N.Y. Pride Parade: Jubilant Crowds at WorldPride 2019 With jubilant paradegoers waving rainbow flags, the annual Pride March closes out the monthlong celebrations in N.Y.C. Jan. 3, 2020 Image Credit... Calla Kessler/The New York Times With jubilant paradegoers waving rainbow flags, the annual Pride March closes out the monthlong celebrations in N.Y.C.

WorldPride came to N.Y. to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, considered a turning point in the fight for gay rights.

June 30, 2019, 6:46 p.m. ET June 30, 2019, 6:46 p.m. ET By Corey Kilgannon and They wanted to go to the Stonewall Inn. They ended up at the Fiddlesticks Pub. The Pride March brought one of the largest showcases of L.G.B.T.Q. spirit to the West Village on Sunday, but it also brought dense crowds and street closures. Even a simple stroll to a bar could become an epic odyssey, a lesson learned by two friends — Kat Emond, 35, and Nina Szot, 32 – who merely wanted to make a “pilgrimage” to the Stonewall Inn on Sunday to meet some friends. “It’s poetic for the 50th,” said Ms. Szot. They stood on Perry Street and Greenwich Avenue and observed that it was difficult to get anywhere in the Village on this day. “You can follow us if you want to get lost for the rest of the day,” Ms. Emond told a reporter, who took them up on the offer. Making their way toward Seventh Avenue South and West Fourth Street , they worked their way through tangled crowds and were told by a woman in a wheelchair, bedecked in rainbow colors, that the street they had headed down was a dead end. Ms. Emond announced they would have to reverse course, and an exhausted, exasperated Ms. Szot said, “I’m pretty sure I need to go to the hospital — I’m not going back.” But go back they did, pushing their way back through the crowd under a rainbow spider made of balloons, to a less crowded area near Perry Street, and Ms. Emond again consulted her phone for directions. “How long ago did you forget where we’re going?” Ms. Szot asked. “Put your map away. I’m going to cry.” Finally, they approached a stretch of restaurants and bars with outdoor dining. The journey had drained Ms. Emond’s excitement about reaching the Stonewall. “You know what I’m most excited about?” she asked. “Drinks.” Perhaps the Stonewall was “the impossible dream,” said Ms. Emond. They had come for the Stonewall but were now settling for Fiddlesticks Pub and Grill on Greenwich Avenue, where televisions broadcast parade footage with no sound. Patrons were singing along to Aretha Franklin’s “Respect.” The two friends got their drinks and made their way back outside to the patio and huddled into an empty corner next to a bucket containing cigarette butts. A man with a thick cluster of rainbow Mardi Gras beads approached them and said he had come from the Stonewall Inn, where people were packed in like sardines. Ms. Emond said: “We were supposed to meet my friends at Stonewall, but…” She shrugged. And with that, the man summed up the Pride March. “It’s too crazy out there.” Read more

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June 30, 2019, 6:17 p.m. ET June 30, 2019, 6:17 p.m. ET By Rick Rojas and The other march. Image Credit... Hilary Swift for The New York Times “I love being gay,” Larry Kramer, the playwright, screenwriter and gay rights activist, told the thousands who had gathered on the Great Lawn in Central Park to hear him and others speak. Mr. Kramer, 84, spoke on Sunday at the conclusion of the Queer Liberation March and shared his pride in the gay community and his concerns over its well-being. “I think we’re smarter and talented and aware of each other,” he said, adding, “I’m approaching my end, but I still have a few years of fight left in me to scream out the fact that almost everyone gay I’ve known has been affected by this plague of AIDS.” Image Credit... Hilary Swift for The New York Times Mr. Kramer was one of more than two dozen speakers and performers scheduled to speak in the park at a rally meant to mark the conclusion of a march set up as an alternative to the larger official festivities taking place on Sunday. “We are all artists,” said Marga Gomez, the rally’s M.C. and one of the first stand-up comedians to be openly gay. “Because we create the most beautiful art: our existence.” The march was meant to protest the corporate and other interests that had become involved in the official Pride March, but also to protest against the threats that still confront many in the L.G.B.T.Q. community. “Today for me,” said LaLa Zannell, one of the event’s organizers, “is to remind the L.G.B.T.Q. community that black trans women centered and started this fight, and are losing our lives — and the communities don’t care.” Image Credit... Hilary Swift for The New York Times Another organizer, Cecilia Gentili, said that Pride went beyond celebrating identities. “This is a great opportunity to remind ourselves that Pride is not just about being happy and celebrating,” she said, “but also about our privilege and doing what we can do for our communities, including sex workers, immigrants, black and brown people, incarcerated people, homeless people and all people who need it at this time.” Read more

