors and dictate which sports transgender people can play and which school and other inhabitants bathrooms they are allowed to use The U S Supreme Court is expected to rule this month on whether Tennessee s ban on clinical healing is constitutional One of Trump s orders called for removing references to what he and particular other conservatives call gender ideology from establishment publications and websites A aftermath of that References to transgender people have been removed from regime websites including the one for the Stonewall National Monument site of the event that inspired Pride About half of U S adults approve of how Trump is handling transgender issues an Associated Press-NORC Center for General Affairs Research poll located last month About in voters approve of his job as president overall But endorsement for his individual policies on transgender people is not uniformly strong with a clearer consensus against policies that affect youth This year s celebrations in the U S Organizers of Milwaukee s PrideFest are prepared for close to people at the event scheduled for June - We re feeling that people will be showing up and that s their protest mentioned Wes Shaver the president and CEO of Milwaukee Pride Inc The event s theme is Celebrating the Power of Pride and for the first time one of the entertainment stages one night will feature only transgender performers Shaver announced that s an intentional move in response to Trump s policies Another night the stage will feature only performers of color Jeremy Williams the executive producer of Philly Pride in Philadelphia revealed he didn t expect more protest than in the past there Everybody s just there to be together he reported The th anniversary of same-sex marriage legalized nationwide One milestone that s likely to be celebrated This month marks the th anniversary of the U S Supreme Court s Obergefell v Hodges ruling which recognized same-sex marriage nationwide It was a watershed event in establishing rights for LGBTQ people across the country About two-thirds of LGBTQ adults in the U S stated the affair made the nation more accepting of same-sex couples according to a Pew Research Center poll distributed last week The poll discovered that LGBTQ people don t invariably feel accepted though About in stated they see a great deal or a fair amount of social acceptance for those who are lesbian gay or bisexual But only about in stated the same is true for nonbinary and transgender people Which companies are backing off on sponsorships Several big companies have pulled back on sponsorships for Pride events this year Among them Anheuser-Busch the St Louis-based brewer declined to sponsor PrideFest in its home city after three decades of encouragement leaving organizers short of last year s budget they described The Associated Press NYC Pride noted about of its corporate sponsors dropped or reduced backing including PepsiCo and Nissan The carmaker revealed it was reviewing all its marketing costs In other cities such as Kansas City Missouri pride events lost about half their budgets Several companies that have pulled back have not explained why to the AP But chosen experts see the change as part of a broader retreat from brand activism Still the groups behind several Pride events say particular companies have kept contributing but have questioned not to be listed publicly as sponsors