Whitehot Magazine

January 2025

"The Best Art In The World"

"The Best Art In The World"
January 2025

PRIDE during Covid-19 Times

Photo by Ruben Natal-San Miguel

By WM June, 2020

Christopher Street Liberation Day on June 28, 1970, marked the first anniversary of the Stonewall riots (1969) with the first LGBT Pride march in U.S. history. Covering 51 blocks from Christopher Street to Central Park, it is known today as the Gay Pride Parade. The 50th annual Gay Pride Parade took place on June 24, 2020. I have been attending this parade for almost 30 years and photographing it for 17. Throughout the month of June, the world celebrates the impact, visibility and accomplishments of LGBTQ+ people as well as commemorates the Stonewall Riots of 1969. With the recent landmark decision, the Supreme Court has declared that federal law protects LGBTQ+ workers from discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.

For decades, most renowned photographers have covered the parade, including icons such as Mary Ellen Mark, Bill Cunningham, and Nan Goldin. This year due to the Covid-19 pandemic crisis, the year’s 51th anniversary of the PRIDE movement, it’s marches and public events had gone from the streets to a virtual platform .

Notable photographers and members of the LBGT community spread their photography, messages, activism, and sense of community through their galleries, museum exhibitions, publication features, and social media platforms. The Center for Photography at Woodstock, alongside Spring Affair curator Ruben Natal-San Miguel, is pleased to invite you to the Spring Affair exhibition and it’s second installation of Spring Affair panel discussions, STATE OF AFFAIRS II: PRIDE.

The online event will be held on Saturday, June 27 at 1:00 p.m. EST. Ruben Natal-San Miguel will moderate the panel discussion. Participants include photographers Eric McNatt, Matthew Finley, Jennifer Loeber, CPW Director Hannah Frieser, as well as additional photographers to be announced shortly. Whitehot Magazine wanted to highlight and celebrate PRIDE with the photographs of photographers and artists who are part and friends of the LBGTQ and binary community. Artists Lola Flash, Robert Calafiore, Lissa Rivera, Matthew Finley, Andrea Blanch, Nan Goldin, Jennifer Loeber, Karine Laval, Erik Hanson, Trey Speegle and Ruben Natal-San Miguel continue to document, celebrate, and highlight this yearly tradition. WM

You can see the entire online exhibition here : https://www.cpw.org/current/spring-affair-2020/
You can register for the upcoming Saturday webinar here : https://www.cpw.org/learn/lectures-events/state-of-affairs-ii-pride-panel-discussion/
www.cpw.org

Anderson Staley