June 30, 2019, 5:38 p.m. ET June 30, 2019, 5:38 p.m. ET By Four hours in. Many hours to go. Image Paal Christian Gjoeen, second from the right, and three fellow members of Oslo Fagottkor, a Norwegian gay choir. Credit... Derek Norman/The New York Times About four hours into the march, members of the Oslo Fagottkor, a Norwegian gay choir, were still waiting for their turn to march the parade. Just above the start of the route, Paal Christian Gjoeen, 37, and his three friends rested their arms over the fence, their smiles wide. The men, each in white and pink sailor uniforms, had been waiting for more than two hours. “But we could be entering the parade any minute now, they tell us,” Mr. Gjoeen said. Neither he nor the rest of the choir seemed to mind the wait. The men had played a concert in Harlem the evening before. “We’ll keep singing until the end,” Mr. Gjoeen said, acknowledging that the parade may well go into the wee hours of the night. “Until we are lying in the streets.” “And in case it starts raining, we’ve got umbrellas to share,” he added, pulling a blue umbrella from his side. “We use them in our dance.” Read more

June 30, 2019, 5:14 p.m. ET June 30, 2019, 5:14 p.m. ET By Corey Kilgannon and This woman has held up the same sign at Pride for the last 40 years. Image Frances Goldin never misses a Pride march, and neither does her sign. Credit... Aaron Randle/The New York Times It would not be the Pride March without Frances Goldin, the Lower East Side radical, and her sign. “I Adore My Lesbian Daughters — Keep Them Safe,” read the aging piece of white cardboard held aloft by Ms. Goldin on Sunday at the Pride March, at the corner of 18th Street and Fifth Avenue. The sign has become a staple at New York Pride marches, and Sunday was no different, as Ms. Goldin, 95, held it up while she sat in a wheelchair and flashed her toothy smile. “She’s been bringing this exact sign to Pride marches for 40 years,” one of her daughters, Reeni Goldin, 70 said. Her mother — “a revolutionary” — first began bringing it, she said, because “she had a very real fear for us.” Throughout the march, Ms. Goldin was approached by attendees, police officers and elected officials, including New York State Attorney General Letitia James and Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife, Chirlane McCray. She has long run the Frances Goldin Literary Agency, representing such authors as Barbara Kingsolver, Adrienne Rich and Mumia Abu-Jamal. She spent a career fighting against overdevelopment and gentrification, including the urban renewal plans of Robert Moses. Ms. Goldin has also been a regular at civil rights rallies and events for affordable housing and a host of other causes. “I have a lesbian daughter too and I love her as well,” said a woman who approached Ms. Goldin on Sunday. She hugged both mother and daughter, then turned away and burst into tears. “People are drawn because it’s just so personal,” Reeni Goldin said. “My mother doesn’t just love her daughters, she adores us. There’s a difference.” Read more

