New York City has been described as the gay capital of the world and the central node of the LGBTQsociopolitical field, and is home to the world's largest and the most prominentLGBTQ population.[4] Brian Silverman, the author ofFrommer's New York City from $90 a Day, wrote the city has "one of the world's largest, loudest, and most powerful LGBT communities", and "Gay and lesbian culture is as much a part of New York's basic identity asyellow cabs,high-rise buildings, andBroadway theatre".[5]LGBTQ travel guideQueer in the World states, "The fabulosity of Gay New York is unrivaled on Earth, andqueer culture seeps into every corner of its five boroughs".[6]LGBTQ advocate and entertainerMadonna statedmetaphorically, "Anyways, not only is New York City the best place in the world because of the queer people here. Let me tell you something, if you can make it here, then you must be queer."[7]
LGBTQ Americans in New York City constitute the largest self-identifying lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities by a significant margin in theUnited States, and the 1969Stonewall riots in Greenwich Village are widely considered to be the genesis of the modernLGBTQ rights movement.[8] TheNew York metropolitan area has an estimated 756,000 LGBTQ residents—the most in the United States,[9] includingthe largest metropolitan transgender population in the world, estimated at 50,000 in 2018, concentrated inManhattan,Brooklyn, andQueens.[10]
Charles Kaiser, author ofThe Gay Metropolis: The Landmark History of Gay Life in America, wrote that in the era afterWorld War II, "New York City became the literal gay metropolis for hundreds of thousands of immigrants from both within and without the United States: the place they chose to learn how to live openly, honestly and without shame."[11] ComedianJerrod Carmichael joked, "That's actually why I live here...if you say you're gay in New York, you can ride the bus for free and they just give you free pizza. if you say you're gay in New York, you get to hostSaturday Night Live. This is the gayest thing you can possibly do. We're basically in anAndy Warhol fever dream right now."[12]
The Stonewall Inn, located at 51 and 53Christopher Street, along with several other establishments in the city, was owned by theGenovese crime family.[13] In 1966, three members of theMafia invested $3,500 to turn the Stonewall Inn into a gay bar, after it had been a restaurant and a nightclub geared toward heterosexuals. Once a week a police officer would collect envelopes of cash as a payoff; the Stonewall Inn had noliquor license.[14][15] It had no running water behind the bar—used glasses were run through tubs of water and immediately reused.[16] There were no fire exits, and the toilets overran consistently.[17] Though the bar was not used for prostitution, drug sales and other "cash transactions" took place. It was the only bar for gay men in New York City where dancing was allowed;[18] dancing was its main draw since its re-opening as a gay club.[19]
Visitors to the Stonewall Inn in 1969 were greeted by abouncer who inspected them through apeephole in the door. Thelegal drinking age was 18, and to avoid unwittingly letting inundercover police (who were called "Lily Law", "Alice Blue Gown", or "Betty Badge"[20]), visitors would have to be known by the doorman, or look gay. The entrance fee on weekends was $3, for which the customer received two tickets that could be exchanged for two drinks. Patrons were required to sign their names in a book to prove that the bar was a private "bottle club", but rarely signed their real names. There were two dance floors in the Stonewall; the interior was painted black, making it very dark inside, with pulsing gel lights orblack lights. If police were spotted, regular white lights were turned on, signaling that everyone should stop dancing or touching.[20]
In the rear of the bar was a smaller room frequented by "queens"; it was one of two bars whereeffeminate men who wore makeup and teased their hair (though dressed in men's clothing) could go.[21] Only a fewtransvestites, or men infull drag, were allowed in by the bouncers. The customers were "98 percent male" but a few lesbians sometimes came to the bar. Younger homeless adolescent males, who slept in nearbyChristopher Park, would often try to get in so customers would buy them drinks.[22] The age of the clientele ranged between the upper teens and early thirties, and the racial mix was evenly distributed among white, Black, andHispanic patrons.[21][23] Because of its even mix of people, its location, and the attraction of dancing, the Stonewall Inn was known by many as "the gay bar in the city".[24]
Police raids on gay bars were frequent, occurring on average once a month for each bar. Many bars kept extra liquor in a secret panel behind the bar, or in a car down the block, to facilitate resuming business as quickly as possible if alcohol was seized.[13] Bar management usually knew about raids beforehand due to police tip-offs, and raids occurred early enough in the evening that business could commence after the police had finished.[25]
During a typical raid, the lights were turned on, and customers were lined up and their identification cards checked. Those without identification or dressed in full drag were arrested; others were allowed to leave. Some of the men, including those in drag, used theirdraft cards as identification. Women were required to wear three pieces of feminine clothing, and would be arrested if found not wearing them. Employees and management of the bars were also typically arrested.[25] The period immediately before June 28, 1969, was marked by frequent raids of local bars—including a raid at the Stonewall Inn on the Tuesday before the riots[26]—and the closing of the Checkerboard, the Tele-Star, and two other clubs in Greenwich Village.[27]
