Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the birth of the gay rights movement
June is Gay Pride Month and all month long cities around the world have been throwing Pride celebrations to mark the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riot which gave birth to the Gay Rights Movement in this country. NYC hosted their Pride Parade this weekend and, by all accounts, really threw a great party. Here are some photos from this weekend’s Pride Parade in New York City:
Decades after a riot at a Greenwich Village bar sparked a movement for equal rights, gay New Yorkers celebrated their gains at Sunday’s gay pride parade and lamented the state has not legalized same-sex marriage. The annual march down Fifth Avenue commemorated the Stonewall rebellion of 40 years ago, when patrons at a gay bar resisted the police. The several days of disturbances that followed the uprising became one of the defining moments of the gay rights movement. The celebration was tempered by the knowledge that other states, including Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa, have legalized same-sex marriage before New York. “Hopes and dreams and expectations have been raised, and there is nothing worse than to for people to have their hopes die out, to have the rug pulled out from under them,” said City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, New York City’s most prominent openly gay elected official. Gov. David Paterson said he remains hopeful that the state Senate will pass a same-sex marriage bill — if it can resolve the partisan stalemate that has paralyzed it. “If we have an end to the stalemate in Albany I would think that it would be passed shortly after,” he said, referring to the state capital. “We believe we can pass the bill.” This year’s march featured the usual mix of seasoned activists, dazzling drag performers and floats blasting disco beats. A faux Liza Minnelli in a slinky dress and spiky wig lip-synched New York, New York atop the Stonewall Inn float. The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center’s float was sponsored by the Broadway musical Shrek, whose ogres-need-love-too message was apparently a good fit. Flavia Rando marched with the Gay Liberation Front, which began in 1969 after the Stonewall uprising. “It feels like we changed the world,” Rando said. “We started a global movement.” In addition to Paterson, one of the parade’s grand marshals, elected officials marching included Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Sen. Charles Schumer. Parade organizers claimed as many as 500,000 participants. That number was difficult to verify, but many thousands marched or lined Fifth Avenue to watch. Spectator Mark Jester of Maryland, visiting New York for the first time, said the parade was “awesome,” especially the drag queens. “I have a lot of respect, because if I would do that at home I literally would have to fight,” he said. Danielle Staub of the Bravo reality show The Real Housewives Of New Jersey marched in heels that rivaled a drag queen’s and said gay people deserve the right to marry. “My two marriages didn’t last as long as most of the gay community’s partnerships,” she noted. As part of the year-long celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Dutch encounter with New York, Amsterdam officials held a contest for couples to marry in that city, where same-sex marriage has been legal since 2001. The winners, five couples with one Dutch partner and one American partner, will travel to Amsterdam for its August gay pride celebration and get married there. “We kept saying we were going to do it here once it was legal in New York state,” said contest winner Stephan Hengst, who was born in the Netherlands and now lives in Highland, New York, with his partner Patrick Decker. “We hope to see it become legal in New York very soon.”
We really have come a long way, baby. Altho there is still a long way to go for members of the GLBT community to enjoy equal rights in all areas (including marriage) in this country, there is MUCH to celebrate and be PROUD of this year. 4 States have legalized same-sex marriage in this country this year alone and we’re only halfway thru 2009. They join Massachusetts and Connecticut who legalized the practice previously. The tide of true freedom for all is coming our way … I’d say that’s a great reason to celebrate.
[Photo credit: Wireimage; Source]
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