STONEWALL 50
Jersey City Celebrates Pride
Sunday fest focuses on 50th anniversary of Stonewall, opposition to Trump
BY MATT TRACY
LGBTQ folks and allies
waved Rainbow Flags,
marched together, and
recognized the 50th anniversary
of the Stonewall riots
during the 19th annual Jersey
City Pride festival on August 25.
On a beautiful Sunday afternoon
in August, folks marched along
Newark Avenue between Grove
Street and Jersey Avenue before
enjoying the entertainment stages,
vendor booths, and food options
lining the city’s streets.
The slate of entertainment featured
burlesque performer and
singer Lillian Bustle, who served
as emcee, along with Allegra
Spread, Aaliyah Martinez, and DJ
Chauncey D.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy,
Rainbow Flag in hand, greeted
locals and stepped on stage to vow
his support for LGBTQ issues and
Drummers perform near an entertainment stage during Jersey Pride festivities.
stand against the bigoted rhetoric
and policies stemming from the
White House.
“We rise and fall as one family
in New Jersey, and in the center
of our family is the LGBTQ community,”
Murphy said before slamming
President Donald Trump for
his continuous string of actions
GOVERNOR PHIL MURPHY/ TWITTER
targeting queer Americans, which
include efforts to give employers
the ability to discriminate against
workers on the basis of sexual orientation
and gender identity.
“What he is doing to the community
and so many communities,
but in particular this community,
day in and day out — the hostility,
the us versus them, the anger, the
real policies that are coming down
from Washington — the struggle is
far from over,” he added. “I know
you know that, but I want you to
know that I know that.”
The commemoration of Stonewall
50 marked an opportunity for
Jersey City residents to honor the
activism that occurred just across
the Hudson River in Manhattan
fi ve decades ago.
In that same spirit of LGBTQ
history, there was a visible art display
honoring LGBTQ icons of the
past and present, from Marsha P.
Johnson — who was from nearby
Elizabeth, New Jersey — and Sylvia
Rivera to Billy Porter and Ellen
DeGeneres.
“To the brothers and sisters who
came before us... The pioneers in
the LGBTQ+ community deserve
our never-ending respect for their
courage, their passion, their leadership,”
Murphy added.
LGBTQ Trailblazers Honored at Dominican Day Parade
Spotlight shines on LGBTQ rights at 50, queer ambassadors from across New York
BY MATT TRACY
The organizers of the
Dominican Day Parade
paid special tribute to
the 50th anniversary of
Stonewall and six LGBTQ Dominican
Americans at the 37th annual
march on August 11.
The annual event on the second
Sunday of August features tens of
thousands of marchers as well as
untold numbers of revelers who line
Sixth Avenue in Midtown, where
folks gather to celebrate Dominican
culture in the summer heat.
At this year’s parade, there was a
unique focus on LGBTQ rights.
LGBTQ ambassadors recognized
at the August 11 parade
were Chanel López, an activist
who serves as a transgender community
liaison at the city Commission
on Human Rights; Elvin
García, an out gay former City
Council candidate who fell short
in his 2017 campaign against homophobic
lawmaker Ruben Diaz,
Sr.; Samy Nemir-Olivares, who
co-founded Queeramisú, which is
focused on bolstering representation
of LGBTQ people of color in
government and advocacy; Deivis
Ventura, the fi rst out gay man to
run for Congress in the Dominican
Republic; activist Genesis Aquino;
and beauty consultant Chachita
Rubio.
An LGBTQ contingent marched
together at the parade alongside
former Wally Brewster, the out gay
former US ambassador to the Dominican
Republic, and out lesbian
activist Dr. Jacqueline Jiménez Polanco.
“We marched for the LGBT people
in the Dominican Republic who
are yet to see fulfi lled their constitutional
rights of human dignity
and the right for equality,” Nemir-
Olivares said in a written statement.
López, the fi rst trans woman to
be recognized at the parade, was
proud to play a role in the festivities
and said the recognition “was
a great statement and example of
solidarity and support to respect
dignity and promotion of human
rights.”
Others acknowledged the impact
that the LGBTQ theme could have
on folks back in the Dominican
Republic. García stressed that the
parade represented an important
moment for queer young people in
the island nation and for those who
were on hand at the family-friendly
event.
“The most powerful outcome of
this moment is that LGBT youth
in the Dominican Republic were
able to see members of their own
community embraced in America’s
largest city, home to almost
900,000 Dominicans, as the positive
role models that they are for
the Dominican diaspora in New
York City,” he said.
Among others who stood with the
community at the parade included
former Brooklyn City Councilmember
Diana Reyna, who became the
fi rst Dominican-American woman
elected to public offi ce in the state.
She conveyed a message of solidarity
with the queer Dominican community.
“One of the most profound statements
was people calling from the
Dominican Republic reaching out
and saying how proud they are
that we as a parade are commemorating,
identifying and making
sure that we are acknowledging
our civil rights liberties,” she said.
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