On June 23, 2015, the Stonewall Inn was the first landmark in New York City to be recognized by theNew York City Landmarks Preservation Commission on the basis of its status in LGBT history,[28] and on June 24, 2016, theStonewall National Monument was named the firstU.S. National Monument dedicated to the LGBTQ-rights movement.[8] The visitor center opened on June 28, 2024, as the first official national visitors center dedicated to the LGBTQ+ experience to open anywhere in the world. Numerous politicians and celebrities participated in the inauguration ceremonies.[29][30] and theNew York City Subway's Christopher Street–Sheridan Square station was renamed theChristopher Street–Stonewall station on the same day.[29][31]
At 1:20 a.m. on Saturday, June 28, 1969, four plainclothes policemen in dark suits, two patrol officers in uniform, and Detective Charles Smythe and Deputy InspectorSeymour Pine arrived at the Stonewall Inn's double doors and announced "Police! We're taking the place!"[33] Stonewall employees do not recall being tipped off that a raid was to occur that night, as was the custom. According to Duberman (p. 194), there was a rumor that one might happen, but since it was much later than raids generally took place, Stonewall management thought the tip was inaccurate. Days after the raid, one of the bar owners complained that the tipoff had never come, and that the raid was ordered by theBureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, who objected that there were nostamps on the liquor bottles, indicating the alcohol wasbootlegged.
Historian David Carter presents information[34] indicating that the Mafia owners of the Stonewall and the manager were blackmailing wealthier customers, particularly those who worked in Lower Manhattan'sFinancial District. They appeared to be making more money from extortion than they were from liquor sales in the bar. Carter deduces that when the police were unable to receive kickbacks from blackmail and the theft of negotiable bonds (facilitated by pressuring gayWall Street customers), they decided to close the Stonewall Inn permanently.
Twoundercover policewomen and two undercover policemen had entered the bar earlier that evening to gather visual evidence, as the Public Morals Squad waited outside for the signal. Once inside, they called for backup from the Sixth Precinct using the bar's pay telephone. The music was turned off and the main lights were turned on. Approximately 205 people were in the bar that night. Patrons who had never experienced a police raid were confused. A few who realized what was happening began to run for doors and windows in the bathrooms, but police barred the doors. As Michael Fader remembered,
Things happened so fast you kind of got caught not knowing. All of a sudden there were police there and we were told to all get in lines and to have our identification ready to be led out of the bar.
The raid did not go as planned. Standard procedure was to line up the patrons, check their identification, and have female police officers take customers dressed as women to the bathroom to verify their gender, upon which any men dressed as women would be arrested. Those dressed as women that night refused to go with the officers. Men in line began to refuse to produce their identification. The police decided to take everyone present to the police station, after separating those cross-dressing in a room in the back of the bar. Maria Ritter, then known as Steve to her family, recalled, "My biggest fear was that I would get arrested. My second biggest fear was that my picture would be in a newspaper or on a television report in my mother's dress!"[35] Both patrons and police recalled that a sense of discomfort spread very quickly, spurred by police who began to assault some of the lesbians by "feeling some of them up inappropriately" while frisking them.[36]
Despite playing a significant role in fighting forLGBTQ equality during the period of the Stonewall Riots and thereafter,[37] thetransgender community in New York City had previously felt marginalized and neglected by the gay community.[37] Since then, and especially during the 21st century, New York City's transgender community has grown in size and prominence,[38] reaching an estimated 50,000 in 2018.[10] Brooklyn Liberation March, the largesttransgender rights demonstration in LGBTQ history, took place on June 14, 2020, stretching fromGrand Army Plaza toFort Greene, Brooklyn, focused on supporting Black transgender lives.[39][40]
Originally, the U.S.National Park Service (NPS) website for theStonewall National Monument discussed the transgender and queer communities. After U.S. presidentDonald Trump signedExecutive Order 14168 in 2025, mandating that the federal government and federally funded entities cease any promotion of "gender ideology", all references to transgender and queer people were removed from the website. The news was first reported on February 13, 2025.[41] The Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative and The Stonewall Inn issued a joint statement the same day, saying:
