Sunday’s festivities started with a familiar feeling: Revelers dressed in bright colors, waving rainbow signs and flags, and throwing confetti in the air, as the roar of bikers revving their bikes signaled the start to the annual New York City Pride March.
But there was no mistaking that this year’s event, for all its joyous celebrations, had taken on sudden urgency and heightened significance just two days after the United States Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion and signaled that the court could reconsider other liberties, including the 2015 decision that allowed same-sex marriage.
These thoughts were in the minds of three high school classmates from New York City, who arrived just two hours before the parade started to get a good view of the starting point near Manhattan’s Flatiron Building.
“Because of all the recent stuff that’s been happening, I’m glad that we have the chance to be with people we know who support us,” said Ivey Espinosa, 17, who identifies as nonbinary and attends Fort Hamilton High School in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. “There’s more importance, more urgency.”
Moments later, Planned Parenthood — which event organizers decided to place at the head of the event after the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade — led the way as the first groups rolled down Fifth Avenue to start the 52nd annual Pride March, the first in-person parade since 2019 because of the pandemic. People of all ages gathered on sidewalks to watch the march, and many climbed scaffolding to view it.
Amid chants of “Rise up for abortion rights,” Christian Rodriguez trailed the Planned Parenthood marchers with a homemade sign held above his head. It mentioned the Supreme Court decisions about contraception, consensual same-sex relations and same-sex marriage — all of which Justice Clarence Thomas, a member of the majority, suggested in a concurring opinion should be reconsidered by the court.
“In Clarence Thomas’s concurring opinion, he just couldn’t wait to say the quiet part out loud,” said Mr. Rodriguez, 22, who lives in New York City. “There is a very strong case to be made that women’s liberation is inextricably tied to gay liberation.”
A few elected officials made their way down Fifth Avenue about an hour before the Pride March started, past smaller crowds that had gathered to watch the main event. Mayor Eric Adams was surrounded by dozens police officers and Senator Chuck Schumer (Democrat of New York) who was the majority leader.
With a bullhorn, Mr. Schumer stopped by West 17th Street & Fifth Avenue and declared that he was proud and happy to march with Alison Schumer and Elizabeth Weiland.
As Mr. Schumer continued walking, a man yelled out that he needed to do more to protect people’s civil rights. “We are fighting the fight, and we are going to win,” Mr. Schumer responded.
More than half a century after the Stonewall Inn incident in 1969, which helped to galvanize the fight against gay rights, the annual New York City Pride March has been a source of unapologetic joy.
But both those at the march and those watching from the sidelines said Sunday that the current situation in America required renewed activism to protect and expand civil liberties for women and people who identify as lesbians gay, bisexual, transgender, and bisexual.
“Pride has always gone back and forth between these two things: It’s a riot or a celebration,” said Cynthia Nixon, the actress and former candidate for governor, who marched behind the Planned Parenthood group. “In more recent years, it’s been a celebration, but today, it’s a protest.”
Many parade participants repeated her sober sentiment.
Rick Landman, 70 years old, stated that he participated in the first Pride march in 1970. “To me, this is a continuation of the civil rights struggle, it’s never been a parade for me,” he said, over chants of “my body, my choice” from women marching on behalf of the New York City Department of Education. “I fought for women’s rights, the next generation has to fight in order to keep them,” Mr. Landman said.
Many of those who lined Fifth Avenue were from out-of-state, including Kelsey Sutton (15), who lives in Iowa in a rural county and recently became agender.
Kelsey stated that they are optimistic for the future despite the news and were grateful to have grown up in an era with expanded gay rights. “I feel like things are getting better,” Kelsey said.
The New York City Pride March was the largest ever held over the weekend in Manhattan. However, revelers celebrated the end Pride Month at various events throughout the city. They also included the Queer Liberation March. This was in response to criticisms that the larger Pride March was too corporate.
Charlotte Dragga, 36, a trans woman from Durham, N.C., who on Sunday came to Foley Square in Lower Manhattan for the Queer Liberation March, called the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade “absolutely atrocious.”
“What will be next? Gay marriage? Trans rights?” said Ms. Dragga. “It’s just going to get worse.”
Kymme Napoli, 42, of Park Slope, Brooklyn, a counselor in a public hospital who often helps people struggling with the decision of whether to get an abortion, said the overturning of Roe v. Wade “made people want to come out more, to show more support for each other.”
Crying as she spoke, she said, “I fear for people who aren’t in states like New York.”
Athina Schmidt (33), traveled from South Carolina to New York City on Saturday to celebrate Pride at the 30th Annual Dyke March at Bryant Park, Manhattan. Ms. Schmidt stated that the weekend was about acceptance and inclusion.
“It’s about seeing all these women and feeling like we fit in somewhere,” said Ms. Schmidt, who identifies as bisexual or pansexual.
Maggie Goldstone, a partner of hers, attended the GayJoy and Lex Party in East Williamsburg on Saturday. She said she felt conflicted by being happy and celebrating Pride.
“There’s an inherent connection between queer liberation and the ruling,” she said, “and because of that it’s really important for people to enjoy what they’re going to do this weekend and not be drowned out by fear.”
She said that New York City Pride’s diversity makes it empowering due to the visibility it provides. “There’s a sense of anything possible in New York, there’s so many identities here,” she said. But she said she worried that the court decision would affect how women everywhere view themselves: “You can’t reach your full potential if you perceive yourself as second-class citizen.”
Jauger Scott stood a few steps away from Stonewall Inn in a leopard print button-down shirt with sunglasses and reflected on the importance Greenwich Village’s gay bar and the men who had been fighting for gay rights before him.
“We had to fight and we’re still fighting for more freedom,” said Mr. Scott, 67, who lives in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in Brooklyn. “As a kid, I would sit there and imagine what life would be like if I could just be me.”
He added, “This building represents all of that, of that journey we all went on to get here.”
Source: NY Times
