Celebration and pride mixed with defiance in New York City on Sunday as throngs of people crowded the streets, rainbow flags waving, for the annual gay pride march.
Tennis legend Billie Jean King was one of the grand marshals, along with transgender advocate Tyler Ford and civil rights organization Lambda Legal.
The event, and others like it around the country, commemorated the riots that erupted in response to a police raid at a New York gay bar called the Stonewall Inn in June 1969.
New York City’s Heritage Pride Parade combined resistance and celebration on Sunday in the streets of lower Manhattan, with its ‘Defiantly Different’ theme, as the rainbow flag waved proudly above it all; A reveler is shown here carrying a sign that reads, ‘LOVE’
The politics of the origins of what has become an annual event over the last nearly four decades were not lost on participants and observers in Manhattan on Sunday.
Festivities combined both a celebration of the diversity of LGBTQ+ culture and a statement against anti-LGBTQ+ policies promoted by President Donald Trump, such as the Republican president’s attempt to ban all transgender people from serving in the military.
They also spoke out against policies aimed at immigrants and minorities.
‘We’re making a statement that we’re here, everybody. Whether it’s immigrants, whether it’s queer people or people of color, we’re not going to put up with what this administration is doing,’ Diego Molano, of Queens, said, noting that this was his second pride parade.
‘You can’t just cage everybody up.’
The Grand Marshalls of the parade were Tennis legend Billie Jean King (pictured), transgender advocate Tyler Ford and civil rights organization Lambda Legal
A person puts a peace sign up in the air while riding a motorcycle in New York City’s Pride parade on Sunday
A reveler shows off his hat mirroring President Trump’s campaign slogan, ‘Make America Great Again,’ with the LGBTQ+ friendly phrase, ‘Make America Gay Again,’ at the annual Pride Parade on June 24 in New York City
Two people kiss during the festivities at New York City’s annual Pride parade on Sunday
Olivia Nadler, a Connecticut resident attending her third parade, said, ‘People that are oppressed are not going to go away, they’re not going to be quiet, they’re not going to be ignored.’
Among the signs people were carrying in the parade were those featuring phrases like, ‘Black and brown and trans lives matter,’ and ‘No more guns.’
Ohemaa Dixon, 20, from Brooklyn, teared up as she spoke about what the parade meant to her and the joy she felt in seeing everyone in attendance.
‘It’s okay to be who you are and love who you love and dress how you want to dress and do what you want to do because I think it’s so important to be who you are and who you love,’ she said.
‘I’m getting emotional about it because I think it’s so beautiful when people are who they are. That’s why I love coming to these things. I think it’s really cool that people come and they are exactly who they want to be.’
Participants in New York City’s Pride parade wear pasties over their nipples and glittery boxing gloves as they make their way through the streets of Manhattan
Brightly colored umbrellas, tops and makeup were a staple in New York City on Sunday
A man with stickers on his behind straddles the barrier at New York City’s Pride parade
Elected officials, including New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, and Senator Chuck Schumer (pictured), all Democrats, were among those attending the march
Elected officials, including New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, and Senator Chuck Schumer, all Democrats, were among those attending the march.
Before it started, Cuomo officially unveiled a New York state memorial to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people that honors victims of intolerance.
Placed in Hudson River Park, it has nine boulders with pieces of glass installed in them that can as prisms and reflect rainbows when the sunlight hits them just right.
Cuomo formed the commission to come up with an LGBTQ+ memorial after the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando that left 49 people dead in June of 2016.
The theme of this year’s march was, ‘Defiantly Different.’ Eighty floats and tens of thousands of marchers were expected.
Revelers watch the annual Pride Parade from windows above the intersection of Christopher and Gay streets on Sunday in New York City
Members of the New York City Fire Department cheer as a couple gets engaged at the annual Pride Parade on Sunday in New York City
A member of the New York City Fire Department receives a proposal of marriage at the annual Pride Parade on Sunday in New York City
A newly-engaged couple embrace and kiss at New York City’s Pride parade on Sunday
In San Francisco, a weekend of gay pride events was finishing with the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Parade and March through the city.
Organizers expected large crowds for the event, which included more than 240 contingents. This year’s theme in Northern California was, ‘Generations of Strength.’
While Pride events are held across the nation throughout the month of June, several major cities joined Manhattan and San Francisco in holding their main events over Saturday and Sunday, including Chicago, Minneapolis, Nashville, Houston, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Oklahoma City, St. Louis and Seattle.
Our neighbors to the north also held an event over the weekend in Toronto, Canada.
Other cities that held Pride events over the weekend included Augustus, Georgia; Flagstaff, Arizona; Bend, Oregon; Sandusky, Ohio; Norfolk, Virginia; and St. Peterburg, Florida, according to GayPrideCalendar.com.
Drag Queen Alicia Wood of Washington, DC leads the pride parade down the Loudoun Street Pedestrian Mall in Winchester, Virginia on Saturday, June 23, 2018, during the city’s first Pride Celebration in conjunction with the month of June being LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) Pride Month
People take a selfie under a rainbow banner during International LGBT Pride Day in Santiago, Chile on Saturday
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