"This blatant act of erasure not only distorts the truth of our history, but it also dishonors the immense contributions of transgender individuals — especially transgender women of color — who were at the forefront of the Stonewall Riots and the broader fight for LGBTQ+ rights."[42]
They went on to spotlightMarsha P. Johnson,Sylvia Rivera, and "countless other trans and gender-nonconforming individuals" as "central to the resistance we now celebrate as the foundation of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement."[42] A resistance movement has begun to revert the erasure of trans and queer history from the Stonewall Monument National website, although New York State's own official LGBTQ monument on theHudson River shoreline has deliberately preserved all trans and queer references.[43]
On June 25, 2017, the day of2017 New York City Pride March festivities,New York GovernorAndrew Cuomo announced that the artistAnthony Goicolea had been chosen to design the first official monument to LGBTQ individuals commissioned by theState of New York – in contrast to the Stonewall National Monument, which was commissioned by theU.S. federal government. The State monument is planned to be built inHudson River Park in Manhattan, near the waterfrontHudson Riverpiers which have served as historically significant symbols of New York's role as a meeting place and a safe haven for LGBT communities.[44] On June 20, 2023, the intersection ofFifth Avenue andWashington Square North in theWest Village was officially renamed Edie Windsor and Thea Speyer Way at the state level byNew York GovernorKathy Hochul, in honor of theGreenwich Village plaintiffs who prevailed at theUnited States Supreme Court in 2013, in finding theDefense of Marriage Act, which had limited the definition of marriage as being valid strictly between one man and one woman, to beunconstitutional.[45]
On June 27, 2019, theNational LGBTQ Wall of Honor was inaugurated at the Stonewall Inn.[46] The landmark is an Americanmemorial wall inLower Manhattan dedicated to LGBTQ "pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes".[47] The wall is located inside of the Stonewall Inn, and is a part of theStonewall National Monument, the firstU.S. National Monument dedicated toLGBTQ rights andhistory. The first fifty nominees were announced in June 2019 and the wall was unveiled on June 27, 2019, as a part of theStonewall 50 – WorldPride NYC 2019 events.[48][49] Each year five additional names will be added.[47]
In 2022, the LGBT community in New York City became the epicenter of thempox outbreak in theWestern Hemisphere. New York GovernorKathy Hochul and New York City MayorEric Adams declared correspondingpublic health emergencies in the state and city, respectively, in July 2022.[50]
New York City has been estimated to have become home to over 270,000 self-identifying gay and bisexual individuals,[51]higher than San Francisco and Los Angeles combined.
| Geographic entity | GLB population | Density of GLB individuals per square mile | Percentage of GLB individuals in population |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York City | 272,493 | 894 | 4.5 (2005) |
| New York metropolitan area | 568,903 | 84.7 | 4.0 |
Lonely Planet New York City stated that of the demographics, the city's LGBT population has "one of the largest disposable incomes",[52] encompassing professionals including physicians, attorneys, engineers, scientists,financiers, and journalists, as well as those in theentertainment industry, fashion design, andrealty. Conversely, New York City is also a highly popular LGBT tourist destination,[53] and the city actively courtsLGBTQ tourism.[54]
Manhattan is the epicenter of LGBTQ culture. TheChristopher Street area of theWest Village portion ofGreenwich Village in Manhattan was the historical hub of gay life in New York City and continues to be a cultural center for the LGBT experience.Chelsea in Manhattan is another focal point ofgay social life, and theEast Village/Lower East Side area of Manhattan is also agayborhood.[55]Hell's Kitchen andMorningside Heights are additional Manhattan neighborhoods which have developed a significant LGBT presence of their own.[53]
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TheManhattan neighborhoods of Greenwich Village andHarlem were home to a sizable homosexual population afterWorld War I, when men and women who had served in the military took advantage of the opportunity to settle in larger cities. The enclaves of gays and lesbians, described by a newspaper story as "short-haired women and long-haired men", developed a distinct subculture through the following two decades.[57]
Prohibition inadvertently benefited gay establishments, as drinking alcohol was pushed underground along with other behaviors considered immoral. New York City passed laws against homosexuality in public and private businesses, but because alcohol was in high demand,speakeasies and impromptu drinking establishments were so numerous and temporary that authorities were unable to police them all.[58] However, police raids happened, resulting in their closure, such as theEve's Hangout at 129MacDougal Street, after the deportation ofEva Kotchever forobscenity.[59]
The social repression of the 1950s resulted in a cultural revolution in Greenwich Village. A cohort of poets, later named theBeat poets, wrote about the evils of the social organization at the time, glorifying anarchy, drugs, andhedonistic pleasures over unquestioning social compliance,consumerism, and closed mindedness. Of them,Allen Ginsberg andWilliam S. Burroughs—both Greenwich Village residents—also wrote bluntly and honestly about homosexuality. Their writings attracted sympatheticliberal-minded people, as well as homosexuals looking for a community.[60]
