LGBTQ+ Pride Month culminates with marches in New York, San Francisco and elsewhere

The celebration of LGBTQ+ Pride month reached its exuberant grand finale on Sunday, as revelers wearing rainbow colors took to the streets to participate in high-profile marches in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and other places around the world.

The festivities included jubilant parties and at the same time political protests. Participants recognize the community’s achievements and also ask to pay attention to recent anti-LGBTQ+ laws in the United States, such as the ban on transgender healthcare, passed in Republican-governed states.

“We’re in a moment where there are a lot of legislative measures, anti-LGBTQ+ laws,” Zach Overton, 47, said at the New York parade. “It feels like we’re taking a step back in the fight for equality, and so it’s a great time to go out and be with our community and see all the different colors of the spectrum of our community and remind ourselves what we’re all fighting for.” ”.

Thousands of people gathered along Fifth Avenue in New York to celebrate Pride. Floats rolled down the street as Diane Ross’ song “I’m Coming Out” played over loudspeakers. Pride flags filled the horizon, and banners supporting Puerto Rico, Ukraine and Gaza could be seen in the crowd.

This year, tensions over the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza also spilled over into the celebrations, exposing divisions within a community that is often closely aligned on political issues. Some protesters temporarily blocked the New York march on Sunday, chanting: “Free Palestine, free Palestine!” Some of them were eventually taken away by police.

Pro-Palestinian activists disrupted Pride marches in June in Boston, Denver and Philadelphia. Several groups participating in Sunday’s marches said they would try to highlight victims of the Gaza war, prompting backlash from Israel supporters.

“There is certainly a more active presence this year in terms of protest at Pride events,” said Sandra Pérez, executive director of NYC Pride, a nonprofit organization that organizes Pride events in New York City. “But we were born from a protest.”

The first Pride march was held in New York City in 1970 to commemorate the first anniversary of the Stonewall Inn riot, a riot that began with a police raid on a Manhattan gay bar.

Nick Taricco, 47, who was at the New York march with Overton, said he attended the opening of the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center on Friday, where President Joe Biden spoke. Taricco said he is concerned about politics in the United States, including the presidential election.

“Even given how old he is, I still think this is the direction we should go,” Taricco said of Biden. “But it is a very uncertain time in general in this country.”

Ireland Fernandez-Cosgrove, 23, celebrated at the New York show.

“New York City is a great place to live, but this is one of the only days where you can go out and be openly queer and know that you’re going to be okay and safe about it,” she said. “I came here today with my partner so we could be ourselves in public and know that other people are going to support us.”

Another of the largest Pride celebrations in the world took place Sunday in San Francisco, with crowds of spectators lining the sides of Market Street.

Brian Peterson, secretary of the Homoto motorcycle club — a queer-friendly organization — rode his motorcycle along the parade route.

“This is an event where I can celebrate myself as well as my friends, and make new friends, and reaffirm that I am part of this world,” Peterson told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Tens of thousands of revelers packed the sidewalks along Chicago’s parade route, an event that was scaled back in size compared with previous years. City officials shortened the route along the city’s North Side, and the number of floats was cut from 199 to about 150 because of logistical and security concerns — including better police deployment at night — as post-parade parties have become more unruly in recent years. Chicago’s parade, one of the largest in the United States, typically draws about 1 million people, according to the city. Estimates of Sunday’s crowd size were not immediately available.

Parades were also held in Minneapolis and Seattle.

Federal agencies had warned that foreign terrorist organizations and their sympathizers could attack the parades. Security was tight at all Pride events across the country.

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