There's usually a surprise performer who comes out and does a number at the end of the party. OK, the real main event for the boys is the Dance on the Pier, a giant outdoors dance party on the Hudson River.The people who go to the parade are out-of-towners, the very young, the very old, every lesbian who lives in the suburbs, and straight people. In New York, the major event is the Gay Pride March, which goes down Fifth Avenue in Midtown before snaking through Greenwich village before stopping at Christopher Street, where the Stonewall Riots took place.It's mostly about corporations telling us that they're "down with the gays" and an excuse for gay people party. We now mark the infamous Stonewall Riots every June with a parade through town. The first Gay Pride parade was really a march through the streets of New York to protest the unfair treatment of gay men by police at the Stonewall Inn in 1969.If you want to join in, here are some handy tips to keep in mind. While the day is all about being gayer than Liza Minnelli singing "Single Ladies" in a Sex and the City movie, we love it when our straight allies come out and lend their support. So, one doesn't so much "go to Pride" as one "does Pride." Every gay observes it differently, but it really is the one time of the year when all the leather daddies, bull dykes, twinks, alternaqueers, trannies, drag queens, femmes, circuit boys, bois (who are actually girls), and all the other wonderful gay archetypes rub elbows in a giant celebration of living somewhere over the rainbow. Much like Mardi Gras in New Orleans, it is a collection of parades, rallies, parties, private events, functions, fundraisers, and bead throwing. There are picnics and fireworks and lots of drinking and it's all about freedom! Pride isn't really one single occurrence. If Halloween is Gay Christmas and the Oscars is the Gay Super Bowl, then Pride is Gay Fourth of July.
You should come join the party! But first, here are a few things you need to know before joining the fun.
If you are a opposite-gender lover you may not know this is Gay Pride Weekend in New York.