Portraits After Manhattan Pride by Ruben Natal-San Miguel

By RUBEN NATAL-SAN MIGUEL, July 2023

My thoughts and some frustrations...

The majority of people marching on The Manhattan Pride Parade are LBGTQ + People of Color. Many of them have nowhere to go after the parade. No fancy rooftop party, no dance at the pier - they cannot afford going to a restaurant nor a bar to have drinks to celebrate. 

They travelled long distances at times, getting all dressed up and, at the end of the parade - they simply have nowhere to go or gather up. The West Village residents do not want them there, which is why they go away for the day (you can see them at the end of day coming home with their golf club bags)...

With The Stonewall Inn in the West Village, even the parade has been modified (and shortened) to accommodate the fancy residents. I mean, the Gold Coast of the West Side Highway do not want to look down at a bunch of colored people gathering up at the piers (where they have been doing this for decades since the 1960's), so the police and the city completely barricade the whole park (paid with our taxes!) so there is no access to it. This causes thousands of people to be displaced (AGAIN) and spilled all over Christopher Street and the whole West Village...

I have been documenting this for a while. After this year's March is over, this is again the reality -  I will post a few photos stating my case.

We have to do better. I used to be one of those spending the weekend at Fire Island or East Hampton and coming only to the big Pier dance (which btw just also got moved to Sunset Park, Brooklyn) - because they don't want the LBGTQ+ community to celebrate and gather near their now fancy high rise condos or brownstones? 

Happy Pride! It is for all! WM