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June 30, 2019, 4:50 p.m. ET June 30, 2019, 4:50 p.m. ET By Michael Gold and James Charles on marching in his first Pride parade. Image “This is just such a special moment to be here with my community,” said the social media influencer. Credit... Calla Kessler/The New York Times “Oh, my God,” a young man said, gasping from behind a barricade at the corner of Christopher Street and Sixth Avenue. Every teenager in the crowd, it seemed, recognized the internet personality and makeup artist James Charles. Mr. Charles, who made history in 2016, when he became the first male face of CoverGirl, walked with the group representing the Trevor Project, a nonprofit organization founded to focus on suicide prevention among L.G.B.T.Q. youth. The social media influencer, who has amassed millions of followers on Instagram and YouTube, said Sunday’s march was his first-ever Pride event. “I want to go every year, but literally, I’ve always been traveling,” Mr. Charles said. “This is just such a special moment to be here with my community.” Mr. Charles, who was recently at the center of a high-profile conflict in the beauty vlogging community, said the day had been an emotional one. “I literally started crying earlier while I was walking,” he said. “It warms my entire heart to see all generations and all the people supporting.” Read more

June 30, 2019, 4:23 p.m. ET June 30, 2019, 4:23 p.m. ET By Gay Street was renamed Acceptance Street. Image The designation for Gay Street expanded during World Pride celebrations this summer. Credit... Todd Heisler/The New York Times It seems especially fitting that, a brick’s throw from the Stonewall Inn, there is a short quaint block named Gay Street in the heart of the West Village, long an L.G.B.T.Q. stronghold. As the Pride March passes by, countless people will notice that Gay Street was renamed — at least during the month of June, Pride month — Acceptance Street, to honor the expanding diversity of self-identification in the L.G.B.T.Q. community. Yeap I visited and had to strike a pose on #Acceptedstreet pic.twitter.com/kJBMh89M30 — Justin Stewart (@ProducerStewart) June 27, 2019 New York City installed rainbow-colored street signs below the official sign, where Gay Street meets Christopher Street. The all-inclusive signs include such identifying markers as Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, Intersex, Asexual, Nonbinary, Pansexual and Two Spirit. At one-block long, Gay Street is one of the shortest streets in the West Village. In truth, the street, which was christened in 1833, was likely named after a family. Read more

June 30, 2019, 3:58 p.m. ET June 30, 2019, 3:58 p.m. ET By Michael Gold, Emily Palmer and A little rain doesn’t dampen the parade. With apologies to Barbra Streisand: It did, indeed, rain on our parade. Around 3 p.m., the drops began to fall and the wind picked up, sending whirlwinds of glitter and multicolored confetti twirling down Fifth Avenue faster than marchers’ feet. “You know what it is?” asked Nina Szot, 32, trying to make her way toward the Stonewall Inn as a small drizzle began. “They’re trying to make a rainbow.” As the march rolled on, organizers briefly evacuated the Pride Island music festival held at Pier 97 on the Hudson River, citing the gusts. They re-opened the festival around an hour later, after the storms had passed through. Along Fifth Avenue, Mike and Malenie Piscetelli, 58, had been standing near the Flatiron Building since 6 a.m., waiting to watch their daughter march . Mr. Piscetelli wore a black T-shirt with the phrase “Papa Bear” brandished across it. Below was the outline of a big bear, embracing a smaller rainbow-hued one. As the dark clouds moved over them, Mr. Piscetelli glanced at his wife. “You see, my wife is not waterproof,” he said, pointing to her cochlear implants. “But I want to be here for my daughter,” he said. “And for the daughters of all the other girls marching who do not have fathers that support them.” Read more

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June 30, 2019, 3:51 p.m. ET June 30, 2019, 3:51 p.m. ET By Protesters briefly halt the Pride parade in San Francisco. On the other side of the country, San Francisco’s Pride parade was halted temporarily after multiple protesters crossed onto the parade route and blocked the street at around 11 a.m., local time, the police said. Close to a dozen protesters laid down on Market Street, one of the city’s main thoroughfares, along which the parade runs for about one and a half miles. It was not immediately clear what the protesters were demonstrating against. Two people were taken into custody, according to the San Francisco Police Department, which said it did not have more information on their arrest. Local news outlets reported that the group of protesters lied down on the asphalt near Sixth Street, linking their arms across what looked like rainbow-colored tubing. Video footage from KPIX, the city’s CBS affiliate, also showed several protesters tangling with the San Francisco police as onlookers shouted. As the protest went on, the Pride parade organizers contacted the protesters, the police said. Almost an hour after the protest began, officials said, the protesters agreed to leave the street and the parade resumed. The San Francisco Pride parade, much like New York’s march, has been criticized for its ties to corporate sponsorship and the police. Most notably, a group of Google employees asked organizers to boot their company from San Francisco’s Pride events. The employees said the company, which is an official sponsor of the parade, had failed to adopt policies to protect L.G.B.T.Q. people from harassment. Pride organizers declined to meet their request but it gave protesters a place in the parade, permitting them to march as a “Resistance Contingent,” separate from Google’s official parade presence. Read more