By the early 1960s, a campaign to rid New York City of gay bars was in full effect by order of MayorRobert F. Wagner, Jr., who was concerned about the image of the city in preparation for the1964 World's Fair. The city revoked the liquor licenses of the bars, and undercover police officers worked to entrap as many homosexual men as possible.[61]Entrapment usually consisted of an undercover officer who found a man in a bar or public park, engaged him in conversation; if the conversation headed toward the possibility that they might leave together—or the officer bought the man a drink—he was arrested for solicitation. One story in theNew York Post described an arrest in a gym locker room, where the officer grabbed his crotch, moaning, and a man who asked him if he was all right was arrested.[62] Few lawyers would defend cases as undesirable as these, and some of those lawyers kicked back their fees to the arresting officer.[63] The annual New YorkHalloween Parade in Greenwich Village is the world's largest Halloween parade, and has its roots in New York's queer community, standing in as an expression ofLGBT pride, before the formalNYC Pride March was born.[56]
The Mattachine Society succeeded in getting newly elected MayorJohn Lindsay to end the campaign of police entrapment in New York City. They had a more difficult time with theNew York State Liquor Authority (SLA). While no laws prohibited serving homosexuals, courts allowed the SLA discretion in approving and revoking liquor licenses for businesses that might become "disorderly".[64] Despite the high population of gays and lesbians who called Greenwich Village home, very few places existed, other than bars, where they were able to congregate openly without being harassed or arrested. In 1966, the New York Mattachine Society held a "sip-in" at a Greenwich Village bar namedJulius, which was frequented by gay men, to illustrate the discrimination homosexuals faced.[65]
None of the bars frequented by gays and lesbians were owned by gay people in the 1960s. Almost all of them were owned and controlled byorganized crime, who treated the regulars poorly, watered down the liquor, and overcharged for drinks. However, they also paid off police to prevent frequent raids.[16]
Greenwich Village contained the world's oldest gay and lesbian bookstore,Oscar Wilde Bookshop, founded in 1967 but permanently closed in 2009 citing the recession and the rise ofonline booksellers. The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center – best known as simply "The Center" – has occupied the former Food & Maritime Trades High School at 208 West 13th Street since 1984. In 2006, the Village was the scene ofan assault involving seven lesbians and a straight man that sparked appreciable media attention, with strong statements both defending and attacking the parties. In June 2015, thousands gathered in front of the Stonewall Inn to celebrate the ruling by theU.S. Supreme Court affirming same-sex marriage in all fifty U.S. states, while in June 2016, thousands gathered similarly in vigil for theOrlando Pulse Nightclub massacre.[66]
In February 2017, thousands protested at the Stonewall National Monument against the proposed policies of the administration of U.S. presidentDonald J. Trump affecting both LGBTQ individuals and international immigrants, including those holding the intersection of these identities.[67] In June 2019, the New York City Commission on Human Rights partnered withMasterCard International to commemorate theStonewall 50 - WorldPride NYC 2019 milestone by planting a new street sign pan-inclusive for sexual orientations and gender identities at the intersection ofGay Street andChristopher Street in theWest Village, and renaming that portion of Gay Street asAcceptance Street.[68]
Chelsea in Manhattan is one of the most gay-friendly neighborhoods in New York City.[69] In the 1990s, many gay people moved to theChelsea neighborhood from the Greenwich Village neighborhood as a less expensive alternative; subsequent to this movement, house prices in Chelsea have increased dramatically to rival theWest Village area of Greenwich Village. While New York was a latecomer to the leather andkink fetish movement, this subculture is now burgeoning in the city, originating in Chelsea and eventually expanding toBrooklyn andQueens.
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion with: examples with reliable citations. You can help byadding to it.(September 2016) |
The same phenomenon ofgentrification in Greenwich Village which created agayborhood in Chelsea, has in turn spawned a new gayborhood in theHell's Kitchen neighborhood on theWest Side ofMidtown Manhattan, just uptown, or north, of Chelsea, as gentrification has taken hold in Chelsea itself. TheMetropolitan Community Church of New York, geared toward the LGBT community, is located in Hell's Kitchen.
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Brooklyn is home to a large and growing number of same-sex couples.Same-sex marriages in New York were legalized on June 24, 2011, and were authorized to take place beginning 30 days thereafter.[70] ThePark Slope neighborhood spearheaded the popularity of Brooklyn among lesbians, andProspect Heights has an LGBT residential presence.[53] Numerous neighborhoods have since become home to LGBT communities.
