In 1963, John F. Kennedy became the first sitting U.S. President to visit Ireland. In his address to the Parliament in Dublin, he spoke of Irish emigration to the United States, Ireland’s support for American independence, and the small nation’s own historic struggle for freedom from the British. Kennedy also reflected upon his own Irish ancestry, speculating about what would have been had Ireland been independent when his great-grandfather came to America. During the address, he praised the Irish character as one of “hope, confidence, and imagination” — traits the young President considered vital in a world whose problems could not be solved by skeptics or cynics, but rather by dreamers and visionaries.

Marsha P. Johnson was a trans woman, drag artist, and influential activist during the early LGBTQ+ rights movement. Johnson was a central figure in the pivotal Stonewall Uprising in New York City that began on June 28, 1969, during which she pushed back on the NYPD’s brutality against her community. The following year, she joined the Gay Liberation Front and founded the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries, one of the first transgender rights groups in the U.S. Today, more than 50 years later, Johnson’s words remind us that Pride Month is more than just parties and parades — it remains a fight for equality for every member of the LGBTQ+ community. As Johnson always said, there can be no pride for anyone when people are still fighting for the freedom to be themselves.