On June 8, 2019, a few thousand spectators lined up along 5th Avenue between Lincoln Place and 9th Street in Park Slope, Brooklyn to celebrate Brooklyn Pride and cheer on the over 70 groups who marched in this year’s parade.
The Twilight Pride Parade concluded a week of celebrations of Brooklyn Pride Week which began on Monday, June 3 at Brooklyn Borough Hall honoring those with exceptional contributions to the LGBTQIA community.
Activist groups and elected officials alongside onlookers sent a clear message: Hate has no place here! On the heel of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising on June 28, 1969, which launched the LGBT rights movement, Brooklynites showed that inclusiveness, respect, and acceptance are not mere lip service.
Lisa Fane, member of the Brooklyn Irish LGBTQ Organization (BILO), “Just within the span of a few months the Brooklyn Irish LGBTQ Organization was able to march in its first Brooklyn Irish American Day Parade and now its first Brooklyn Pride Parade. Personally, it is so important and moving to be able to be a loud and proud lesbian in my own neighborhood, in all of my communities.” She touched on the meaning of the parade, “Parades are a walking metaphor for showing up with courage and celebrating all of who you are unapologetically. It is also a metaphor for family and belonging.” Her wife Maggie Lally added, ” My dad was a proud Irishman, and it gave me great joy to march openly as an Irish gay person and share that pride.”
Among the many groups marching in the parade, like the New York City Council and State Senator Zellnor Myrie were members of the Queer Liberation March. The group is calling for an end to the corporate influence of Pride and wants to bring the focus back to its origins: ending institutionalized hate and violence and government policies that deny the rights for members of the LGBTQIA community.
For more events honoring and celebrating 50 years of Stonewall go to https://2019-worldpride-stonewall50.nycpride.org/events/
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