Like the movement that inspired the original NYC Pride parade, 18 diverse LGBTQ community organizations marched with 50,000 as part of the largest NYC Pride March ever. (+ an estimated two million spectators lined the streets!)
Ken Kidd, a longtime New York City activist who conceived the plan for resistance groups to lead the march and who led the negotiations with HOP said,
“Since the Stonewall Riots and the first pride march, LGBTQ rights–and indeed our very lives–have never been under siege like they are now under the Trump regime. Every year, the March celebrates our victories in our fight for equality. This year, it must celebrate our ongoing commitment to keep the rights our community has worked so hard to achieve—and bond us together to expand on them.“
Building on the momentum from the pride parade in L.A., where activists created a resistance march. The diverse, multi-generational groups chanted, sang, danced, and sashayed along with props, signs and visuals to express their resistance. The eighteen LGBT and AIDS groups that were confirmed to be marching were:
1. Rise and Resist
2. Gays Against Guns (GAG)
3. Lesbian Herstory Archives
4. Judson Memorial Church
5. Congregation Beit Simchat Torah
6. Housing Works
7. ACT UP
8. Physicians for a National Health Program NY
9. Gay City News
10. Granny Peace Brigade
11. Stop Mass Incarceration Network
12. Health GAP
13. Axios Eastern Orthodox LGBT Christians
14. United Thru Action
15. Refuse Fascism
16. Indivisible Nation BK
17. Peace Action Fund of New York State
18. Democratic Socialists of America
After only five months, the administration’s actions and platforms have threatened the lives of queer people,
• Repealing guidelines directing schools to allow students to use a restroom corresponding to their gender identity.
• Calling for resources to be directed to conversion therapy, a practice the American Psychiatric Association says harms LGBTQ people.
• Issuing severe immigration and refugee policies have instilled fear in LGBTQ people hoping to to escape countries where their lives are endangered
• Cutting the federal HIV/AIDS research budget
• Terminating the White House Office of AIDS Policy, leading six members of Trump’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS to resign
It was televised live in its entirety for the first time this year, on WABC-TV. The Resistance marchers will be using the hashtag #ProudlyRESISTING across social media platforms and encourage supporters.
These photos were shot by Wowlebrity and acclaimed photographer, Ruben Natal-San Miguel for The Wow Report.
(Photos, Ruben Natal-San Miguel; via Joe My God)