Musicians and performers from 19 LGBTQ bands from 16 states are assembled in New York for WorldPride to form a massed marching band under the banner of the Lesbian and Gay Band Association. The entourage will march in the WorldPride 2019 / Stonewall 50 / NYC Pride March taking place on June 30 in addition to performing at the Stonewall Commemoration event on June 28 and the NYC Dyke March on June 29. They will join The Lesbian and Gay Big Apple Corps of New York and D.C.’s Different Drummers for this weekend filled with commemorations of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising in 1969.
“It is a tremendous honor being a part of this historic moment for our LGBTQ community,” said LGBA President Cliff Norris. “As we look back over the last half century, we see the power of standing up and being visible as who we really are. Our bands are a part of the Stonewall legacy, offering a home for LGBTQ musicians to kindle their talents and a positive, visible representation of our community to the world at large. I know many of us will feel the emotions rise as we march past the historic Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street, celebrating our community’s many accomplishments, remembering those we have lost over the last half century, and looking ahead to the work still to be done to achieve full equality.”
LGBA began planning for the WorldPride Parade in 2018. The group determined the number of performers interested then worked with the Lesbian and Gay Big Apple Corps on all the logistics for instruments, rehearsal spaces, transportation, and the parade itself. Mr. Norris continued, “The experience of performing with our friends from bands across the country is always amazing. But the experience of performing for this special anniversary for our community, surrounded by millions of our siblings in Greenwich Village will be that much more amazing and special.”
The WorldPride 2019 / Stonewall 50/ NYC Pride March is expected to be the largest “Gay Pride” event in history. The march will have 900 entries with 150,000 participants marching along the streets of Manhattan and will likely take 10 hours to complete. The City of New York is planning for four to six million spectators. The weekend also includes a commemoration event at the Stonewall Inn on the night fifty years after the Uprising began.
“Perhaps no other moment was as important to LGBTQ history than the Stonewall Uprising,” explained Mr. Norris. “It was not the first riot, nor the first demonstration, but by June 1969, the community had simply had enough. The pent-up anger released on that fateful night spawned dozens of organizations in cities across the world working to
eliminate inequality and to persuade people to come out of invisibility and fear.”
