This is pretty weighty stuff, so not a palate cleanser, but in honor of Pride month, check out this pretty stunning, hour-long supercut of archival news footage pertaining to gay rights and the AIDS epidemic, beginning in 1981. At the 17:00 mark is a section that shows local news footage about a bill that passed the California legislature, protecting employment rights of gay people, only to be vetoed by Republican governor George Deukmejian. The rest of the footage shows protests in the Castro, and a Gay Pride parade down Market Street in 1984, a piece about the growing influence of gay people in Democratic politics in San Francisco, and footage of a demonstration in S.F. on the eve of the Democratic National Convention in July, 1984.

Whenever you hear activists talk about how far we've come in just a couple decades, just watching a few of these clips will give you an idea. You can also rewind to the 4:24 mark to see footage from the 1982 Pride parade in S.F., and a story about the city's first law, that same year, to give homosexual partners of city employees equal benefits.

[Queerty]