The Reclaim Pride Coalition has finalized plans for the sixth annual Queer Liberation March, which will take place on the final Sunday of Pride Month at around the same time as the main NYC Pride March.
The 2024 Queer Liberation March will originate at Sheridan Square and head south to Battery Park, where marchers will be able to spot the Statue of Liberty — an intentional move by organizers who underscored the symbolic nature of the statue. The march will begin at 11:30 a.m. — just 30 minutes after the main NYC Pride March steps off — on June 30. The Reclaim Pride Coalition is asking marchers to assemble at 11 a.m.
“The decision to march from Sheridan Square and the Stonewall to The Battery was born of a desire to honor the history of Pride, cover a wide swath of Manhattan, and bring the energy of Queer Liberation to lower Manhattan,” Reclaim Pride Coalition co-founder Jay W. Walker said in a written statement. “Importantly, the March will end in view of the Statue of Liberty, an enduring symbol of the ever-present need to continue striving toward the ideals of “Liberty and Justice For All” upon which the country has claimed to be founded, but has consistently failed to achieve.”
The route comes as little surprise after Battery Park was floated as an ending location during a Reclaim Pride Coalition town hall on Jan. 26. That park, members said at the time, would not be as close to residential neighborhoods as the previous ending location of Washington Square Park.
The organizers also unveiled a lengthy theme for this year’s march, which is labeled as the Queer Liberation March for Black, Brown, Queer, Trans, Gender Non-conforming, and Non-binary Youth, and Against War and Genocide. Reclaim Pride’s announcement condemned wars and violence around the world, including in Gaza; Congo; Manipur, India; Azerbaijan; Ukraine; and Zimbabwe. Reclaim Pride also voiced support for organizers of Gaza solidarity encampments.
The theme further seeks to acknowledge the anti-LGBTQ platform of the Republican Party and Project 2025, which is a broad campaign to reshape the federal government under the next GOP president. LGBTQIA+ youth, Black and Brown communities, immigrants, and people assigned female at birth are among the targets of that campaign, according to organizers.
The Queer Liberation March was first held in 2019 in an effort to bring Pride back to its original roots — free of corporate involvement and police. While the Queer Liberation March is not nearly as large as the main march, it has drawn tens of thousands of people and served as the biggest march during the height of the COVID pandemic when the other march was limited to virtual festivities.
The Reclaim Pride Coalition is looking for volunteers to assist in the march, including marshals. There will be a free, in-person marshal training on Saturday, May 18 at 1 p.m. at The People’s Forum at 320 W. 37th St. in Manhattan. Learn more at reclaimpridenyc.org.
