Thousands of people flocked to Jackson Heights yesterday for the annual Queens LGBT Pride Parade. And while same-sex marriage was on the minds of many, one gay activist says it shouldn't obscure other causes. Reverend Pat Bumgardner is the pastor at Metropolitan Community Church and one of the grand marshals of the parade. She says that activists should also address human rights in other nations, where it's still illegal to be gay.
"Whatever countries, nations think about the United States, it still is a global voice for hope and for change, and we in the queer community need to take that part of our heritage as Americans seriously."
At the parade, Council Speaker Christine Quinn said she's encouraged by reports from gay rights activists who have been meeting with same-sex marriage holdouts, and that the Senate will approve it before the end of its session this month.
Arun Venugopal is a reporter and the creator of Micropolis, WNYC’s multi-platform series examining race, sexuality, religion, street life and other issues that define New York City. He has been with the station since 2005, and has covered a wide range of stories, including the death of Sean Bell, the controversy over the Park 51 mosque and community center and Occupy Wall Street .
Comments [2]
What gives Kurt Anderson and Studio 360 the right to criticize the Rainbow Flag as "too 1978?" That's like saying the American Flag is too 1775. Our country's flag was added to over the years, not altered. I came out in 1973. I was around when the community adopted the Rainbow Flag as a symbol of LesbianGayTrans pride. It was originally a symbol of one of Jesse Jackson's grass roots movements. I marched in the Lesbian and Gay Pride March under that flag in 1975, and have been marching under it ever since. As a founding member of the Lesbian and Gay Big Apple Corp, (originally the New York City Gay Community Marching Band founded 1979) the band played in the streets of New York when it wasn't always safe or pleasant and it played with pride and courage under that flag. It's ironic, it's also infuriating to me that people who don't know anything about what it meant to be a LesbianGayTrans activist back then feel that they have the right to criticize and change a sacred symbol of years of struggle. I also don't appreciate your seemingly flippant attitude toward the subject. Celebrate the 40th anniversary of Stonewall by keeping our flag a Rainbow. Jacqui Aquilino-Jirak
[...] Yorkers celebrate gay pride Rainbow flags have been flying for weeks all around the city — as gay pride celebrations take over the streets. New York’s claim to the beginning of the gay rights movement, starts, [...]
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