"Pride means power, pride means joy, and pride means to love."  

Exactly one year after the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, the very first pride parade kicked off on Christopher Street with a march up New York's Sixth Avenue and into the Sheep Meadow in Central Park. They marched to demonstrate against decades of systemic discrimination, inequality, and harassment.  

Fifty years later, New York City was preparing for the biggest pride celebration yet when COVID-19 struck. Undeterred, the global LGBTQIA+ community transformed this special anniversary into a global virtual celebration. In Why We March, voices from the past five decades of the NYC Pride March share what PRIDE means to them and reveal the power of PRIDE in personal histories, moments that shaped their lives, and how it has informed the LGBTQIA+ rights movement.  

From riding down Fifth Avenue on the Caribbean truck and volunteering with the balloon arches, to dancing at the piers and going to the Latex Ball, each memory shows that 50 years later, PRIDE is still loud and proud.  

A special thanks to the contributors:  

Adanna Mbanugo
Mario Schmitt
Matthew Kovalsky
Alberto Medina
Vlad Sudacov
Leandro Rodriguez
Samantha Johnson
Justin Russo
Ella Ri
Sita, Icelyn, and Shavani Ugbomah-Ragbir
Randy Marsden
Brian Heck
Vernon Leftwich
Andre Thomas
Viannie Bell
Susanne Bartsch
Christian Cerna Parker
Landon Harless    

Audio footage of the first gay pride parade from the film Gay and Proud from the Lilli M. Vincenz Collection, courtesy of the Library of Congress.