Pride Month 2019: Google Doodle Honors History Of LGBT Movement

Google paid tribute to the 50 years of the Pride celebrations by dedicating a doodle that portrayed the start and the progression of LGBT parades over the years through the symbolic colors of the rainbow.

Tuesday's doodle paid homage to the community's Stonewall riots in 1969 - a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against the police after the latter raided small Greenwich Village bar in New York, which was frequented by LGBT people, during the early morning hours of June 28. It showcased the early days of activism on Christopher Street in New York City, to the worldwide celebrations of today.

“Today's slideshow Doodle celebrates 50 years of Pride by taking us through five decades of Pride history—all told through the lens of a growing, evolving, and international Pride parade!” according to Google Doodle’s blogpost.

The doodle was created by artist Nate Swinehart, who, being a member of the LGBT community, was “familiar with the struggle of feeling included, accepted, and that I am a ‘part’ of this world.” He explained why he had chosen to opt for paper cutouts to build the slideshow that formed the doodle.

“Paper is flat and simple by nature, but by adding multiple layers of depth across the decades, I could show the growth of the community over time. Color also played a huge part in the concepting, as I wanted to depict the vibrance and energy of the community. While everything begins with shades of grey, we first see the rainbow through a community space,” he said.

He added: “Color then begins to spread, first in individual people, then to the city around them, until it finally overtakes the entire composition. I also wanted the progression of color to be meaningful, beginning with the initial pink triangle that was reclaimed by the community as a symbol of liberation. From there, we go backwards through the rainbow from purple to red, until we see all the colors come together harmoniously in the final image.”

This was not the first time Google has taken an active stance in championing gay, lesbian and transgender rights across the globe. Every year, in order to add something special to commemorate June as the Pride month, the company traditionally added a rainbow to the right side of the search engine bar whenever users searched for keywords like "gay," "lesbian," "transgender," or related terms.