AUSTIN, Texas — The month of June is internationally recognized as Pride Month, and cities across the world are hosting parades and festivals to celebrate their LGBTQ+ communities.
Most cities celebrate Pride in June to honor activists who were part of the Stonewall Riots in New York City in June of 1969. Those riots were a tipping point in the gay rights movement.
According to the Library of Congress, LGBT History Month is celebrated in October and has been included as a nationally recognized commemorative month since 1995. "National Coming Out Day" is Oct. 11.
But Austin's Pride celebration isn’t until August. There's no official reason for this, but according to KUT, it may be simply because Austin doesn't have to compete with other cities for festival-goers and volunteers.
August is also typically drier than June in Austin, so rain is less of a concern and rain insurance is more affordable for festival organizers.
With college students making up a large percentage of participants and volunteers helping to pull off Pride, August is also a better time than June because many students who left for the summer have returned.
In 2019, Austin was ranked the No. 5 most LGBTQ+ inclusive city in the U.S. as part of Yelp's "Top 20 Most Inclusive Cities" in honor of Pride Month and the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.
Cities were ranked based on the Yelp's use of the business attribute feature on its app. The feature lets people identify businesses that offer gender-neutral restrooms and "Open to All" attributes. Open to All refers to businesses who are open to everyone, "regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, religion or disability."
In 2020, Austin Pride's 30th year was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event was postponed again in 2021, but returned in 2022.
This year's Pride parade and festival are scheduled for Aug. 12.