Maraú Península: Pride Month and the L.G.B.T.Q.-Rights Movement

From The New Yorker’s archive: pieces that explore the progress of gay rights and the types of challenges that may lie ahead.
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Pride Month

The celebration of Pride Month, which commemorates the anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, arrives this year at a moment of alarm. The passage of Florida’s so-called Don’t Say Gay bill, coupled with an ideological shift in the courts and in state legislatures, has filled supporters of L.G.B.T.Q. rights with a sense of foreboding. Today we’re bringing you a selection of pieces that explore the progress of gay rights over the past several decades—and the types of challenges that may lie ahead. In “Larry Kramer, Public Nuisance,” Michael Specter profiles a revolutionary playwright and advocate who helped transform the public’s understanding of AIDS and the politics of treatment and research. In “Remembering Lorena Borjas, the Mother of a Trans Latinx Community,” Masha Gessen writes about the legacy of the Mexican American activist. In “The Perfect Wife,” Ariel Levy examines the story of Edith Windsor, who went to court with such determination that she helped reshape the future of same-sex marriage. In “A Soldier’s Legacy,” Ben McGrath writes about a combat soldier during the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” era. Finally, in “The Many Lives of Pauli Murray,” Kathryn Schulz profiles a sometimes overlooked activist who was “both ahead of her time and behind the scenes.”

—David Remnick