50th anniversary of gay pride parades on both coasts
A selection of historical gay pride parade images from the AP Images archive.
The following excerpts are from an AP story reported on June 29, 1970:
Homosexuals in New York and Hollywood have paraded to press demands for equal treatment with heterosexuals.
About 3,000 persons, members of homosexual and sexual freedom groups from the Northeast marched from Greenwich Village to a Central Park “gay in” Sunday, concluding a series of events called Gay Pride Week.
Demonstrators are carrying signs as they parade down Hollywood Boulevard calling to end the discrimination against homosexuals, June 29, 1970, in Hollywood, Cali. Police estimations stated over 1,100 men and women participating in the march, with more than 25,000 people watching from the sidewalks. (AP Photo)
Meanwhile, in Hollywood, police estimated that 400 persons in various attires and accompanied by a makeshift float and python, marched down Hollywood Boulevard. The event’s sponsors said some 1,200 persons participated in the mile-long parade.
Michael Brown, 29, a founder of the Gay Liberation Front in New York said, “We’re probably the most harassed, persecuted minority group in history, but we’ll never have the freedom and civil rights we deserve as human beings unless we stop hiding in closets and in the shelter of anonymity…This march is an affirmation and declaration of our new pride.”
Celebrating the second annual Christopher Street Gay Liberation Day marchers cross 34th Street in New York, June 27, 1971. The march, moving from Greenwich Village up Sixth Avenue, will end with a rally in Central Park. (AP Photo)
In New York, hundreds of spectators observed the demonstration. Some took pictures, other commented in amusement and many were obviously a bit startled.
The West Coach march was sponsored by a group called Christopher Street West. It is named after a clash last year between police and homosexuals who frequented a bar on Christopher Street in New York.
The makeshift float depicted a homosexual nailed to a cross.
Some spectators of the Hollywood parade booed, made catcalls and wolf whistles, but others cheered and applauded. There was no violence.
Gay is the term homosexuals use to describe themselves and is juxtaposed with “straight,” used to describe heterosexuals.
Members of the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Marching Band and Twirling Corps dance down San Francisco's Market Street, June 27, 1982. (AP Photo/Carl Viti)
Some of 50,000 marchers carry signs during New York’s annual Gay Pride Day parade, June 28, 1981. (AP Photo/G. Paul Burnett)
One of 50,000 marchers carries a sign during New York’s annual Gay Pride Day parade, June 28, 1981. (AP Photo/G. Paul Burnett)
A costumed man marches down Fifth Avenue during the 14th annual Lesbian and Gay Pride parade in New York, June 27, 1983. (AP Photo/Mario Suriani)
A group of marchers carry a sign, “Fighting For Our Lives,” referring to AIDS victims during the 14th annual Lesbian and Gay pride parade held in New York, June 27, 1983. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis)
An all-male choir sings in front of New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue during the 15th Annual Gay Pride parade, Sunday, June 25, 1984. (AP Photo/Mario Cabrera)
Anti-gay protestors hold signs across from St. Patricks Cathedral on Sunday, June 24, 1984 in New York as the Gay Pride parade passed by. (AP Photo/David Bookstaver)
New York Mayor Edward I. Koch raises his arms in a "thumbs up" position as the 16th Annual Gay-Lesbian Pride Day parade makes its way down Fifth Avenue in New York, Sunday, June 30, 1985. Koch said "I am the mayor of all of the people of the city of New York," and added "we should not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation." (AP Photo/Mario Cabrera)
A number of participants in the Gay and Lesbian Pride parade dressed in drag wave from the “Beauty Springs Eternal” float on New York’s Fifth Avenue, Sunday, June 28, 1987. (AP Photo/Cory Stuller)
A group of male cheerleaders parade down Santa Monica Boulevard during the 17th annual Gay Pride parade in West Hollywood, Calif, Sunday, June 29, 1987. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)
Participants in the Gay and Lesbian Pride parade wave from their car as they drive down New York’s Fifth Avenue, June 29, 1987. (AP Photo/Corey Struller)
E.G. Smith, left, and his mother, Norma Isaacs, 88, sitting under an umbrella with a sign that reads, "Grandma For Gays," ride past the site of the original Stonewall Inn in New York's Greenwich Village during the annual Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade on Sunday, June 25, 1989. (AP Photo/Sergio Florez)
Marchers gather outside St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York during the annual Lesbian and Gay Pride parade, Sunday, June 25, 1989. (AP Photo/Sergio Florez)
Phil Donahue and Marlo Thomas march along New York’s Fifth Avenue during the 22nd Annual Gay and Lesbian Pride parade, Sunday, June 30, 1991. (AP Photo/David Cantor)
A participant in the 1993 Gay and Lesbian Pride parade gestures to the crowd in West Hollywood, Calif., June 27, 1993. (AP Photo/Eric Draper)
Marchers carrying a mile-long rainbow banner lead hundreds of thousands of gay rights activists up First Avenue in New York in "a continuous path of freedom" to Central Park to commemorate Stonewall 25, Sunday, June 26, 1994. (AP Photo/Eric Miller)
Stonewall veteran Sylvia Rivera leads the ACT-UP march past New York’s Union Square Park, June 26, 1994. (AP Photo/Justin Sutcliffe)
Four women march together in the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Pride parade with signs expressing their connection to one another in West Hollywood, Calif., Sunday, June 23, 1996. (AP Photo/Nancy Palmieri)
Robert Burgener, center, of the National AIDS Wish Association, holds up a rainbow banner with others during the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Pride parade in West Hollywood, Calif., Sunday, June 23, 1996. (AP Photo/Michael Caulfield)
Text from AP News story, Homosexuals Hold Equal Rights March, by The Post Crescent, on Monday, June 29, 1970.