Originally from Branchville, Virginia, and now living in Brooklyn, he said he sees the parade as a chance for people to be who they really are. Mike Jones, 58, who is straight, has sold rainbow flags and trinkets at pride marches for the last 10 years.
His friend Jaimie McKeaveney, 23, who is bisexual and also from Middle Island, declared, “Everybody deserves equal rights,” when asked why she was attending the parade. Pers said he never thought he’d see a world where LGBT people could be as open about their sexuality as they are at pride festivities. “This generation has no idea the fight we had to endure.” But, he added, “I’m happy they don’t have to struggle.” “I had to fear for my life,” said Vinny Pers, 53, from Middle Island, New York. Many in the crowd remembered when life for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender New Yorkers wasn’t as easy as it is now. On Sunday a group of police marched in the parade, and thousands of officers lined Manhattan’s streets, directing traffic, pedestrians and conversing with paradegoers. The corner where the Truskowskis drank beer and relaxed with friends was, 45 years earlier, the scene of a violent confrontations between the New York Police Department and men at the Stonewall Inn after the police raided the bar and beat patrons. It’s just great to be out and see all this energy and all this excitement.” “It’s really important that we are visible. Truskowski was there with his husband, Michael, whom he wed after New York state legalized gay marriage in 2011. We’ve been coming for the last five years,” said Will Truskowski, 36, a paralegal from the borough of Queens. On packed sidewalks, revelers adorned with rainbow flags and balloons cheered on the marchers. More than a million people marched in support of gay pride in New York City on Sunday, commemorating the 45th anniversary of the Stonewall Inn riots while celebrating recent strides against bans on same-sex marriage across the United States.Įvery year, the parade passes the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, where police and gay men clashed in 1969.