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Every June, the queer community comes together to celebrate the diversity and inclusivity of New York City in its annual Pride Celebration but in 2019, the LGBTQ+ community has so much more to celebrate. This year marks not only the fourth anniversary of marriage equality but also the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, a queer uprising on Christopher Street, which challenged police brutality against the LGBTQ+ community.
With all of this celebration and more, 2019 World Pride is going to be one of the biggest pride celebrations ever. Here is our guide to some of the festivities happening around the city.
Before heading out to the World Pride celebrations, make sure to check out the World Pride Welcome Center at 112 Christopher Street—just down the street from the Stonewall Inn. The Welcome Center futures interactive exhibits, which help remember the legacy of the 1969 Stonewall Riots. The exhibits go beyond Stonewall, as well, and follows LGBTQ history until modern day.
The center also features World Pride merchandise and provides a helpful resource to start your Pride season! The Welcome Center is open daily to the public and is free.
Rendering courtesy FDR Four Freedoms Park
This month, there are many official WorldPride NYC/Stonewall 50 events (along with unofficial events all over the city) that will start before the opening ceremony on June 26th. One of the most visually exciting official events is going to be at FDR Four Freedoms Park on Roosevelt Island. New York City’s largest-ever LGBTQ flag will be installed on the steps the park on June 14th, one day before the park’s World Pride celebration, which will include a VideoOut installation capturing coming out stories for their online library, food trucks for a picnic on the lawn, and a visit from Drag Queen Story Hour featuring books that focus on diversity and inclusivity from Little Bee Books.
Entitled “Ascend With Pride,” the flag-designed installation, will measure 12 feet by 100 feet and is intended, according to Four Freedoms Park, “to celebrate the progress that’s been made over the past 50 years, and to shine a light on the LGBTQ community’s continued fight for the universal human rights articulated in President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms Speech: freedom of speech & expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.”
On June 26, the Barclay Center will host a star-studded evening of pride-themed entertainment and celebration that is unlike any Pride event in history! To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, this year’s opening ceremony is pulling out all the stops—all while making sure to give back to the LGBTQ+ community. The opening ceremony will be a concert extravaganza that looks at the past while sashaying into the future.
The evening’s ceremonies are hosted by EGOT-winner Whoopi Goldberg and include performances from: Cyndi Lauper, Ciara, Chaka Khan, Billy Porter, Todrick Hall and DJ Lina. Tickets start at $25 and can be purchases here. All proceeds go to the Ali Forney Center, the Immigration Equality Center and SAGE.
On June 28, LGBTQ advocates will rally at Washington Square Park to remember the Stonewall Riots which occurred on June 28, 1969. This year’s rally is planned to be the biggest Pride rally to date and will feature speeches from many leading LGBTQ activists. This event is free to the public.
According to the WorldPride NYC/Stonewall 50 website, “The first NYC Pride Rally occurred one month after the Stonewall Riots in June 1969, when 500 people gathered for a “Gay Power” demonstration in Washington Square Park, followed by a candlelight vigil in Sheridan Square. NYC Pride has continued this proud tradition by hosting the event in various locations throughout the city.”
Beginning at noon on Saturday, June 30, New York’s Pride March will takeover 5th Avenue to celebrate Pride in what may be the biggest Pride parade yet. The parade is one of Pride’s most beloved events and—in honor of Stonewall 50—is sure to be the biggest and best one yet! Last year, over 550 different marching groups and floats took part in celebrating Pride, but this year even more groups and performers are expected to march with the LGBTQ+ community.
The parade is open to the public and the parade route may be found here. Everyone is encouraged to attend and come as their most authentic self!
Hudson River Park. Photo by Julienne Schaer, courtesy of Hudson River Park.
At Hudson River Park on June 29 and 30, join the LGBTQ community in celebrating Pride the only way New York knows how: a weekend-long party. This event is a 21+ weekend of music, celebration, and dance, featuring numerous DJs and musical acts.
On Saturday, exciting acts such as Grace Jones and Teyana Taylor will perform, followed by DJs Abel and Morabito on Sunday. The event is currently sold out but tickets are available for resale on Stubhub.
Michael Grimm for the Times Square Alliance
Sunday, June 30 at 7:00 p.m., World Pride comes to its conclusion in Times Square. Join the LGBTQ community in bringing this year’s amazing series of Pride events to a close with an evening of free song and dance.
The event is free to attend and features an evening of celebration and performances from Melissa Etheridge, Jake Shears, MNEK, Deborah Cox and the cast of the Broadway musical The Prom. Tickets can be found on the World Pride website.
Queens and Staten Island have already had their festivals, but Brooklyn and the Bronx are still upcoming along with other festivities in the borough along with The World Mural Project, which will be across all five boroughs.
On June 8th, Brooklyn is hosting its annual pride events featuring a morning Pride Run, a multicultural festival, and an evening “Twilight Pride Parade.” The Pride Run is a 5K through Prospect Park at 10 a.m. (click here to register) which is sponsored by the Front Runners Club of New York. Everyone is welcome to participate and, for those who choose not to participate, come help cheer on the LGBTQ community members and allies as they run through Brooklyn.
Later in the day, the multicultural festival lines six blocks of Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn (from 1st to 9th streets) and brings together the different cultures of Brooklyn to celebrate Pride. Between two different stages in Brooklyn, come watch performers of all kinds express their pride!
Additionally, the closing “Twilight Pride Parade” begins at Lincoln Place at 7:30 p.m. and features Brooklyn’s own unique twist on the traditional Pride parade. (Also note: The 38th annual NY LGBT Pride Run in Central Park will take place on June 29th).
