A rainbow flag fluttered beneath the national and state flags this month, catching the late spring breeze after the end of the 2020-2021 school year.

“We proudly stand with and in support of our LGBTQ+ community, staff and students, and are thrilled to raise the rainbow flag in honor of Pride month, for the first time in school history,” Principal Kelly Cooper said. “It is our hope that this flag is a symbol to our LGBTQ community that Northgate HS is a safe, inclusive space, and we commit to  working with our community to ensure just that.”

Initially starting with the last day but now the entire month, June is recognized as a tribute to the need for acceptance and diversity dating back to the 1969 Stonewall Riots in Manhattan, New York. According to the Library of Congress, “the Stonewall Uprising was a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States. In the United States the last Sunday in June was initially celebrated as ‘Gay Pride Day,’ but the actual day was flexible. In major cities across the nation the ‘day’ soon grew to encompass a month-long series of events.”

The flag, designed by San Francisco gay rights activist Gilbert Baker in 1978, is widely accepted and symbolic of pride, diversity and civil rights of the LGBTQ+ community. It will fly all month.