The hot summer day was just right for about a million people to come out and celebrate the 45th anniversary of the Stonewall Inn riots, the birthplace of the gay rights movement. As usual The Sirens motorcycle club signaled the start of the parade around noon by 38th and 5th Ave. Mayor de Blasio saluted the crowd to polite cheers but Gov. Andrew Cuomo received the loudest praise first for his leadership in getting same-sex marriage approved in NY State a few years ago and his new initiative in an aggressive attack against HIV. Parade maven, Marni, rollerbladed around carrying a politically progressive sign..as usual. After local politicians made their way down the parade route, the Grand Marshalls, Laverne Cox, Rea Carey, and Jonathan Groff were greeted by the large crowd. Then the fun really started when crowd favorite The Flaggots spun their flags with precision. Plenty of corporate sponsors joined in on the fun. It wouldn’t be a march without some protest. This year was a cry for political prisoners to be released and more prevention of tragedies like that of Treyvon Martin. One group that keeps getting larger is the PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). As more younger people come out, parents and friends are right there to show their support for their courage.
Marni with a message
Orange is the New Black float
Rea Carney
Every parade is different and has its own flow to it. The Pride parade is getting to be as loud as the National Puerto Rican Parade and that says a lot. One reason the parade exceeded acceptable city decibel levels was when the cast of Orange is The New Black float made its way down 8th St. The crowd went nuts and the cast was eating it all up. Soon after just about every major cultural and religious group represented their pride. Most notably the Caribbean American group and the Hindu SalgaNY groups rose to the occasion. Groups from as far as England came to the party. One notable group from Russia carried signs saying Putin is very very bad. It was hard to tell just which ethnic group had the best representation but I did like the Latin group for carrying a flag of all the Latin American nations. A parade just isn’t a parade without a marching band and the Lesbian and Gay Big Apple Corp Marching Band killed it with their high energy and style. This was one of the better parades this year. The crowd really got into it and the marchers fed off that energy and made it a top 5 parade for 2014. Whether you agree with the lifestyle or not, one thing that cannot be denied is that love is love and this years parade had lots of love to go around.
see ya next year
NYC Parade Life 