NEW YORK (AP) – The annual New York Pride Parade kicked off Sunday with gleaming confetti, applause from crowds, waving rainbow flags and newfound fears of losing freedoms won over decades of activism.
The annual marches in New York, San Francisco, Chicago and elsewhere take place just two days after a conservative Supreme Court judge signaled in an abortion ruling that the court should reconsider the right to same-sex marriage recognized in 2015.
“We are here to make a statement,” said 31-year-old Mercedes Sharp, who is traveling to Manhattan from Massachusetts. “I think it’s about scoring a point, not all the other years we usually celebrate. This one will really stand out. I think a lot of angry people, not just women, angry men, angry women. ”
Thousands of people – many dressed in the colors of pride – lined the parade route through Manhattan, applauding as floats and demonstrators passed by.
The warning shot by the nation’s Supreme Court came after a year of legislative damage to the LGBTQ community, including the passage of laws in some states restricting the discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity with children.
As anti-gay sentiments re-emerge, some are pushing for pride parades to return to their roots – fewer street parties, more outspoken civil rights marches.
“This has gone from a statement of advocacy and protest to much more than a celebration of gay life,” Sean Clarkin, 67, said of the annual parade in New York while enjoying a recent drink at Julius’s, one of the oldest gay bars in New York. Greenwich Village in Manhattan.
As he recalls, the parade was once a challenge and a push against an oppressive mainstream that saw gays, lesbians and transgender people as unworthy outsiders.
“As satisfying and empowering as it is to be accepted by the mainstream now,” Clarkin said, “there was also something energizing and wonderful about being outside and looking inside.”
The first Pride March in New York, then called the Christopher Street Liberation Day March, was held in 1970 to mark the first anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion, a spontaneous street uprising sparked by a police attack on a gay bar in Manhattan.
San Francisco’s first campaign was in 1972 and has been held every year since, except for the last two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The festivities are now global and take place throughout the year in many countries, with many of the biggest parades taking place in June. One of the largest in the world, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, was held on June 19.
In the United States, this year’s celebrations are taking place amid a potential crisis.
In a Supreme Court ruling Friday revoking the right to abortion, Judge Clarence Thomas said in unison that the court should also reconsider its 2015 decision to legalize same-sex marriage and its 2003 decision to annul laws criminalizing gay sex.
“Roe’s recent cancellation against Wade caused a great stir about what happened. Other rights may then be included, “said Dean Jigardjian, 22, who crossed the New Jersey River with his girlfriend to take part in a parade in New York.
More than a dozen states have recently passed laws that run counter to the interests of LGBTQ communities, including a law banning any mention of sexual orientation in Florida school curricula and threats to prosecute parents who allow their children to receive gender care in Texas. .
Several states have introduced laws banning transgender athletes from participating in team sports that match the gender in which they identify.
According to a study by the Anti-Defamation League published earlier this week, members of LGBTQ communities are more likely than any other group to experience harassment. Two-thirds of respondents say they have been harassed, with slightly more than half saying that the harassment is a result of their sexual orientation.
In recent years, schisms have emerged about how to honor Stonewall’s memory, sparking events from groups designed to be more protest-oriented.
In New York, Queer’s Liberation March coincided with the traditional parade, declaring itself an “antidote to corporate, police-entrenched, politically charged parades that now dominate pride celebrations.”
More of that spirit can affect the big parades this year, although many fans of the marches see them as a combination of activism and celebration.
Vincent Maniscalco, a 40-year-old New Yorker who has been married to her husband for five years, said she believed the marches were an opportunity to both highlight civil rights issues and bring together “individuals from all walks of life to celebrate their authentic selves. And I think the Pride Parade in New York does a great job of that.
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