Also in Brooklyn: Take a special trolley tour of Green-Wood Cemetery celebrating its permanent LGBTQ+ residents!
On June 23, the Bronx will hold its annual pride rally on 161 Street and Grand Concourse at 11:00 a.m. Then, at 149th Street and third avenue, over 20,000 Bronxites will join together for the 1 Bronx World Pride Festival. This festival blends aspects of the Bronx’s strong multicultural identity and LGBTQ culture, and is sure to be an exciting event for the whole family. The festival includes performances by RuPaul’s Drag Race star Honey Davenport and singer/songwriter Deborah Cox and is free to attend.
Also in the Bronx, check out WorldPride Night on June 15th at the New York Botanical Garden inspired by its exhibition, The Living Art of Roberto Burle Marx. Join them for an evening full of Brazilian art, culture, design, and more with caipirinhas, Samba dancing, and music from top Brazilian artists and DJs.
Photograph Courtesy of the Alice Austen House by Floto + Warner, Clear Comfort, 2015, © Floto + Warner
On June 21, come to Staten Island and honor the legacy of one of the LGBTQ+ community’s most influential photographers: Alice Austen. Normally a museum, her historic home—known as Clear Comfort—is located in Alice Austen Park and preserves Austen’s works for future generations; however, on June 21 at 6:30 P.M., this New York Historic Landmark will become a place of celebration at “Twilight Pride: Celebrate the Larky Life at the Alice Austen House.”
The event is in celebration of Austen’s work as a trailblazer for the LGBTQ community and will feature local favorites, music, and dancing with DJ Kitty. Tickets cost $45 and are available for purchase here. For more information on the history and legacy of Alice Austen’s home, click here.
In honor of Pride, come celebrate one of America’s most beloved LGBTQ+ poets, Walt Whitman, with this event in partnership with the Brooklyn Historical Society. Come see unpublished works and never before seen illustrations done by the Walt Whitman. The best part: Untapped Cities Insiders get to explore these unknown works for free! For more information click here.
Courtesy of Chantal Regnault
This summer marks the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in Greenwich Village, an event that spurred the gay liberation movement. To commemorate this anniversary and finish off Pride Month, Untapped Cities Insiders are invited on a docent-led tour of two new exhibits and a special installation that make up Stonewall 50, a three part exhibition at the New-York Historical Society which runs through September 22nd. This event is also free for Untapped Cities Insiders! For more information click here.
On June 6 at the City Museum of New York (on East 103rd Street), Fred W. McDarrah’s famous collection of LGBTQ empowerment photography will open to the public in recognition of the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. McDarrah worked as a staff photographer for the Village Voice, and captured many critical moments of LGBTQ history on camera during his fifty years working for the publication. Some of his most famous works include his documentation of the Stonewall Riots, portraits of influential LGBTQ activists, and his documentation of pride events.
The opening of the exhibit will take place at 3:30 p.m. on June 6 at the City Museum of New York.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art unveils their new costume exhibit “CAMP: Notes on Fashion,” which features a variety of art and costume that centers around the expression of ‘camp’ throughout history. The exhibit was inspired by Susan Sontag’s famous 1964 essay by the same name, which draws from aspects of LGBTQ culture and showcases many queer artists. The exhibit is included in the admission price for the Met and will be available to the public until September 8.
At the Leslie-Lohman Museum and NYU’s Grey Art Gallery, the first-ever art collection dedicated to the impact of the LGBTQ rights movement on modern art. The collection focuses on examining themes of relevant to the LGBTQ community such as: coming out, gender and body, AIDS and activism, and much more. The exhibit is ongoing until July 21.
In remembrance of the 50th anniversary of Stonewall, the Brooklyn Museum is showing an exhibit which showcases the history of Stonewall and its lasting effect on the LGBTQ community. The title “Nobody Promised You Tomorrow,” is inspired by the words of Marsha P. Johnson, a transgender artist and advocate, who was instrumental in the Stonewall Riots.
The exhibit includes pieces from twenty-eight artists who were born post-Stonewall and explore what it means to live in the complex political and social climate of our time. The exhibit is open to the public until December 8.
The New York Public Library is remembering Stonewall by showcasing the groundbreaking works of photographers Kay Tobin Lahusen and Diana Davies. The NYPL has complied a collection of these photographers works and drawn from its vast archives to create an exhibit which speaks to the queer experience in Stonewall-era New York and looks toward the future of the LGBTQ community in New York.
This exhibit is open to the public until July 13.
Photo by Colin Pearce, courtesy Astoria Choir
On Saturday, June 8, the Astoria Choir will be performing Jay Kawarsky’s moving adaptation of the beloved memoir, Prayers for Bobby: A Mother’s Coming to Terms with the Suicide of Her Gay Son. The piece follows the true story of Mary Griffith, a devote-Christian mother, who struggles to come to terms with her gay son’s suicide. The performance will be at Trinity Lutheran Church in Queens, NY.
Tickets are available for purchase from $15–$20 and can be found here.
On Friday, June 21, LGBTQ families and friends are welcome to attend a free showing of the movie Coco at Pier 45 in the West Village. The evening is hosted by the drag performer Miss Richfield 1981 and all are welcome to attend.
At 6:00 p.m. on June 28 in Times Square, hundreds of LGBTQ chorus members from around the country will join together for an evening of song and celebration. The event is free to the public and kid-friendly.
You can take yourself on a self-guided tour of Walt Whitman’s Brooklyn using our article as a guide. Discover the home where he wrote Leaves of Grass, the site of his publisher, a place to see his poem “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry,” (above), the eagle of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, where Whitman was editor, and more!
Stay tuned on Untapped Cities for more coverage of this year’s Pride throughout the month!
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