The rainbow arches pass by the Empire State Building. | MICHAEL LUONGO
PHOTO ESSAY BY DONNA ACETO AND MICHAEL LUONGO | Even though this year’s LGBT Pride March, marking the 45th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion, lacked the triumphalism of last year’s victories over the Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8, participants and spectators were in a buoyant and boisterous mood.
Among those marching down Fifth Avenue on Sunday, June 29 were Governor Andrew Cuomo; a spirited Mayor Bill de Blasio, joined by his wife Chirlane McCray; grand marshal Laverne Cox, star of Netflix’s hit show “Orange Is the New Black,” joined by Delores Nettles, who held up a picture of her daughter Islan, a transgender woman slain last year in Harlem; grand marshal Jonathan Groff, with his HBO “Looking” co-star Frankie J. Alvarez; the out LGBT members of the City Council, including Manhattan’s Corey Johnson and Brooklyn’s Carlos Menchaca; and Bianca del Rio, winner of the sixth season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” on Logo.
Laverne Cox and Delores Nettles. | DONNA ACETO
Dykes on Bikes lead the march. | DONNA ACETO
Mayor Bill de Blasio and First Lady Chirlane McCray. | DONNA ACETO
Frankie J. Alvarez and Jonathan Groff. | MICHAEL LUONGO
Governor Andrew Cuomo. | DONNA ACETO
The march reaches the Stonewall Inn. | MICHAEL LUONGO
Councilman Corey Johnson. | DONNA ACETO
Bianca del Rio. | MICHAEL LUONGO
Councilman Carlos Menchaca. | MICHAEL LUONGO
Latino Pride on Parade. | MICHAEL LUONGO
A Fifth Avenue flourish. | DONNA ACETO
