How the LGBTQ+ community in New York has been staying connected

NYC Pride 2025's theme is "Rise up: Pride in Protest." It's a more defiant stance compared to recent years. "As the LGBTQIA+ community faces increasing hostility and legislative attacks, this year’s theme is a reflection of the Pride movement’s origins in protest—and is a powerful call to action for our communities and allies to rally and march in defiant celebration, advocacy and solidarity," their website reads. President Joe Biden's Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has been named as one of the grand marshals for the NYC Pride March.

Here's the full guide to the march, including where to see it, what time to arrive and the lineup of grand marshals.

This isn't a lucid dream—Grace Jones and Janelle Monae are actually performing side by side at the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival on June 9, just in time for Pride. This year's festival will take place at the Prospect Park Bandshell and the stars' performance will begin at 7pm (sunset time in June is 8:30pm), so expect good outdoor vibes while witnessing two of the greatest queer performers to ever grace this planet.

The second oldest Pride in New York City, Queens Pride, might just be the most lit. On Sunday, June 2, expect to kick off Pride with a party, parade and vendors along 37th Avenue in Jackson Heights, which has long been a queer stronghold in the borough. The official celebrations will go from noon until 6pm, but everyone knows that nighttime is when the party actually begins—expect the gay Latin bars in the area, inluding Friends Tavern and Hombres Lounge, to be packed with partygoers well into the early morning hours. 

Cardi B and FKA Twigs will headline the iconic Ladyland festival under the K Bridge in June, and we could not be more hyped.

Representing the Bronx on Friday, June 27, Cardi B will be joined by Cobrah, Danny Tenaglia, Sukihana, DJ sets by Hercules and Love Affair, among many others, while FKA Twigs will present songs from her Eusexua tour with support from Pabllo Vittar, Boris, Eartheater, VTSS, Isabella Lovestory, Kevin Aviance and more on Saturday, June 28.

Elsewhere is already pretty gay on a regular weekend, but their Pride party every summer cranks it up several noches. For a 12-hour long extravaganza that starts at 4pm and goes til 4am, the beloved Bushwick megaclub is bringing in Only Fire & Friends to its main hall, with a rooftop party during the day hosted by the AAPI queer collective Bubble_T on June 28. Other DJs who will be in the house that night include River Moon, Memphy and Sevyn 0000. 

Sure, you've heard of wine pairings. But what about books and burlesque pairings?

During this show at Caveat on Saturday, June 14, award-winning authors will read excerpts from their new books. Then, a burlesque or drag performer will present a spectacular new act they created that was inspired by the book pairing. For Pride Month, the show is extra special with an impressive cast of "wildly queer and spectacular burlesque and drag performers."

The lineup features: Sierra Greer reading from her debut novel Annie Bot, paired with a performance by Tabby Twitch. Then there's the book Dyke Delusions: Essays and Observations by Samantha Mann, which Nina Divina will interpret through movement. Next up is a novel called I Leave It Up To You by Jinwoo Chong paired with a Fortune Cookie performance. See Antonio Amour's exploration of Milo Todd's debut novel The Lilac People. Finally, there's Paul Lisicky's book Song So Wild and Blue: A Life with the Music of Joni Mitchell paired with a Diva LaMarr performance. The show's produced and hosted by Fortune Cookie.

Local bookstore Book Club Bar (197 East 3rd Street) will sell signed copies of all the books featured at the show.

Time Out tip: Tickets go fast for this show, but if it sells out, there will be a waitlist at the door. There's also a livestream option.

Back in the 1970s, there was a common rallying cry at early LGBTQ+ marches: "Out of the closets! Into the streets!" An exhibit at The Hispanic Society Museum & Library borrows that refrain for its title as it brings together 18 photographs by Francisco Alvarado-Juárez that highlight the chaotic and colorful vitality of this first iteration of Pride.

The photographs of the 1975 and 1976 marches showcase the racial and ethnic diversity of the movement and reveal the nuanced bonds of kinship formed among marchers from disparate backgrounds. In these early days, Pride was a local effort in New York City known as the Christopher Street Liberation Day March or the Gay Liberation Parade. Held as a direct response to the Stonewall Uprising of 1969, the events were a call for increased queer visibility at a time when New York still enforced so-called "sodomy" laws that facilitated the repression of the LGBTQ+ community.

See the exhibition at the Hispanic Society Museum & Library in Washington Heights through August 31, 2025. It's free to visit.

