A parade that should remain a march, Pride in New York City is a month-long celebration with events and meetups that culminate in the epitome of NYC Pride the last weekend of the month. On the morning of June 13th -- also the night the New York Knicks won the NBA Championship -- Brooklyn held its 30th Annual Brooklyn Pride Multicultural Festival, kicking off the street festivities. Brooklyn Pride stretches roughly 9 blocks, and it's a community-based event that highlights local vendors. It is fully run by a nonprofit organization and volunteers, with a mission to create community and celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride in a borough that previously had to cross over the bridge to partake in Pride festivities in Manhattan.
In a June that felt like a never-ending party in New York, every weekend was guaranteed to have an opportunity for people to get out and be amongst their neighbors. Brooklyn Pride was only the beginning of it -- Queens, Bronx, and Harlem Pride followed close behind, with what’s considered the main event of Pride in the city taking place the last weekend of June.
To honor the Stonewall Uprising of June 28th, 1969, the NYC Pride parade takes place on the last Sunday of the month and travels down Fifth Avenue, ending near the Stonewall Inn. This year, it landed exactly on June 28th. However, on the Saturday before, and every year since 1993, the annual D*ke March stretched from Bryant Park to Washington Square Park, where thousands of lesbians and sapphics were met with a double rainbow in the sky. Despite the steady rain, the march persevered, as it’s still a political protest fighting for social justice beyond LGBTQ+ rights. And when it comes to Washington Square Park, that’s where the party heats up.
Hundreds of people gathered in the park to dance and make out, with a few dozen ending up splashing around in the fountain. On Sunday, however, the fountain was closed off. With this being my second Pride in the city, I dutifully requested coverage from my shift at the coffee shop with full determination to hit up every spot I had marked in my Apple Maps. Heat and sleep got in the way of some, but once I painted on a rainbow band around my left arm, we rode our bikes downtown for the first time and didn’t stop. Greeted by people in full rainbow getups on the street and outdoor seating at bars, the collective energy was palpable so much that you could hear the echo of a block party happening a couple of streets down. Trust me when I say that the corporate floats are the least interesting thing about Pride; where you’ll truly find a showcasing of love and celebration is on a street nearby, where there’s room for dancing and a fabulous neighbor might open up their window to let gold specks of confetti rain down.
On one street, for example, we were offered to get sprayed with cold water for free, and a neighboring bar parked a tent outside to give out $5 shots. Rainbow fans, bracelets, and wash-off tattoos were being handed out as people were walking towards Washington Square, pausing every so often to hype up someone dancing on the street. Once there, people danced and threw water in the air, with my personal favorite form of entertainment being reading what people’s T-shirts say. Still semi-early in the afternoon meant happy hour galore, especially in lower Manhattan. And acknowledging my blessings, I can say that the only anti-gay occurrence I witnessed was my WNBA game getting turned off at the bar for a "Love Island" watch party.
All roads led to the Stonewall Inn. After meandering from spot to spot, there was an unrelenting joy that still needed to be danced out. And dance we did. Above the Stonewall Inn bar lives Delulu, a gay party scene with great music and dancers that I happily fanned the whole night with my street rainbow fan.
But putting aside all the rainbow advertising and big-branded floats that seem to have taken over Pride as a spectacle rather than a march, advocating for rights for all isn’t limited to a day or a month -- it is an ongoing fight worth protesting in the streets of every town. Pride is about love and liberation, a movement that began long before Stonewall. But on the one day a year, everyone celebrates full-out; it was the greatest of honors to end the night where Pride began.
(© Renee Caballero)
