18 LGBTQ Groups to Lead NYC Pride March 2017 as “The Resistance”

Written by Alexander Kacala on June 22, 2017

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18 LGBTQ community organizations will march together at the front of this year’s NYC Pride March on Sunday, June 25.

Thousands of marchers will convert their frustration and anger at President Trump and his administration into a celebration of strength, perseverance and community. The allied “Resistance” was formed in response to the attacks on the LGBTQ community by the current administration, a complicit Republican Party and other enemies of civil rights and social justice.

Beginning in late February and throughout the spring, activists negotiated with Heritage of Pride (HOP), the organization that plans NYC Pride, to ensure that “The Resistance” would be allowed to lead this year’s march.

“Since the Stonewall Riots and the first pride march, LGBTQ rights–and indeed our very lives–have never been under siege like they are now under the Trump regime,” said Ken Kidd, a longtime New York City activist who conceived the plan for resistance groups to lead the march and who led the negotiations with HOP. “Every year, the March celebrates our victories in our fight for equality. This year, it must celebrate our ongoing commitment to keep the rights our community has worked so hard to achieve—and bond us together to expand on them. ”

New York’s March builds on the momentum from the pride parade in Los Angeles, which activists turned into a resistance march. In Washington, DC, activists mounted their own alternative Equality March for Unity and Pride. For Columbus, Ohio’s Pride Festival, refugees fleeing persecution will serve as grand marshals.

The diverse, multi-generational groups plan to employ chanting, singing, dancing, die-ins and a wide array of props and visuals to express their resistance to a historic assault on LGBTQ rights.

The 18 LGBTQ and AIDS groups confirmed to be marching as The Resistance at the NYC Pride March are:

The NYC Pride March will be televised live in its entirety for the first time this year on WABC-TV.

The marchers will use the hashtag #ProudlyRESISTING across social media platforms and encourage supporters to do so as well.

New York City NYC Pride Pride resist!