06/27/2008
Tomorrow is the 38th Anniversary of the First 'Gay Pride' March
Tomorrow marks the 38th anniversary of the first gay pride marches, which were originally called Christopher Street Liberation Day and meant to mark the first anniversary of the Stonewall uprising.
The first march went from Washington Place in Greenvich Village up Sixth Avenue to Central Park where there was a "Gay-In". The photo above, of the Central Park event, is from the New York Public Library's digital archive. They posted it the other day along with and excerpt from Dudley Clendinen and Adam Nagourney's book Out for Good: The Struggle to Build a Gay Rights Movement in America, which talked about the "Gay-In":
"Many of the men and women who marched that day would forever remember that moment on top of the bluff. Before them lay a field of uncut grass, a blizzard of banners, dancing, pot-smoking, singing and music, a huge American flag, 'gay pride' signs decorated with the Day-Glo hippie flower stickers, and men and women applauding each new arrival over the hill. And behind them—stretching out as far as they could see—was line after line after line of homosexuals and their supporters, at least fifteen blocks worth, by the count of the New York Times, which found the turnout notable enough to report it on the front page of the next day’s paper. No one had ever seen so many homosexuals in one place before. On top of the bluff, many of these men and women, who had grown up isolated and alone, stood in silence and cried."
The New York Public Library has links to more photos from that day, June 28, 1970.
I've posted a must-watch clip from the New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center with footage from the first march, AFTER THE JUMP...
Very inspiring.
Posted 9:55 AM EST by Andy Towle in Gay Pride, Gay Rights, New York, News | Permalink
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Today is the 27th, it happened on the 28th.
Posted by: Mike | Jun 27, 2008 10:27:10 AM
Damn! Got ahead of myself.
Posted by: andy | Jun 27, 2008 10:32:12 AM
This is what gay pride is all about.
Posted by: MT | Jun 27, 2008 10:54:48 AM
i was 26 then, and in the full flower of my civil rights hippiedom, having pretty much sorted out my sexual orientation, largely by sheer force of independent will and a belief in the bill of rights (little did i know what a few administrations from the right could do to those).
what a feeling of empowerment those marches and the reporting of them engendered.
we WERE here
we WERE queer
and the world was DAMN WELL going to have to get over it.
jack
Posted by: jack | Jun 27, 2008 11:05:13 AM
Mike, thats why the headline says TOMORROW is the anniversary. Ugh, doesn't anyone read?
Posted by: Josh | Jun 27, 2008 11:57:43 AM
Josh, when people point out errors to Andy, he generally corrects them.
Posted by: Ernie | Jun 27, 2008 12:12:48 PM
Sometimes I (and others) feel that "OUT" gay people were more accepting back then...more accepting of racial, gender role and physical differences--there was an acceptance of diversity in gay areas of big cities (and hidden areas of small towns too, I guess). In 1970, the "out" gay folks were too stunned at their own courage to begin developing the prejudices we have today.
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | Jun 27, 2008 12:37:57 PM
Thanks Andy for another reminder of how far we've come. I'm so grateful to all those who marched when it wasn't all just a big party.
Posted by: Philip | Jun 27, 2008 1:23:22 PM
38th! Wow. I'm getting old.
Posted by: Sportin' Life | Jun 27, 2008 3:37:31 PM
Actually, the first gay pride march happened in 1970 in Chicago. This year is Chicago's 39th gay pride march. Chicago was first in the nation, before SF, NYC, or LA.
Posted by: Matt | Jun 28, 2008 1:00:06 PM
These folks are true pioneers. God bless them for the courage to stand up. 1978 was my first pride parade. I was 16, a junior in high school and marched at the front of the line in Montrose. I never felt more publicly empowered as I did then.
Posted by: Tex... | Jun 28, 2008 3:25:43 PM
I was born in February 1970. I'm a straight woman. I'm full of gratitude and respect for all the people who fought for the evolution of our social conscience. We've still gotta keep fighting but we've come a long way babies!!!
Posted by: riem | Jun 29, 2008 7:17:50 AM
I recently heard a twenty something twink tell me that he does not bother voting because it does no good anyway. He also did not know anything about Stonewall. Nor did he seem to care to learn about what it meant or means today. Some of these kids have no clue as to what came before them. And worst of all some of them liked Bush in 2004.
Posted by: Bostonian Queer in Dallas | Jun 30, 2008 6:39:38 AM
I was there then but what I remember more is that 90% or more of my friends that were there then are dead of the "Gay Disease" AIDS.The reluctancy of the Government to support research then killed them.Gay Pride is beautiful and thank god we have come a long way since.What is sad is that gay life is only for the young and beautiful.But they'll be old and alonetoo,thank god.
Posted by: Oscar | Jun 30, 2008 9:26:56 PM