AdjacentElmhurst andJackson Heights, Queens, are focal hubs for the transgender community of New York City and collectively constitute the largest transgender hub in the world. TheQueens Pride Parade is held in Jackson Heights each year.[10]Astoria has an emerging LGBT presence.[53] Queens is also becoming a destination for LGBT individuals priced out of still more expensive housing in Brooklyn.
As the LGBTQ communities have achieved higher socioeconomic status and greater political clout over the decades, it has moved beyond the boundaries of New York City and spread out across theNew York metropolitan area.Westchester County in particular has spawned several gay villages concomitantly withhipster villages, notably inHastings-on-Hudson,Dobbs Ferry,Irvington, andTarrytown. The neighboringFire Island communities ofCherry Grove andFire Island Pines constitute the largest gay enclave onLong Island, followed byThe Hamptons.[71]
Gayborhoods have also emerged across theHudson River from Manhattan in the U.S. state ofNew Jersey, which is now home to more gay villages per square mile than any other state. Some of the most prominent gayborhoods in New Jersey includeJersey City,[72]Asbury Park,Maplewood,[73]Montclair, andLambertville.Trenton, thestate capital of New Jersey, electedReed Gusciora, its first openly gay mayor, in 2018,[74] and Jennifer Williams, New Jersey's first openly transgender city councilmember, in 2022.[75]
In June 2018, suburban Maplewood, New Jersey, unveiled permanent rainbow-coloredcrosswalks to celebrate LGBTQ pride, a feature displayed by only a few other towns in the world,[76] includingRahway, New Jersey, which unveiled its own rainbow-colored crosswalks in June 2019.[77] In January 2019,New Jersey GovernorPhil Murphy signed legislation mandating LGBTQ-inclusiveeducational curriculum in schools.[78] In February 2019, New Jersey began allowing aneutral or non-binary gender choice onbirth certificates, while New York City already had this provision.[79]
The following constitutes an incomplete list of gay villages in the New York metropolitan area as of 2023:
| New Jersey | ||
|---|---|---|
| Asbury Park | Monmouth County | [72] |
| Ewing | Mercer County | [80] |
| Jersey City | Hudson County | [72] |
| Lambertville | Hunterdon County | [72] |
| Maplewood | Essex County | [72] |
| Mill Hill (Trenton) | Mercer County | [81] |
| Ocean Grove | Monmouth County | [72] |
| Plainfield | Union County | [82] |
| South Orange | Essex County | [72] |
| New York | ||
| Chelsea | New York City (Manhattan) | [83] |
| Christopher Street,West Village/Greenwich Village | New York City (Manhattan) | [83] |
| Hell's Kitchen | New York City (Manhattan) | [83] |
| Inwood | New York City (Manhattan) | [84] |
| Washington Heights | New York City (Manhattan) | [84] |
| Park Slope | New York City (Brooklyn) | [83] |
| Jackson Heights | New York City (Queens) | [85] |
| Cherry Grove | Suffolk County | [86] |
| Fire Island Pines | Suffolk County | [86] |
| The Hamptons | Suffolk County | [87] |
Politics in New York City are mainlyliberal. Rosenberg and Dunford stated that this political standpoint had historically been "generally beneficial to the gay community".[53]
In New York City,New York City Republican Party political administrations actively court LGBT voters.[53] LGBT voters were 3.4% of New York City's electorate in 1989.[88]
In the mid-1970s, LGBT participation in New York City politics began. In the 1977Mayor of New York City elections,Edward Koch was the preferred candidate; there had been speculation that Koch was homosexual. However, Koch associated with religious figures opposed to homosexuality and did not pass LGBT civil rights bills, and therefore in 1981,Frank Barbaro became the candidate favored by the LGBT political groups.[89]
In the 1985 mayoral election, Koch had almost no support; Donald P. Haider-Markel, the author ofGay and Lesbian Americans and Political Participation: A Reference Handbook, wrote that Koch's "actions on AIDS seemed inadequate at best".[90] In the 1989 mayoral election,David Dinkins received support from the LGBT community.[88] Since then, every mayor has received support from the LGBT community, which includedRudy Giuliani andMike Bloomberg.
Jimmy Van Bramer, the Majority Leader of theNew York City Council in 2017, is an openly gay politician from Queens who has served in the City Council for over six years. Van Bramer was one of seven openly LGBT members of the New York City Council as of 2017[update], alongsideRosie Mendez,Corey Johnson,Ritchie Torres,James Vacca,Daniel Dromm andCarlos Menchaca.Christine Quinn served as Speaker of the New York City Council between 2006 and 2013. Carlos Menchaca also became the firstMexican-American member of the New York City Council when elected in November 2013.
