Celebrating Pride Around the City

Pride Month is in full swing, which means that rainbow flags are waving from windows, queer protests and marches have taken over the streets, and my roommates are graciously allowing loose glitter in our household.

Thanks to the pandemic, Pride in 2020 was a more distant and subdued iteration, but this year the city is (mostly) back in full swing with plenty of parties, demonstrations and celebrations for the whole family. Many of these events are selling out quickly, so it’s worth booking sooner than later.

If you’re looking for parties and marches, there’ll be no shortage of options. The party maven Ladyfag and one of her resident D.J.s, Honey Dijon, will be taking over Brooklyn Steel on Friday and Saturday before throwing their annual 12-hour Pride party at Rumi, in Chelsea. Papi Juice, the collective that throws celebrations for queer and transgender people of color, will also be at Bushwick’s Elsewhere on Saturday with both day and night parties.

The annual NYC Dyke March, on Saturday, will start at 5 p.m. and move down Fifth Avenue from Bryant Park to Washington Square Park. The roving queer party known as Hot Rabbit will also be throwing an after-party for the march in Brooklyn at 3 Dollar Bill that starts at 7 p.m.

Sunday will see a variety of events around the city. PrideFest, the family-friendly L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ street fair, will run from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., though the annual NYC Pride March will be virtual this year; grand marshals will include Wilson Cruz, Ceyenne Doroshow, Menaka Guruswamy, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis and Aaron Rose Philip.

The Reclaim Pride Coalition’s Queer Liberation March & Rally — an alternative to the Pride March, without police participants or corporate sponsorship — will also be starting at Bryant Park at 2:30 p.m. House of Yes will also be hosting a free all-ages dance party that day in Herald Square from noon to 4 p.m., just a block away from the Queer Liberation march route.

In Queens, FAM, a ticketed party in the garden of the Knockdown Center in Maspeth, will feature a group of drag and nightlife collectives (Bubble_T, Bushwig, Gardens, In Living Color, POC Collective, YAS Mama and The Cake Boys), from 2 to 10 p.m.

Our Pride roundups from early June also include various queer films and exhibits that are showing around the city and gay restaurants that are worth a visit. New York’s gay and lesbian bars will also be bustling all week, if you want to grab a drink — I love sitting in the backyard at Park Slope’s Good Judy.

A few more ideas

• Free fun: Take the ferry to Governors Island for Porch Stomp, an American folk music festival that’s taking over the island’s makeshift stages from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday.

• In Brooklyn: Join Kulture Kave, a group that highlights Black dancers, for a Caribbean dance class on the roof of the Brooklyn Children’s Museum from 5:45 to 8 p.m. on Saturday.

• On Staten Island: Bring the kids to watch “Coco” under the stars at the Clove Lakes Park House at 8:30 p.m on Saturday.

• In Manhattan: George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic are playing SummerStage in Central Park on Sunday at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m.

• In Queens: Homeroom, which is part of MoMA PS1’s outdoor courtyard space, has been taken over by Qween Jean. Trans-identifying people are invited to enter this sacred space of affirmations and offerings that centers on Black, trans, two-spirit and gender nonconforming people. (Timed tickets to MoMA PS1 can be reserved on its site — tickets are free for New York City residents).

• For date night: Head to Prospect Park’s Dreamland Roller Disco for a night of skating and ’90s hip-hop music on Friday from 7 to 10 p.m.

• With friends: The Illustrious Blacks will be D.J.ing house, disco and Afrofuturist funk at Lincoln Center’s Silent Disco on the Green (the synthetic lawn now blanketing the venue’s plaza) from 9 to 11 p.m. on Friday.

• Solo fun: “Carrie Moyer and Sheila Pepe: Tabernacles for Trying Times” — an exhibit featuring the work of the painter and sculptor couple, who fell in love 25 years ago — is at the Museum of Arts and Design in Manhattan. “Safe/Haven: Gay Life in 1950s Cherry Grove” is also showing at the New-York Historical Society Museum & Library.

What do you want to hear from us this summer? Are there events or venues we should know about? Send us a note at [email protected], or let us know in the comments.