June 30, 2019, 3:44 p.m. ET June 30, 2019, 3:44 p.m. ET By Rick Rojas, Emily Palmer and Paradegoers danced and climbed, while others sought shade. Image Finding that perfect view. Credit... Brittainy Newman/The New York Times They climbed up poles for a better view and they took cover under any shade they could find on Fifth Avenue. The crowd perked up when Mayor Bill de Blasio’s float came toward them. Free T-shirts were tossed to the crowd. People danced on the sidewalks to “Express Yourself” by Madonna. Image Paradegoers took any shade from they sun they could get. Credit... Todd Heisler/The New York Times Near a hot dog car on 11th Street and Fifth Avenue, Daniel Freidman, 33, wore a jacket that read, “I really do care, do u?” (The jacket was a nod to Melania Trump’s controversy-stirring jacket that read “I really don’t care. Do U?”). Mr. Freidman urged others to “recognize that there are many people in the world that are trying to find a better life for themselves.” “When we look at the situation with immigrants on the border and parents that have been separated, there’s a link with our struggles,” he said. “We are all are striving to be treated as human beings.” Image Rainbow-colored flowers, nails and sunglasses. Credit... Calla Kessler/The New York Times Read more

June 30, 2019, 3:38 p.m. ET June 30, 2019, 3:38 p.m. ET By Longtime friends have made parade an annual meet-up. Image A shower of color. Credit... Brittainy Newman/The New York Times Hanging about five feet off the ground, off metal bars of construction scaffolding, four longtime friends watched the parade pass by on Fifth Avenue and reminisced about times past. Leonard Shaver, a 62-year-old gay man from the Flatiron neighborhood, sat with three straight friends he met 45 years ago at Johns Hopkins University. One of those friends, Sheila McDonald, 60, who was visiting from Annapolis, Md., with her husband, Bennett Finney, 59, said, “We’ve been coming to Pride for years and years, and this is by far the biggest, most beautiful one I’ve seen.” Mr. Finney added, “We’re not just allies. We’re sympathizers! And empathizers!” Mr. Shaver supported that viewpoint. “They’re more gay-friendly than I am,” he said. “And I’m gay!” Mr. Shaver said he saw a striking difference in this year’s parade compared to last year. “It’s so much bigger,” he said. “And last night, the Dyke March must have been 10 times the size.” Read more

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June 30, 2019, 3:17 p.m. ET June 30, 2019, 3:17 p.m. ET By Pride March watchers gather at symbolic L.G.B.T.Q. locations. Image Greenwich Street in Manhattan. Credit... Todd Heisler/The New York Times While the early action of the Pride March kicked off near Madison Square Park, an eager group of revelers purposefully chose to wait for the march in Greenwich Village, the center of L.G.B.T.Q. life in New York City. Part of the march snaked through the streets of the Village toward the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street, the site of the 1969 uprising between the police and L.G.B.T.Q. community. Then, the march proceeded north on Seventh Avenue, passing the city’s AIDS memorial, which sits in a small park near at Seventh Avenue and 12th Street. The march continued up Chelsea, another longtime hub for the city’s L.G.B.T.Q. community, before ending at 23rd Street.

