June 26, 2017
The annual NYC Pride Parade made its way Sunday down 5th Avenue and across 8th Street to the finish at Christopher and Greenwich. Although the Gazette was unable to obtain an official crowd estimate by press time, a million wouldn’t be a surprise. There were a lot of people, both in the Parade and watching from the sidelines. The first Parade was in 1970 and it’s only grown more popular ever since. Sunday’s Parade stepped off at noon and was still going strong 8 hours later. Hundreds of organizations and companies participated with elaborate floats, marching bands, and fabulous outfits.
Barbara S., a veteran Parade goer came in from Kenilworth, NJ with her 17 year old brother Jorge. He’ll be returning to High School as a Senior in September and has plans to go to college. Jorge already came out to his family and friends and told the Gazette that, for the most part, everybody’s been cool with it. Sunday was his first Pride Parade and his delight was impossible to miss.
Barbara pointed out that this is the first year the Parade was being televised live. Regarding the corporate pride on display – hundreds of companies, from Adobe to Uber, sponsored floats – she judged that a positive development. “It demonstrates acceptance and progress” as did the live broadcast, she added.