In June 2019, in celebration ofLGBT Pride Month, GovernorAndrew Cuomo ordered theLGBT pride flag to be raised over theNew York State Capitol for the first time in New York State history.[91]
In April 2022, New York CityMayorEric Adams announced abillboard campaign to attractFloridians to New York City in response to Florida's "Don't Say Gay" law.[92]
New York City publishes itsLGBTQ Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Queer Guide of Services and Resources.[93]
TheLesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center is located onWest 13th Street in theWest Village,Lower Manhattan.[94]
Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE) is the country's largest and oldest organization dedicated to improving the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. SAGE is located at 305Seventh Avenue, 15th Floor NYC, NY 10001. SAGE has expanded throughout New York City, with additional centers now located in Harlem, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Staten Island.[95]
TheBronx Academy of Arts and Dance is a New York performing and visual art workshop space and performance venue located in The Bronx. Co-founded in 1998 byArthur Aviles, dancer and choreographer who performed with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, and Charles Rice-Gonzales, a writer, LGBT activist, and publicist. Focusing on works exploring the margins of Latino and LGBTQ cultures. The programs at BAAD! are made up of dancers, LGBTQ visual artists, women, and artists of color.[96]
The Bureau of General Services – Queer Division (BGSQD) is a queer cultural center, bookstore, and event space hosted by The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in New York City.[97]
The Queer Big Apple Corps is a community symphonic and marching band. In 2020, they became the first LGBTQ+ band to perform in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.[98]
Bluestockings is a cooperatively-owned queer bookstore, community space, and café operating on theLower East Side since 1999.[99][100]
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TheLeslie-Lohman Museum of Art (LLM) is located inSoho, Lower Manhattan,[102] and is the only museum in the world dedicated to artwork documenting the LGBTQ+ experience.[101]
Lambda Legal is headquartered in New York City.[103]
TheLesbian Herstory Archives is located in a townhouse inBrooklyn. It has 12,000 photographs, over 11,000 books, 1,300 periodical titles, and 600 videos. There are also thousands of miscellaneous items.[102]
The Bronx Community Pride Center was previously located in the Bronx.[102] The city government had funded thenonprofit agency. Lisa Winters, who headed the agency from 2004 until 2010, had stolen $143,000 from the agency; she was ultimately fired. She was convicted of stealing the funds and misusing a credit card belonging to another person. In April 2013 she received a prison sentence of two concurrent terms, each two to six years. Winters' theft resulted in the closure of the agency.[104]
TheNew York City Subway system commemoratesPride Month in June with Pride-themed posters[105] and celebratedStonewall 50 - WorldPride NYC 2019 in June 2019 with rainbow-themed Pride logos on the subway trains as well as Pride-themedMetroCards.[106]
The NYC LGBTQ Historic Sites Project[107] maps New York City's LGBTQ history, neighborhood by neighborhood; placing the city's LGBTQ history in a geographical context. Its interactive map features neighborhood sites important to NYC LGBTQ history in fields such as the arts, literature, and social justice, in addition to important gathering spaces, such as bars, clubs, and community centers.
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The NYC Pride March, including the rally; PrideFest (the festival); and the Dance on the Pier, are the main events of Pride Week in New York City LGBT Pride Week. Since 1984,Heritage of Pride (HOP) has been the producer and organizer of pride events in New York City.[109] The 2017 New York City Pride parade was the first in its history scheduled to be broadcast andstreamed live.[110][111]
Stonewall 50 – WorldPride NYC 2019 was the largest international Pride celebration in history, produced by Heritage of Pride and enhanced through a partnership with theI❤ NY program's LGBT division, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, with 150,000 participants and five million spectators attending in Manhattan alone.[112] The events of 2019 were held throughout June, which is traditionally Pride month in New York City and worldwide, under the auspices of the annualNYC Pride March.
Early on the morning of Saturday, June 28, 1969, gay (LGBT) individuals rioted following a police raid on theStonewall Inn, agay bar at 53 Christopher Street, in the West Village ofLower Manhattan. This riot and further protests and rioting over the following nights were the watershed moment in modern LGBT Rights Movement and the impetus for organizing LGBT pride marches on a much larger public scale.