June 30, 2019, 2:57 p.m. ET June 30, 2019, 2:57 p.m. ET By Corey Johnson shows off his signature move: a split kick. The Pride March is all about getting down and boogying, so perhaps it was only a matter of time before the second most powerful elected official in New York City busted out his trademark dance move. About 90 minutes into the march, the speaker of the City Council, Corey Johnson, 37, prodded by an interviewer, stepped back and let fly with one of his cheerleader-style split kicks. Mr. Johnson, who is openly gay and H.I.V. positive, has been showing off his move in recent parades. It seems to have become a standard to which other parade-dancing pols have begun trying to live up to. On Sunday, he performed it during the televised broadcast of the march. Hello BROOKLYN PRIDE! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈 pic.twitter.com/mrP170j4EP — Corey Johnson (@CoreyinNYC) June 10, 2018 Before he leapt, Mr. Johnson told an interviewer that “I was a closeted 16-year-old boy in a small town — I was suicidal,” before learning about L.G.B.T.Q. leaders such as the Stonewall uprising pioneers, Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson. Those pioneers “made it possible for me to run for the Council,” he said. “I wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for them.” If his split kick was not a perfect 10, at least Mr. Johnson, who only recently quit smoking, is a better dancer than baseball pitcher. The interviewer brought up his throwing out of the first pitch at the New York Yankees Pride Night festivities — a pitch that was pretty wide of the strike zone. “In my warm-up,” Mr. Johnson said, “I was a little better.” Read more

June 30, 2019, 2:50 p.m. ET June 30, 2019, 2:50 p.m. ET By Rick Rojas and Some paradegoers drew a lot of attention, and photos, for their outfits. Image Benny Duria was one of several paradegoers who donned a rainbow headpiece. Credit... Todd Heisler/The New York Times Among all the floats and marchers, near Fifth Avenue and 17th Street, a few paradegoers became semi-celebrities because of their outfits. One of those people was Wade Anderson, who came to the Pride March wearing feathery wings and a matching headpiece, all in rainbow colors. People kept asking to take photos with him. The parade marks Mr. Anderson’s first trip to New York. “I’ve never seen so many people support the L.G.B.T.Q. community in my life,” said Mr. Anderson, who came from Buffalo. Image Paradegoers would ask to take a photo with Wade Anderson of Buffalo. He happily did so. Credit... Elisha Brown/The New York Times He acknowledged the challenges the community faced in the current political climate, but the crowds he saw on Sunday fueled his optimism. “If you aren’t willing to look at these people and look at what they’re bringing to the table and look at the fact that they’re human beings like anyone else, then you don’t deserve a leadership spot.” Read more

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June 30, 2019, 2:26 p.m. ET June 30, 2019, 2:26 p.m. ET By Michael Gold, Elisha Brown and ‘Out and proud’ couples express their love at the parade. Image Zac, left, and Tyler Crain-Davis of Chicago attended their first Pride in New York. Credit... Aaron Randle/The New York Times Zac and Tyler Crain-Davis were one of several couples who came to the Pride March to celebrate the progress made by the L.G.B.T.Q. movement that allowed them to openly and visibly express their love. The two moved from a small town in Indiana to Chicago in 2008, in part because they sought a home where their love would be more readily accepted. Nine years later, now married, the two are attending their first Pride in New York, again bolstered by the want for heightened visibility. “Being able to be out and proud and be who you are without fear,” Tyler said. “It’s as important now as ever.” Stephen Peck and Charles Armond flew from Norwich, England, to New York to celebrate their 40th anniversary and the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising. “We’re at an an age where we can remember the Stonewall riots,” Mr. Armond, 69, said. They traveled on a Virgin Atlantic Pride-themed flight, which Mr. Peck, 68, described as a “43,000-foot-high nightclub.” The flight featured disco and bingo, and the actor Tituss Burgess was a special guest aboard the plane, he said. Read more

