The first Pride parade was in NYC in 1970 on the one year anniversary of the Stonewall uprising that sparked a movement for LGBTQ+ equality. The original rainbow pride flag was designed in 1978 by Gilbert Baker when Harvey Milk asked him to design a symbol to be carried at Pride marches. Pride continues to be a time to acknowledge the injustice that the LGBTQ+ community has endured, honor the contributions of LGBTQ+ individuals, celebrate the equity milestones achieved, and express solidarity with the LGTBQ+ community in its struggle to reach full equality. One of the areas of inequity that remains is the challenge of LGBTQ+ individuals in accessing quality, nondiscriminatory healthcare services. More than 50% of LGBTQ+ and 70% of gender non conforming individuals report receiving discriminatory treatment from health care professionals. Our goal at Berkeley Optometry is to ensure that all of our LGBTQ+ patients receive fair and equitable treatment within our optometry clinics. Although there still aren’t live parades where we can show our support of Pride, we have created a few festive Berkeley Optometry Pride Zoom backgrounds to help you celebrate — and show your support — for Pride this year. We’ve also created some Opto-bear Pride themed profile pics for you to use on your social media accounts during Pride month. Please click the links below to download the backgrounds and profile pics.
Love is love! Happy Pride!
— The DEIB Council