New York City Pride Goes Political

Two years to the day after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage across the nation, and roughly 48 years after the Stonewall Uprising gave birth to the modern movement for LGBT+ equality, more than one million people lined the streets of Manhattan to take part in New York’s Pride Parade. Tensions were visible between some factions of the marchers—some criticized Pride’s commercialization, others the presence of police among the parade’s marchers—with the election of President Donald Trump appearing to have galvanized the more political wing of LGBT+ community members.

Although the proximity of first daughter Ivanka Trump to the Oval Office had been viewed with cautious optimism by some LGBT+ Americans, others see her complicity in the Trump administration’s actions regarding trans students in public schools as undercutting her personal views on LGBT+ rights.

Some marchers chanted “Oh-lay, oh-lay oh-lay oh-lay / Fuck Trump… Fuck Trump,” while others focused on upcoming heath care legislation to be voted on in the Senate: “Hey Hey, Ho Ho / Trump’s new heath care got to go.”

Members of the organization Gays Against Guns mourned members of LGBT+ communities who have been killed by firearms, particularly in hate crimes or the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, one year ago.