Today, the New York Pride parade rivals Sao Paulo Gay Pride Parade and Madrid Pride as the largest pride parade in the world, attracting each year in June hundreds of thousands of participants and millions of sidewalk spectators. The March passes by the site of the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street, location of the June 1969 Stonewall riots. Gay Pride New York has continued this proud tradition by hosting the event in various locations throughout the city. A year later in 1970, the very first NYC Pride March took place on June 28. This was followed by a candlelight vigil in Sheridan Square. Following these violent and discriminatory attacks, 500 people gathered for a “Gay Power” demonstration in Washington Square Park a month later. In the morning of June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a local gay bar in Greenwich Village that very much represented the city's underground LGBTQ culture. The first NYC Pride Rally occurred one month after the Stonewall Riots in June 1969, that launched the modern Gay Rights Movement. Taking place in the month of June, during the height of New York's summer, NYC Pride illuminates the city with a range of LGBTQ-related parties, events, conferences, and of course one incredible and colorful parade. Gay Pride New York is right on up there as one of the biggest and best gay prides in the globe, after all it is the Big Apple we're talking about.
