• Dozens of floats rolled through Manhattan on Sunday as legions of people came to watch, remember and celebrate.
  • The march came at an emotional time, just weeks after a mass shooting at a gay club in Orlando, Fla.

For Some, the Party Continues

As the stream of floats now winds down, we will end our coverage of the pride parade and close up shop.

But the party will continue into the night.

Dance on the Pier, the largest fundraiser for NYC Pride, is one option for the 21 and up crowd. And a new event this year is Femme Fatale, a rooftop party for women on West 46th Street.

And do not forget the fireworks over the Hudson River.

A Common Theme

Wherever pride was celebrated today, Orlando was not far from people’s thoughts.

We believe that is a phoenix.

Shoes, Shoes, Shoes

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Glitter abounds.Credit Damon Winter/The New York Times

The parade route stretched for blocks and blocks before ending in Greenwich Village, but that did not stop many attendees — particularly the exquisitely dressed drag queens — from striding down in the parade in sky-high heels.

There were patent thigh-high boots with satin laces worn with Speedos, knee-high leg warmers made of rainbow fur, stilettos with shirt dresses above and little else, roller skates worn with knee socks spelling out the word “gay.”

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All kinds of shoe diversity was on display.Credit Sam Hodgson for The New York Times

Pride was on display, but fashion was in equal measure: For those who could not hack the heels there were rainbow glitter sneakers.

On a bench near Madison Square Park, Nick DeFrancesco kicked off a pair of six-inch heels to slide his feet into sandals. “I walked 40 blocks in heels,” he said. “Feminism, man.”

The parade was a chance to be himself, and spend time with his boyfriend, Jake Leavitt, whom he started dating six months ago. As he sat at the park, he recalled less safe spaces; both said that they have been verbally attacked in public for being gay.

“It was the first time I though that by just being alive its putting me in danger,” Mr. DeFrancesco said.

He laughed as he held up his heels. “Fabulousness does not save you from hate.”

(Even) Mormons March

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A lovely day for a walk.Credit Damon Winter/The New York Times

Diversity was everywhere on display today — including of the religious variety.

Catholic flew flags, Muslim and Jewish groups waved banners as the long parade snaked through the city.

And on Sunday evening, a group of Mormons and former Mormons, walked down Christopher Street.

Melanie Van Orden, 35, said she had left the church after a recent ruling that children of gay families could not be baptized. Ms. Orden, who is straight, said the decision was painful.

“I love my Mormon heritage,” she said. “My dream was to raise my children in the church. I just don’t believe God is like that. I don’t believe God hates.”

Behind a Sculpture, A Love Story

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Credit Sarah Maslin Nir/The New York Times

In 1979, the pop artist George Segal was commissioned to create a sculpture commemorating the uprising at the Stonewall Inn a decade before. His group of white figures, entitled “Gay Liberation,” was completed in 1980 but did not appear in Christopher Park until 1992.

The two women who posed for the sculpture, Leslie Cohen and Beth Suskin, found themselves near the likenesses on Friday, minutes after President Barack Obama designated the Stonewall Inn, and an area around it that includes the park, a national monument. (It has also been declared a New York city and state monument).

“I said, ‘Are you kidding me?'” Ms. Suskin told Pix 11.

Ms. Cohen wrote about how the women met and ended up as the models for the sculpture in T Magazine. It is a long story, but in the end, a simple one. It is the story, as she wrote, of “two women sitting on a park bench who really love each other.”

Today, the sculptures were covered in roses.

Video: More Sights and Sounds

Photo: Damon Winter/The New York Times; Video: By YOUSUR AL-HLOU and NEIL COLLIER

A Drag Angel

As he walked with his mother on Fifth Avenue, Sean Flynn, 17, towered in six-inch black stilettos, a sequined dress and angel wings.

Mr. Flynn has been dressing in drag for the past four years, and occasionally performs in drag shows for his Long Island youth group.
His favorite aspect of drag shows was the transformation and costuming involved, he said.

“You can be anyone you want to be,” he said.

When asked about his winged costume choice for the parade, he struck a pose before giving his response.

“You want to look like an angel but act like a devil,” he said.

The Role of the Guardian Angels

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A Guardian Angel.Credit Hilary Swift for The New York Times

In red jackets and caps, a small group of Guardian Angels, a public safety group started by Curtis Sliwa, strode down the street.

“We’ve patrolled Christopher Street for 20 years,” Mr. Sliwa said.

“I remember a time when the mobs would shake down gays and lesbians. We’d report it to the police and they did nothing.”

He turned and looked at the Stonewall Inn.

“But when they rebelled, then all of a sudden the city became very aware of it. If they hadn’t rebelled, it would’ve continued to be that way. It’s the epicenter, it’s where the fight took place,” he said, referring to the uprising at Stonewall.

“They realized they didn’t have to take that prejudice.”

Supporting Gay Muslims

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A queer Middle Eastern and North African group at the parade.Credit Sam Hodgson for The New York Times

At this year’s parade, like so many before it, Nigel Ramdass was planning to watch from the sidelines or stay home entirely. As a gay Muslim, he had never felt safe or welcome amid the cavalcade of demonstrators. After the massacre in Orlando, Fla., his plans changed.

“I couldn’t remain under the radar anymore,” said Mr. Ramdass, 33, of Sunset Park, Brooklyn. “America needs to see gay Muslims because we exist and we’re not going anywhere.”

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Nigel RamdassCredit Noah Remnick

Proudly waving a rainbow banner above his head, Mr. Ramdass marched with representatives from Muslims for Progressive Values, a group that advocates for the traditional Islamic values of social justice and equality.

