Pride March in New York Infused With New Sense of Urgency - The New York Times

The festivities began on Sunday with a familiar feel: Revelers adorned in a palette of bright colors, waving rainbow flags and handmade signs, tossed confetti into the air as the roar of screams and bikers revving their motorcycle engines signaled the start of the annual New York City Pride March in Manhattan.

Those thoughts were on the minds of three high school friends from New York City who arrived two hours before the parade began on Sunday to grab an upfront view at the starting point near the Flatiron Building in Manhattan.

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.

More than a half-century after the landmark uprising at the Stonewall Inn in 1969 helped galvanize the fight for gay rights, the annual New York City Pride March has become an event of unapologetic jubilation.

But both revelers on the sidelines and those in the march said on Sunday that the current state of affairs in United States required renewed activism to maintain and expand civil rights for women and for people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.

Rick Landman, 70, said he walked 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.

Despite the recent news, Kelsey said they were hopeful for the future and thankful to grow up in an era of expanded gay rights.

While the New York City Pride March was the largest of its kind over the weekend in Manhattan, revelers also celebrated the end of Pride Month at events across the city?

They included the Queer Liberation March, which began in response to criticism that the larger Pride March had become too corporate.

On Saturday, Athina Schmidt, 33, traveled from South Carolina to New York City to celebrate Pride at the 30th annual Dyke March at Bryant Park in Manhattan.

She said the diversity of New York City Pride is empowering because of the visibility it offers