Pride & Queens & Bears, Oh My, for Stonewall's Ruby Anniversary
By Bruce-Michael Gelbert, with Joseph R. Saporito & Gregory J. Klosek
photo by Joseph R. Saporito
Stonewall crowd
LGBT New York "paint(ed) the town ruby," in keeping with the theme of the 40th LGBT Pride March, along the lavender line, down Fifth Avenue from 52nd Street, on sunny Sunday June 28, to celebrate the 40th (ruby) anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion, which marked the beginning of the late 20th century Gay Liberation Movement.
After our traditional Pride breakfast, hosted by our dear friends Paul Kimball and Barry Sorkin, Joe Saporito (Mr. Fire Island Leather 2005), Greg Klosek, and I (Mr. FI Leather 2001) headed toward midtown, where the march contingents were assembling. We paused at the Imperial Court of New York float, which, per the decree of Their Most Imperial Sovereign Majesties Emperor XVIII Tony Monteleone and Empress XXIII Anne Tique, reflected an Italian theme, with Tony wielding a loaf of Italian bread in lieu of a scepter. Joe received a blessing from Pope Wendy Lewis, we bade farewell to Peter B (Mr. FI Leather 2002), dressed as a gondolier and set to paddle soon toward the Midwest, and chatted with a pregnant Demi-Tasse and with Master Tom (Mr. FI Leather 2006). During the course of our day, we would also see Isaac Steven Vaughan (Mr. FI Leather 2008) and Craig Williams, both from the Cherry Grove Fire Department and working with Heritage of Pride, which organizes the march.
We saw China riding on the Stonewall Veterans Association float and saw AIDS organizations, colorful Latin American marchers in elaborate feathery confections, youth groups, athletic groups, and contingents promoting the right to same-sex marriage in New York State, before we settled in for our day of marching with MetroBears New York, who supplied a steady stream of Mardi Gras beads, lollipops, teddy bears in ruby-red shirts, and stickers that said "Fur is Fun!" and "Grrr!" We observed the traditional 2 p.m. Moment of Silence, in memory of the many comrades and companions we've lost to AIDS, as we waited to enter the line of march.
We marched near Empire State Pride Agenda, Generation Q for LGBT teens, the Big Apple Softball League, the Sex Workers' Outreach Project, and the cast of "The Temperamentals," riding in a 1958 dusty rose-colored Plymouth convertible.
At the reviewing stand at Madison Square Park, we greeted leather activist Jo Arnone, Village People Cowboy Randy Jones, veteran Stonewall bartender Tree, and Empress Gefil Tefish and, just before we turned west on Eighth Street, Sybil Bruncheon/New York Empress Sybil the First. On Eighth, we saw Rosemary Palladino and her partner, representing Stonewall Staten Island.
By the time we reached the conclusion of the march, which dispersed at Christopher and Greenwich Streets, we had worked up an appetite for dinner and, after a pause at Leather Alley, at Weekhawken Street, outside the Ramrod, formerly the Dugout, we headed for Antica Venezia Ristorante, on West Street at Tenth Street, where our gay waiter (sporting a rainbow-striped tie) and his partner served us a scrumptious meal. Now our summer has truly begun.
