Two city EMTs are now engaged thanks to one hot proposal.
Fire Department emergency medical technician Julianna Arroyo, from Station 20 in the Bronx, proposed to fellow FDNY EMT Erika Marrero at the Pride Parade on Sunday.
“This parade is monumental for us because of the Orlando shooting,” Arroyo said via the FDNY’s Facebook page.
“It hit really close to home. We wanted to walk in the parade in honor of the 49 victims. At the same time, I wanted to give Erika something positive to remember from the parade,” she added.
During the march, from 36th St. and Fifth Ave. to Christopher St. in the Village, Arroyo, in her department uniform, got on one knee as friends and family members cheered her on.
A smiling Marrero held out her left hand and the couple embraced. The crowd erupted in joy, many waving rainbow flags.
“I think that’s a yes!” one onlooker said.
“Congratulations to the happy couple!” the FDNY posted.
The thrilled EMTs were among the many smiling faces lining the parade route.
Yet the enthusiasm was tempered by the massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando.
Jesse McElwain, 26, marched with his mother, Rika Alpert, 68, who held up a shimmering sign that said, “Control guns, not love.”
“It’s more important now than ever to protect LGBT Americans who are so often the victims of gun violence,” Alpert, of Montclair, N.J., said.
McElwain, who is gay, agreed, but emphasized that Pride remains a celebration as well.
“This is a day to be proud of who we are and that’s it,” McElwain said.
Curtis Thompson, 53, has attended every year of the parade since 1996.
“I’m feeling happy to be here, to see what the people who came before me fought for,” he said.
But Thompson, a cleaner at a yoga studio, said he was surprised at what appeared to be a low turnout as he stood a block from the Stonewall Inn.
“Last year around this time it was completely packed,” Thompson, of Trinidad and Tobago, said about noon.
The 2015 Pride Parade was attended by 2.5 million people, with about 20,000 people marching.
About the same number of attendees was expected Sunday, although many did say the Pulse shooting had made them think twice about coming to the parade.
Michelle Williams, 37, and Diana Cordero, 49, traveled to the event from Westchester County despite their fears.
“It really scared me,” said Williams, who works in information technology for ABC.
“I didn’t want to come because I’ve been very fearful. You never know what’s going on.”
But the parade was a show of solidarity that was just too important to miss, she said.
“We can all be fearful tomorrow, but today we won’t be fearful,” Williams said.
Also among the marchers were board members of New York’s National Puerto Rican Day Parade, who honored the 23 victims in the Pulse massacre who were of Puerto Rican descent.
The attack occurred the night before the Puerto Rican Day Parade, where one of the main themes was LGBT rights.
Board member Louis Maldonado said marching was a way to “honor the memories of those we lost, and join the other Pride Parade contingents to foster unity, love, strength and equality around the world.
“It’s a symbol of our solidarity with Orlando and to express our condolences to those families healing after great loss,” he added.
With Stephen Rex Brown, Erica Y. Lopez