On November 2, 1969,Craig Rodwell, his partnerFred Sargeant,Ellen Broidy, and Linda Rhodes proposed the first pride march to be held in New York City by way of a resolution at the Eastern Regional Conference of Homophile Organizations (ERCHO) meeting inPhiladelphia.[113]
That the Annual Reminder, to be more relevant, reach a greater number of people, and encompass the ideas and ideals of the larger struggle in which we are engaged-that of our fundamental human rights-be moved both in time and location.
We propose that a demonstration be held annually on the last Saturday in June in New York City to commemorate the 1969 spontaneous demonstrations on Christopher Street and this demonstration be called CHRISTOPHER STREET LIBERATION DAY. No dress or age regulations shall be made for this demonstration.
We also propose that we contactHomophile organizations throughout the country and suggest that they hold parallel demonstrations on that day. We propose a nationwide show of support.[114][115][116][117]
All attendees to the ERCHO meeting inPhiladelphia voted for the march except forMattachine Society of New York, which abstained.[114] Members of theGay Liberation Front (GLF) attended the meeting and were seated as guests of Rodwell's group, Homophile Youth Movement in Neighborhoods (HYMN).[118]
Meetings to organize the march began in early January at Rodwell's apartment in 350Bleecker Street.[119] At first there was difficulty getting some of the major New York organizations likeGay Activists Alliance (GAA) to send representatives. Craig Rodwell and his partner Fred Sargeant, Ellen Broidy, Michael Brown, Marty Nixon, andFoster Gunnison Jr. of The Mattachine Society made up the core group of the CSLD Umbrella Committee (CSLDUC). For initial funding, Gunnison served as treasurer and sought donations from the national homophile organizations and sponsors, while Sargeant solicited donations via theOscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop customer mailing list and Nixon worked to gain financial support from GLF in his position as treasurer for that organization.[120][121]
Other mainstays of the organizing committee were Judy Miller, Jack Waluska, Steve Gerrie andBrenda Howard of GLF.[122] Believing that more people would turn out for the march on a Sunday, and so as to mark the date of the start of the Stonewall uprising, the CSLDUC scheduled the date for the first march for Sunday, June 28, 1970.[123] With Dick Leitsch's replacement as president of Mattachine NY by Michael Kotis in April 1970, opposition to the march by The Mattachine Society ended.[124]
There was little open animosity, and some bystanders applauded when a tall, pretty girl carrying a sign "I am a Lesbian" walked by.
Christopher Street Liberation Day on June 28, 1970, marked the first anniversary of the Stonewall riots with an assembly on Christopher Street and the firstLGBT Pride march in U.S. history, covering the 51 blocks toCentral Park. The march took less than half the scheduled time due to excitement, but also due to wariness about walking through the city with gay banners and signs. Although the parade permit was delivered only two hours before the start of the march, the marchers encountered little resistance from onlookers.[126]The New York Times reported (on the front page) that the marchers took up the entire street for about 15 city blocks.[125] Reporting byThe Village Voice was positive, describing "the out-front resistance that grew out of the police raid on the Stonewall Inn one year ago".[127]
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The world's largestdyke march, commemoratinglesbian pride and culture, also takes place annually in June, based in Manhattan.[129][130] The March typically includes aDykes on Bikes motorcycle rally.
TheNew York City Drag March, orNYC Drag March, is an annualdragprotest and visibility march taking place in June, the traditionalLGBTQ pride month in New York City.[131] Organized to coincide ahead of theNYC Pride March, both demonstrations commemorate the1969 riots at theStonewall Inn, widely considered the pivotal event sparking thegay liberation movement,[1][132][133][134] and the modern fight forLGBT rights.[135][136]
The Drag March takes place on Friday night as a kick-off to NYC Pride weekend.[137] The event starts inTompkins Square Park and ends in front of theStonewall Inn; it is purposefully non-corporate,punk, inclusive, and largely leaderless.[131]
In 2019, the 25th Drag March coincided withStonewall 50 – WorldPride NYC 2019, anticipated to be the largest internationalLGBTQ event in history,[138] with many as four million people attending in Manhattan alone; the Drag March will take place June 28.[139]
New York City'sdrag culture andballroom culture have both displayed a prominent presence within the overall LGBTQ culture of New York City itself. Both the filmParis is Burning from 1990 and the more recent television seriesPose have portrayed the fabric of ballroom culture.RuPaul's DragCon NYC is known as the world's largest celebration of drag culture and attracts over 100,000 attendees over multiple-day festivities annually.[129][140]
TheQueens Pride Parade and Multicultural Festival is the second-oldest and second-largest pride parade in New York City.[141][142] It is held annually in the neighborhood ofJackson Heights, located in the New York Cityborough ofQueens. The parade was founded byDaniel Dromm and Maritza Martinez to raise the visibility of the LGBTQ community in Queens and memorialize Jackson Heights resident Julio Rivera.[143] Queens also serves as the largest transgender hub in theWestern Hemisphere and is the mostethnically diverse urban area in the world.[144]
TheQueer Liberation March is a protest march which was inaugurated in its current form on June 30, 2019, coincident with Stonewall 50 - WorldPride NYC 2019, marking the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.[145][146] This march was created as a counterprotest to the corporate-focused sponsoring and participation requirements of the larger New York City Pride March, the result being a dueling major Manhattan LGBTQ march on the same day.[147][148]
The march route proceeds uptown onSixth Avenue in Manhattan, following the path of the fledgling first one, which in 1970 marked the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.[149] and was organized by the Christopher Street Liberation Day Committee.[150] The Queer Liberation March proceeds in the opposite direction of the New York City Pride March, which courses downtown onFifth Avenue through most of its route.
