New York Celebrates the 40th Anniversary of Stonewall
Posted by Brody on July 1, 2009This past week, the people in New York celebrated Gay Pride along with other major cities that celebrate during the last week of June such as Houston, San Francisco, Chicago and Seattle. Many celebrations took place in each of the five boroughs as well. This year the celebrations were particularly fantastic as this was the fortieth anniversary of Stonewall. This year five major events took place, along with the smaller events happening throughout the city. Many traveled to celebrated the anniversary in the city wherein the riots occurred and the 5 star New York hotels were entirely booked. The opening rally was on June 20, 2009, then following throughout the week was PRIDEfest, the parade, the Dance on the Pier, and finally the Rapture on the River. Each of these events took place in the Village, close to Chelsea.
Bryant Park hosted the opening Rally, which ran from 2 to 6. Many local celebrities spoke at the rally, including one of the New York Senators, Tom Duane. Local poets and actors performed and spoke to the many who were in attendance. Two dances were held, one on Saturday at Pier 54, and the final dance of the week long celebration was on Sunday, also at the Pier 54. This particular dance came about during a time when gay friends were not able to dance with each other, or show affection without fear of being harmed or injured. This is in a way, a protest of dance and music has become tradition, and celebrates how far society has come. This is the gathering place once the march is over, where those in attendance dance throughout the night to live music and fireworks displays. The PRIDEfest did not take place in 2007, as there was a dispute over issues related to parking, but this year many street entertainers, vendors, artists and organizations had their booths set up on Hudson Street and many attended the gathering that ran from 11 in the morning until 7 o’clock Sunday night.
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