MONDAY, JUNE 29, 2020 A
K NNot six months ago, the idea of this year’s
Pride March in New York City, on the 50th
anniversary of the first parade, would have
conjured images of colorful floats, elaborate
costumes and hundreds of thousands of rev-
elers packed into city streets.
But the festivities on Sunday barely re-
sembled those of years past, drawing far
fewer participants and bearing the hall-
marks of a year rocked by turmoil.
One procession of several dozen people
and five rainbow-colored BMWs began in the
Flatiron section of Manhattan and headed
south toward the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich
Village. Organizers, including members of
N.Y.C. Pride, which runs official Pride events
for the city, actively encouraged people to
stay away. Some signs read, “Stay Safe, Stay
Home Stay Proud.”
A separate event, the Queer Liberation
March, began later at Foley Square and
headed north toward Stonewall. The march,
which drew more than 1,000 vocal demon-
strators, focused on protesting police brutal-
ity and racism, inspired by weeks of similar
demonstrations nationwide.
“This moment has to be seized, and we
have to keep pushing things forward,” said
Jay W. Walker, co-founder of the Reclaim
Pride Coalition and an organizer of the
march.
For about 10 minutes, after those marchers
gathered at Washington Square Park, a con-
frontation erupted between demonstrators
and the police, with pushing and shoving.
Videos posted online showed the police push-
ing through the crowd on motorcycles, as one
officer was knocked to the ground. Pro-
testers said the police used pepper spray. It
was not immediately clear what sparked the
conflict and whether there were any injuries
or arrests, but the tension quickly dissipated.
The pandemic and the recent protests
sparked by the killing of George Floyd, a
black man who died in police custody in Min-
neapolis, transformed festivities in New York
City.
“We can’t be together, and we’re pained by
that right now, but there’s a tremendous
sense of solidarity in this march,” said Mayor
Bill de Blasio, who made an appearance at
the earlier procession in Manhattan. “There
is an added feeling of solidarity going on right
now with the L.G.B.T.Q. community and with
the black community, a sense of shared
struggle.”
This year’s march was set to mark a major
milestone: the 50th anniversary of the Chris-
topher Street Liberation Day March, widely
considered to be New York’s first Pride pa-
rade.
In that march in 1970, a group of L.G.B.T.Q.
activists staged a rally to commemorate the
first anniversary of the Stonewall uprising,
an event that galvanized the modern gay
rights movement. Those who assembled
were in many ways staging an act of defi-
ance. At the time, homosexuality was viewed
by many as a sin and a sickness; in many
states, it was a crime.
“What it will all come to no one can tell,” a
flyer that announced the march said. “It is
our hope that the day will come when homo-
sexuals will be an integral part of society —
being treated as human beings.”
In the 50 years since, the march has
evolved considerably, into a miles-long pa-
rade with ornate corporate floats, colorfully
festooned dancers, jubilant music and hordes
of spectators lining the parade route. Last
year’s celebration, which marked the 50th
anniversary of the Stonewall rebellion, drew
an estimated 5 million people to the city.
As the Pride parade has grown from its
more rebellious roots to a mainstream sum-
mer event, a segment of the L.G.B.T.Q. com-
munity has increasingly complained that
the event has become too bloated, commer-
cial and bureaucratic.
Last year, the Reclaim Pride Coalition or-
ganized a competing march for that same
day that was meant to hew more closely to
the political aims of the initial Christopher
Street Liberation Day March.
They raised concerns that the inclusion of
uniformed police effectively marginalized
transgender people and racial minorities,
who have long held that they were unfairly
targeted and victimized by law enforcement
— a concern that has new relevance this
year after weeks of protests against police
brutality and systemic racism in New York
City.
One attendee at this year’s Queer Libera-
tion March, Richard Baskin Jr., fanned him-
self with one sign that read “REPARA-
TIONS” and another that read, “BLACK
TRANS LIVES MATTER.”
“Since we’re not going to work, you know,
might as well be safe and come out here and
demonstrate,” Mr. Baskin said. “You know
we read about this in high school and middle
school and I’ve been learning about it since
elementary school, but this is our opportu-
nity to change the status quo now.”
Mr. Baskin, 29, who lives in Harlem, said
he never goes to the city’s commercial Pride
celebrations.
“I don’t feel like I’m represented, and I’m
not going to sit up here and have arguments
with anybody on it,” Mr. Baskin said. “I just
celebrate who I am.”
But for him, and many others, the Queer
Liberation March felt different.
“We’re doing something, it’s not just like,
‘We’re all gay and we’re proud,’ ” Baskin
said. “It’s got a little muscle on it.”
Victor Pickens, from Harlem, led chants
in the crowd as the march moved up Sixth
Avenue. He felt the risk was worth it.
“Luckily I’m in good health: I’m 20 years
old and I don’t have asthma; I don’t have
pre-existing health conditions. So I feel as
though it’s still in my place to fight,” Mr.
Pickens said. “Although I’m concerned
about my safety, I’m more concerned about
my safety after this pandemic is over and
how I might be treated by the police.”
The earlier procession down Fifth Ave-
nue drew far fewer people.
Cathy Renna, a spokeswoman for N.Y.C.
Pride, called it a “tiny, symbolic gesture,” in
lieu of the official Pride celebration that was
canceled in April. At the time, the city was
still under a strict lockdown, hospitals were
still flooded with virus patients and hun-
dreds of residents were dying daily.
“We couldn’t let the 50th year go by with-
out acknowledging it,” she said. “But we’re
doing it safely.”
Harish Karthikeyan, 26, the director of di-
versity, accessibility and inclusion for N.Y.C.
Pride, said that the group encouraged peo-
ple to “stay home and stay safe” while or-
ganizers marched on behalf of everyone.
He added that while he understood why
celebrations had to be muted this year, he
still missed the “whole shebang” of last
year’s celebration.
The city provided some hoopla Sunday
night with a five-minute fireworks display
on the Hudson River in honor of Pride.
Toward the end of the N.Y.C. Pride proces-
sion, which lasted about two hours, dozens
gathered outside the Stonewall Inn. There,
a drag queen posed for photos and a woman
with a Chihuahua held a giant balloon that
said “Black Lives Matter.”Celebrating L.G.B.T.Q. pride outside the Stonewall Inn on Sunday. In 1970, what is now considered the first Pride parade came on the first anniversary of the Stonewall uprising.CHANG W. LEE/THE NEW YORK TIMESAt 50, New York’s Big Fete of Pride Is Pared Back
CHANG W. LEE/THE NEW YORK TIMESAMR ALFIKY/THE NEW YORK TIMESJUSTICE AND EQUALITY, TOO
More than 1,000 people
marched from Foley
Square to the Stonewall
Inn as part of the Queer
Liberation March, a Pride
celebration and protest
against racism. The Pride
March, downsized be-
cause of the pandemic,
stretched for about a block
and was led by rainbow-
colored BMWs.CHANG W. LEE/THE NEW YORK TIMESAMR ALFIKY/THE NEW YORK TIMESBy MIHIR ZAVERI
and MICHAEL GOLDAmr Alfiky, Julia Carmel and Nate Schweber
contributed reporting.