The march was especially profound for Barza Diaz, 28, because it was taking place during the holy month of Ramadan.

Observing Ramandan, she was fasting and was parched on the hot parade route.

But she was determined nonetheless to march.

“This is a conversation we have to have internally as Muslims. We need to wake up, there is homophobia in our own community,” she said.

Ms. Diaz, who is straight, said her husband felt some misgivings about her marching because of safety concerns.

She marched anyway. “It’s been blessed,” she said. “Nonstop cheering for us. I didn’t anticipate that.”

Mr. Ramdass explained that outside of the parade, gay Muslims face extraordinary bigotry.

“People don’t understand what we’re facing as a community,” said Mr. Ramdass. “It’s a double dose of homophobia and Islamophobia, and it’s got to stop.”

‘I’m Thinking of All of the Friends I Lost’

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Credit Emily Palmer

Mourning is a theme of this year’s parade, but it is not a new one for the event.

“I’m thinking of all of the friends I lost in the ’80s,” said John Burris, 74, as he watched the march.

“I lost 75 friends to AIDS. The hospitals wouldn’t touch them. They left the food out in the hallways. The nurses wouldn’t come in. Doctors were covered from head to toe like they were on the moon. We had to change the sheets. After they died, we had to decide what to do with the bodies. We’d call the parents, and some of them just hung up on us. I put their ashes in the Hudson River and the Grand Canyon. I’d dump the ashes and they’d go in the air,” he paused, rubbing his hands together, catching his breath.

Mr. Burris’s partner died 12 years ago; he said he would not have believed the changes that would come to pass over the past decades. “We had no idea the beauty that would be here today,” he said.

Mr. Burris moved to New York from Phoenix in 1969 and said he took part in the events at Stonewall Inn. He said he had attended between 25 and 30 pride parades since then, and was overwhelmed by the support of the New York Police Department this year. “The protection they’re providing, they’re out here in the crowd,” he said. “It gives me chills.”

A police vehicle passed with the department’s initials painted in many colors, followed by a fire truck with someone hanging off the side door, sequins blazing.

“It happened because of Orlando,” Mr. Burris said. “I’m floored. It’s amazing. It’s really amazing. Good things come out of bad things.”

Corporate Vehicles

On a float for American Express a drag queen spoke into a microphone: “American Express is accepted everywhere, I’m accepted most places.”

It was hardly the lone corporate vehicle.

Hilton, Diet Coke, Vitamin Water, Dasani, Walmart and Delta Air Lines sent contingents or floats down the pride parade route, some offering beverages and other gifts to the crowds, others just marching in corporate logo gear.

“Pride in Flight” was on the Delta marchers’ shirts, and T-shirts Walmart hurled into the crowd had rainbows on them. Kiehl’s, a beauty product line, gave out free samples of lotion.

The floats were distinctly more sober than the non-corporate marchers, with the exception of a rocket ship for K-Y lubricant, which suggested something other than a spaceship.

There was no question for some that the companies had changed the parade.

“Let me tell you, pride isn’t what it used to be,” said Boe Bishop, 70, who has attended the parade every year since 1971.

Even as he applauded the ballooning size of the crowd, he lamented that the parade has grown less intimate and increasingly corporate.

“This should be about people not profits,” he said.

David Terry, 52, is H.I.V. positive and has marched for 15 years.
“When I used to walk it was fabulous, because people cared about one another.”

The corporate presence, he said, was destroying the soul of the parade. “They really don’t know what this is about, for them, it’s about money and monopolizing.”

Nevertheless, after the hot march, he gratefully accepted a free bottle of Dasani water.

No Rain on This Parade

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On Fifth Avenue.Credit Damon Winter/The New York Times

Remembering Black Gay History

For Lee Soulja, an artist and activist, pride is a chance not only a time to celebrate but also to teach.

“Trans women of color started the movement, but it seems they’re being written out of the narrative,” said Mr. Soulja, 50. “I’m here to make sure we don’t forget names like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera.”

The two drag queens were gay-rights pioneers, part of the first wave of protestors who demonstrated outside the Stonewall Inn.

As he marched today, Mr. Soulja passed out fliers for NYC Black Pride, a five-day celebration planned for mid-August, of which he is executive director. The festival will feature a series of fares, symposiums, parties, and protests that focus on the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender black community.

“I’m thrilled pride has gotten as big as it is, that’s great,” he said. “But it’s a dangerous thing to whitewash history.”

Pride, in Virtual Reality

Google is documenting pride events around the world this summer and has made a virtual reality montage of scenes from some of them.

You can watch using a VR headset, or check out the YouTube video above (hint: drag the screen around to get a 360-degree view of the scenes).

Enter Your Caption Here

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There are no words.Credit Sarah Maslin Nir/The New York Times

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Meanwhile, in San Francisco

https://www.twitter.com/BelaBelarina/status/747134689215819776

San Francisco, the city long identified with gay pride, is hosting its own parade today, but it’s not without its critics.

Black Lives Matter and other organizations withdrew from the parade because of increased policing following the Orlando shooting.

Meanwhile, some would-be participants told the Guardian they would be sitting out the march because it had become too straight, too white and too corporate.

Eye Candy

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Zachary PflughCredit Samantha Schmidt/The New York Times

A pink-haired man dressed in a pink shirt adorned with large cotton balls posed for photos along the Fifth Avenue parade route.

“People call me eye candy,” said Zachary Pflugh, a gay freelance makeup artist from New Jersey, said. “So today, I’m cotton candy.”

Coming out helped Mr. Pflugh overcome 19 years of depression, he said.

“My whole world changed,” he said. “I finally accepted myself.

“It’s a battle turned into a giant celebration,” he said.