STONEWALL 50/ WORLDPRIDE
Queer Liberation March Draws Many Thousands
Alternative, DIY gathering recalls LGBTQ movement’s radical roots
The banner leading the Queer Liberation March.
BY DUNCAN OSBORNE/ PHOTOS BY DONNA ACETO
Thousands turned out for the Queer
Liberation March and a rally that
was held on the Great Lawn in Central
Park in events that were explicitly
linked to the LGBTQ community’s radical
history and to its current far left politics.
“From early on, solidarity,” said Marsha Goldberg
who was heading up Sixth Avenue to Central
Park on June 30 with the Workers World
Party contingent. “Right from the beginning.”
The WWP has marched in every march since
1971 and it was likely alone among Socialist or
Marxist groups that embraced the new politics
of what is now called the LGBTQ community.
The Gay Liberation Front (GLF), the fi rst new
group to form following the 1969 riots at the
Stonewall Inn in the West Village, had members
in groups allied with the WWP and other
radical groups in the ‘60s. The annual marches
in New York City and elsewhere around the US
and the world commemorate the riots, which
are seen as marking the start of the modern
LGBTQ rights movement.
Goldberg said that when the WWP initially
created what was then called its “gay caucus,” it
had straight members who were receptive, but
still confused.
“They said, ‘We don’t understand, but we
know oppression when we see it,’” Goldberg said.
“This movement is a liberation movement.”
The 2019 march closely mirrored the route
taken by the 1970 march, the fi rst commemoration
of the riots. Both marches went up Sixth
Avenue to Central Park, but their starting
points differed by a block. The 1970 march ended
on the Sheep Meadow with a “gay-in.” This
year’s march also captured the radical spirit of
the early marches.
Groups included people who marched in the
1970 march, including some former GLF members
and members of the Gay Activists Alliance
DONNA ACETO
DUNCAN OSBORNE
Veterans of the Gay Activists Alliance.
(GAA), which also formed in late 1969, as well
as Rise and Resist, Revolting Lesbians, Gays
Against Guns, ACT UP, the HIV activist group,
and a contingent from Congregation Beit Simchat
Torah, the LGBTQ synagogue.
There were also signs calling for the federal
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency
to be abolished, “Free Abortion on Demand,”
supporting the boycott, divestment, and sanctions
movement that targets Israel, “We March
Against Transphobia,” “No Trump/ Pence Must
Go,” and other causes. As the march passed a
Chick-fi l-A outlet on Sixth Avenue, marchers
chanted “Shame, shame, shame.”
This year’s march and rally were produced by
the Reclaim Pride Coalition (RPC), which has
many members with deep roots in the LGBTQ,
anti-war, and other movements. The desire for
a separate march was fi rst expressed in 2017
when activists pressed Heritage of Pride, also
known as NYC Pride, for a resistance contingent
in that year’s Pride March that was meant
as a response to the election of Donald Trump.
The decision to pursue a separate march was
made last year when activists again pressed
NYC Pride for a resistance contingent.
Activists also objected to the dominant presence
of corporate sponsors in New York City’s
annual Pride March. While most of the contingents
in the parade are community groups and
DUNCAN OSBORNE
Marsha Goldberg from the Workers World Party.
DONNA ACETO
The contingent from Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, including
Senior Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum (under the umbrella) and her spouse
Randi Weingarten (to the right), the president of the American
Federation of Teachers.
non-profi ts, corporate sponsors are a dominant
presence with large fl oats and contingents. Activists
also wanted the policing of the parade
reduced and that members of the Gay Offi cers
Action League be required to march without
uniforms.
With this year marking the 50th anniversary
of the riots, the RPC members were unwilling
to appear in a parade that many understood
would be overrun with corporate fl oats and
would resemble a party, not a political event.
“I would say that the message overall is ‘It’s
not over,’” Ann Northrop, an RPC member, said
during a June 25 call with reporters. “We are in
the midst of a continuing fi ght for our freedom
and justice for all… We are doing this march to
inspire people to get involved. There is a lot going
on that still needs to be addressed.”
The RPC march and rally were produced with
a $200,000 budget while the NYC Pride budget
was $12 million this year, which is about triple
its usual budget. NYC Pride had the license for
WorldPride and was required by that license,
which is owned by InterPride, to produce some
additional events, such as opening and closing
ceremonies.
Prior to the RPC event, activists gave a range
➤ QUEER LIBERATION MARCH, continued on p.11
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