New York City will hold its annual LGBTQ+ Pride march on Sunday, one of the biggest in the country, and it comes on the heels of the opening of a visitor center at the Stonewall National Monument, which was the scene of a defining moment in the gay rights movement.
The opening of the center in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village on Friday drew a star-studded crowd, including President Joe Biden, singer Elton John and pop star Katy Perry.
“You marked a turning point in civil rights in America,” Biden told the crowd.
John said it was “one of the biggest honors of my life to be here today” and performed several songs for the crowd, ending with Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me after speaking about “all the troubles that so many of us have been through.”
Friday’s event took place exactly 55 years after the uprising at the Stonewall Inn, which began on June 28, 1969, when police raided the bar, a haven for the city’s gay, lesbian and transgender community. The raid sparked several days of clashes with police and protests that marked a turning point in the fight for gay rights.
The opening of the visitor center also coincided with the renaming of a subway stop just across from Stonewall National Monument. New York City’s transportation authority announced Friday the station, formerly known as Christopher Street-Sheridan Square, will now be called Christopher Street-Stonewall Station.
After state lawmakers approved the name change earlier this month, state Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, who sponsored the proposal, wrote on the social media platform X, “This change will memorialize the history of the modern LGBTQ civil rights movement and inspire NY to demand justice and equality for all.”
The site of the original Stonewall Inn, which included two buildings, became a national historic landmark in 2000. One of the buildings now houses a new version of the bar. The other is the site of the new visitor center, overseen by the National Park Service and the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Pride Live. It is the National Park Service’s first such center focused on LGBTQ+ history.
New York City’s Pride march first took place in 1970, one year after the Stonewall Uprising.
The annual event draws huge crowds. NYC Pride co-chair Sue Doster told CBS News New York that this year’s event is expected to draw 2 million people to the city to celebrate.
This year’s march has revealed fractures in the LGBTQ+ community over the war in Gaza.
The Associated Press reports that the Israeli Consulate will march this year despite other participating groups accusing the country of carrying out genocide against the Palestinians. The Israeli Consulate says its usual float will be flanked by an added layer of private security.
Some of the hundreds of other groups participating in the parade say they will call attention to plight of the Palestinians in Gaza. Tarab NYC, an advocacy group representing queer Middle Easterners and North Africans, says their members will carry Palestinians flags and chant “No pride in genocide.”
Some information in this report came from The Associated Press.
