New York City is hosting about 4 million visitors this week to celebrate World Pride for both a celebration of advancements in LGBTQ rights and a call to action due to the anti-LGBTQ policies enforced by President Donald Trump.
One of the biggest celebrations of LGBTQ pride in New York City history will culminate Sunday with not one, but two processions through Manhattan, after dissidents who believe the annual parade has become too commercialized decided to split off with their own march.
The alternative march was organized by a group of LGBTQ activists frustrated with how the mainstream march has been overrun by big companies and the police, with whom protesters battled at Stonewall in June 1969.
Both parades cap a month of events marking the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, when patrons of a Greenwich Village gay bar fought back against a police raid and sparked a new era of gay activism and visibility.
Some 150,000 people are expected to participate in the NYC Pride March, with over one million more lining the streets to watch as New York hosts WorldPride for the first time.
Organizers of the insurgent Queer Liberation March say they expect 10,000 or more at their event, which they say will have a stronger protest vibe to it.
The main Pride march, the dissidents say, has strayed too far from its roots as a ragtag liberation demonstration celebrating an act of resistance. They complain that today’s march is dominated by corporate floats and is too heavily policed by the same department that raided the Stonewall in 1969.
Police Commissioner James O’Neill had apologized earlier this month for the Stonewall raid, but organizers of the alternative march claim that the apology too little, too late.
The upstart queer march is scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. at the Stonewall Inn and end with a rally in Central Park.
The larger NYC Pride March will begin at noon with corporate sponsors including T-Mobile, MasterCard and Delta. It will also pass by the Stonewall Inn before concluding in the Chelsea neighborhood. A closing ceremony in Times Square will feature a performance by Melissa Etheridge.
The 677 groups marching in the larger parade had to register months in advance. Police barricades will keep marchers separate from the cheering spectators.
LGBTQ Films
We have been running all week significant LGBTQ movies, both narrative features and documentaries, to commemorate this one of a kind event.
So far we have published:
Paris Is Burning
emanuellevy.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=183073&action=edit
Poison
Stonewall
Longtime Companion