Is This the Summer That Humbled Gay Pride?
Believing companies would somehow remain loyal to LGBTQ+ consumers following last year’s intense pushback was wishful thinking.
Start spreading the news again: A member of the Sirens Motorcycle Club, the traditional lead contingent of New York’s Pride March.
Photographer: Bloomberg
I love living in London. But when it gets to the end of June, I always wish I were in New York, where I lived for four decades. I don’t miss the hot and humid weather. But I’d be willing to put up with it for one of the city’s biggest civic events: the annual gay pride march. My first was in 1988; and I hung out with friends on the fire escape of a ratty apartment building, watching the marchers course below us into narrow Christopher Street, the designated end point of the hours-long hike through Manhattan. It was finale and tribute: After all, the event was originally called the Christopher Street Liberation Day March. It debuted in June 28, 1970, a year after the six-day Stonewall uprising that pitted gays, lesbians and transgender people against the New York Police Department that raided the historic, eponymous bar on the same street.
Pride was always mostly about defiance. But that doesn’t preclude joy. Perched precariously on that fire escape 36 years ago, I joined friends clapping for each contingent. We reserved a loud “FAAB-YOU-lous!” whenever we spotted those strident bewigged figures who could out-sparkle and out-sashay Cher. They’d look up, laugh, twirl on gravity-defying footwear then maybe throw in a high-kick or two in appreciation before stomping on with even more spring in their steps. More applause from our nosebleed perch. We were all proud of each other.