June 30, 2019, 2:08 p.m. ET June 30, 2019, 2:08 p.m. ET By Corey Kilgannon and Paradegoers plan to stay until the end, even if that means Monday. Image What’s another day? The two-mile-long celebration on Sunday could go into Monday. Credit... Todd Heisler/The New York Times The network coverage of the Pride March on ABC is scheduled to last for three hours — from noon until 3 p.m. — but the march itself might last four times as long as that. For the past two years, the march finished after sundown, and since this year’s march has more than twice as many registered participants as previous years, those at the rear of the procession this year may not finish the two-mile route until the wee hours of Monday morning. The prospect of the Pride March becoming a two-day event posed no problem for Kaitlin Lord, 24, who came to the march with her friends from Toms River, N.J., all in sunglasses and white “Stonewall 50” T-shirts. “Of course we’re going to stay through the parade,” she said, cooling herself with a paper fan. “It’s WorldPride. We came to be present and represent.” Her friend, Marion Guardascione, 23, said she would also stay for the duration. “We came to show our support and do whatever we have to do,” she said. “It’s one day a year. It won’t hurt us to stay out here no matter what.” Read more

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June 30, 2019, 1:47 p.m. ET June 30, 2019, 1:47 p.m. ET By Corey Kilgannon and Indya Moore asks: Are the police here to protect or rule? Image The police provided security at the Pride March but not everyone was happy with their presence. Credit... Calla Kessler/The New York Times As the Pride March kicked off, and festive vibes filled the streets, one of the grand marshals at the front of the procession, the actor Indya Moore, criticized some aspects of the march at a news conference. Mx. Moore, who plays Angel Evangelista in the FX television series “Pose” and prefers not to be assigned a gender, recoiled at the heavy police presence on hand. They referenced the police role in triggering the Stonewall uprising 50 years ago, and the department’s strained relations with L.G.B.T.Q. people. “I’m thinking about the police here in the streets and I’m wondering why they’re there,” said Mx. Moore, who is transgender and nonbinary. “I wonder if they’re here to protect us or if they’re here to police us. Maybe to make sure we don’t riot again? I’m not sure.” Mx. Moore urged Pride March officials to hire private security for future marches until relations improve. They invoked the memory of a friend, Layleen Polanco, a transgender woman who was found dead in her cell on Rikers Island in June. She was being held in the jail because she could not afford bail on misdemeanor assault charges. Mx. Moore’s views echoed the organizers of today’s alternative march, the Queer Liberation March, which began at 9:30 a.m. and was organized by groups with the same concerns about the Pride March’s police presence. Image The actor Indya Moore was a grand marshal at the Pride March. Credit... Calla Kessler/The New York Times The dissident group banned officers in uniform from joining its march and asked the department for a “minimum” presence in patrolling the event. Pride March officials have called the police presence necessary to maintain safety, given the large crowds. Police Department officials issued an apology for the Stonewall raid this month. Organizers of the dissident march criticized the Pride March for becoming essentially an advertising showcase for floats sponsored by major corporations that distract from the message of Stonewall. Mx. Moore echoed some of that criticism, and singled out T-mobile, the largest corporate sponsor for this year’s Pride March. “It’s really important,” they said, “for our friends at T-Mobile, and any other brands that are shining bright with our rainbow colors, to make sure they look out for grassroots organizations that are helping the black and trans women that we see every day on the train that we criticize for being sex workers.” Read more

June 30, 2019, 12:43 p.m. ET June 30, 2019, 12:43 p.m. ET By Michael Gold and The Pride March steps off. Image What’s a parade without confetti? The Pride March in Manhattan kicked off at noon on Sunday. Credit... Jeenah Moon/Reuters And we’re off! At exactly noon, with the singing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” — a tribute to a far more muted flag than the one lining the streets of New York — the Pride March began. Cheers rang out from the barricades as rainbow confetti was blasted over the crowd that was packed up and down Fifth Avenue. Then a set of rainbow balloon arches, which featured the light blue and pink colors of the transgender pride flag, were lowered, and the marchers moved forward. At the front of the parade were members of the Gay Liberation Front, an early L.G.B.T.Q. rights group that included people who participated in the Stonewall uprising 50 years ago. A sweaty crowd clapped and waved in the humid summer heat as they, and other grand marshals of the parade, passed. One marcher, who was 6-feet-tall and wearing nothing but aqua green shorts and a miniature top hat, applied lipstick dramatically using the reflection of an onlooker’s aviator sunglasses. Read more