The Reclaim Pride Coalition’s third annual Queer Liberation March on June 27 will kick off at Bryant Park and conclude with a rally at Washington Square Park, organizers announced on May 10.
The annual march — which does not allow police, politicians, or corporate floats — will begin at 3 p.m., though marchers are encouraged to gather at 2:30 p.m. at Sixth Avenue and West 41st Street.
Marchers will step off there and head west on West 41st Street to Seventh Avenue before marching south to Sheridan Square and the Stonewall Inn, according to organizers. Marchers will then head east on West Fourth Street to Washington Square Park. The rally will feature speakers and performers.
The march and rally will be live-streamed. Organizers say the broadcast will include pre-recorded clips stemming from Reclaim Pride’s panel discussions with the Bureau of General Services – Queer Division.
It is the third straight year of a march that formed in response to the corporate and police presence at Heritage of Pride’s (HOP) annual march. Because of the pandemic, HOP did not have an in-person march last year, but tens of thousands of people participated in Reclaim Pride’s Queer Liberation March for Black Lives and Against Police Brutality. This year, HOP’s march will have “to-be-determined in-person elements.”
Last year’s Queer Liberation March started earlier in the afternoon at Foley Square and proceeded to Washington Square Park, where marchers were pepper sprayed by police officers in a chaotic scene.
“I see the Queer Liberation March as the antidote to the proliferation of those over-baked parades,” Jay W. Walker, a Reclaim Pride Coalition volunteer said in a written statement. “People are hurting right now, and have been for decades. Enough of the corporate use of our flags and identities to pinkwash their crimes. Enough of the NYPD violently attacking protests. And enough of the politicians benefiting off our communities’ pain to boost their vote count. We need them to do their damn jobs.”
The 2019 march, which took place on the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, resembled the route taken during the 1970 march. The 2019 march concluded with a rally at Central Park.
Earlier this year Reclaim Pride stressed that hand sanitizer and masks will be available at the march and along the route. Spare wheelchairs will be available for those who need them and American Sign Language will be on hand. Medics will also be at the march.
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