New York marks 40 years of Stonewall riots

Manhattan

NY1

Gay pride was on full display along Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue Sunday as hundreds of thousands of people celebrated the 40th anniversary of the modern gay rights movement.

Participants at the Pride parade in New York (NYT)

Hundreds of thousands of people gathered along Fifth Avenue from Midtown to the West Village to cheer on marchers, floats and bands.

Organizers of the parade say the fight is still going on as state lawmakers consider legislation to legalize gay marriage. Governor David Paterson, a long-time advocate for gay rights, served as one of the parade’s grand marshals this year.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn says she was hoping this year participants could celebrate the new law.

“We definitely had high hopes that today would be maybe the most celebratory parade I’d ever participated in and a lot of people had ever participated in. That’s clearly not the case. And that’s very, very disappointing, there’s no two ways about that,” said Quinn.

“I’m hoping that in my time, I get to see them legalize gay marriage,” said one parade goer. The march began as a gay rights demonstration in 1970 to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.