LGBTQ publications includeGay City News,GO, andMetroSource.[53]Out FM is an LGBTQtalk radio show.
Former publications includeGaysweek,The New York Blade,Next, andNew York Native.[citation needed]Come!Unity Press was a gayanarchist print and communicationscollective inLower Manhattan in the 1970s.[151][152]
The filmParis is Burning documents the cultural contributions of gay, bisexual and trans New Yorkers mostly fromHarlem; especially those of color coming from mostly Black or Latino backgrounds. Much of the documentary centers arounddrag culture. African American and Latino members of the LGBTQ community in the 80s invented dances such as vogueing and coined terms such as 'reading' and 'throwing shade.' The independent documentaryHow Do I Look and the TV seriesPose onFX expanded further upon the subject matter of and individuals appearing inParis is Burning.
New York City hosts a variety of LGBTQ-rights galas annually. The following is a list of some of these galas featuring the presence of celebrities:
TheNew York City Department of Education operatesHarvey Milk High School in Manhattan; it caters to but is not limited to LGBT students.
Heritage of Pride or NYC Pride organizes LGBT community events such as theLGBT Pride March. TheNew York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Film Festival is held in the city.MIX NYC organizes other LGBT film festivals. The Fresh Fruit Festival exhibits works of LGBT artists.[162] The New York Gallery Tours company offers a monthly LGBTart gallery tour.[102]
Historically, theSt. Patrick's Day Parade has not allowed openly LGBT groups to participate. However, the organizers announced that in 2015, the first LGBT group would be permitted to have a float,[163] and LGBT representation has been included in the annual New York St. Patrick's Day Parade since then.
New York City Black Pride is held annually in August.[164]
New York City's Latino Pride Center was established in June 2013 as the first Latino organization in the U.S. fully devoted to providing health and human services to the Latino gay community.[165]
Rainbow Book Fair, the largest LGBT book event in the U.S., is held annually every Spring in New York City.[166]
The Basketdolls is a recreational basketball league established in June 2024 inNew York City. Founded by Devin Myers, the organization operates primarily in Brooklyn'sBushwick neighborhood and serves transgender participants. The league conducted its inaugural season from June 1 to September 2024, hosting 15 meetings at various public courts throughout New York City. The league operates under a community-based model rather than following traditional competitive league structures. As of 2024, league administration is overseen by founder Myers and organizer Nora Rodriguez. As of 2024, the organization conducts its activities primarily on public basketball courts throughout New York City'sfive boroughs.[167]
Congregation Beit Simchat Torah ("CBST") is aJewish synagogue located in Manhattan. It was founded in 1973[168] and is the world's largestLGBTQ synagogue.[169][170] TheMetropolitan Community Church of New York (MCCNY) in theHell's Kitchen neighborhood of Midtown Manhattan is affiliated with the worldwideMetropolitan Community Church.
The progressive Jewishcongregation Kolot Chayeinu (Voices of our Lives) was founded bysocial justice activists Rabbi Ellen Lippmann and Cantor Lisa Segal. The current clergies are members of the LGBTQ community and a large portion of the congregation are members or affiliated with the LGBTQ community.
The Cock, a delightfully perverse gay bar on Second Avenue, ...
Mastercard also partnered with the New York City Commission on Human Rights to create an all-inclusive version of the iconic street sign at the corner of Gay and Christopher Streets in New York City's West Village, adding rainbow of street signs for each letter in the LGBTQIA+ acronym. This is just in time for WorldPride — which takes place in New York City this June — and the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Never before has any TV station in the entertainment and news media capital of the world carried what organizer boast is the world's largest Pride parade live on TV.
A sea of rainbows took over the Big Apple for the biggest pride parade in the world Sunday.