This annual event brings noise, puppets and plenty of body positivity to NYC's streets the day before the Pride March. BYO signs and banners, and keep in mind that the Dyke March doesn't have a permit—it's a protest, not a parade—so be prepared for possible interference from the fuzz. The march itself is open to all self-identified dykes, "especially BIPOC, transfemme, transmasc, bi, pan, lesbian & nonbinary." All other supporters are encouraged to cheer from the sidelines.

The March begins at Bryant Park (6th Ave/42nd Street) at 5pm on Saturday, June 28. 

Back for its second year, celebrate queer musical talent in all its glory at PRISM Festival from June 14 to June 28 at Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village as well as The Brick Theater in Williamsburg. Watch creative teams taking part in concert-style, semi-staged performances dedicated to amplifying the voices of queer artists and musical theater. This is how it works: four creative teams embark on a paid developmental process spanning a minimum of 29 hours of rehearsal, culminating in two captivating weeks of concert-style performances.

The plays at this year's PRISM Festival of New Queer Musicals include be Like BONE, created by Storm Thomas Directed, nicHi douglas and Rose Van Dyne; See/Unsee by Lila Blue, Ren Dara Santiago, Jillian Jetton and Noga Cabo; and others. Tickets go on sale on May 16 here.

We don't usually put "Pride" and "sports" in the same sentence, but this year we're staying open-minded. On Friday, June 13, the Mets will be hosting their annual Pride celebration, which will include a night of DJs, entertainment, themed cocktails, free merch for the first 15,000 atendees, and of course, sports! If you want to get the party started earlier, join the pre-game party at K Korner hosted by Drag Legend Jan Sport starting at 5pm. 

Baseball fan or not, you know deep down this is an excuse to get all the girls and gays in one stadium.

The one and only official NYC Pride party, HERITAGE, is bringing a giant celebration to Brooklyn's Duggal Greenhouse on May 27. Expect to dance, dance and dance some more to house music, with showcases by progressive artists, inclduing Giolì and Assia, Chris Luno, Dim Kelly, and Kim Anh. 

The borough’s more-manageable LGBTQ+ celebration—several weeks before the big to-do in Manhattan—includes a movie night, performances, a 5K run and a parade. The parade, known as the city's only twilight parade, runs along 5th Avenue in Park Slope between Lincoln Place and 9th Street on Saturday, June 14. Expect floats and thousands of marchers. 

Despite upsetting news that the National Endowment of the Arts revoked $20,000 from the Criminal Queerness Festival in early May, the festival has defiantly chosen to continue its programming June 11 to June 22 at the Perelman Performing Arts Center.

Criminal Querness Festival is organized by the National Queer Theater and has been dedicated to showing queer and trans artists from countries that criminalize or censor LGBTQ+ communities. The festival is an official event of NYC Pride and this year's festival will feature screenings of Tomorrow Never Came, written by Jedidiah Mugarura and set in 1987 Uganda; What You Are to Me by Dena Igusti, which explores the relationship between an aspiring singer and a zine editor; and others. 

Because of the current climate, it's asking for the community to rally around its cause by buying tickets or donating.

Queer art is under attack, which means that if there's ever been a time to support LGBTQ+ artists, it's probably now. Luckily, despite the de-funding of queer programs across the country, the Queerly Festival will be back for its 11th year at UNDER St. Mark's (94 St Marks Place) and you can expect a slate of performances highlighting queer joy and resistence from June 12 until July 3. 

Whether it's a one-woman show exploring current affairs through the perspective of two gay boys, a Drag History Hour that recounting the story of the Harlem Renaissance, or a play about a trans girl who leaves sex work to return home to her estranged mother, the performances will run the gamut from the defiant to the hilarious and heart-wrenching. Make sure to check out FRIGID's website for the full schedule and programming. 

Market Hotel, the nightclub at eye-level with the train tracks on Myrtle-Broadway, has emerged as one of the go-to underground venues in Bushwick, and every year its Pride party offers a grungier alternative to the happy-go-lucky functions of Hell's Kitchen. If you're trying to stir from Madonna remixes and prefer to get into some techno, trance and other harder genres—while still being super gay, of course—you'll want to be here from 11pm till late on June 28 for its so-called "Alphabet Mafia" party. Expect high BPM sets by Coral Kill, Vice, Boyfriend Dick and others.

On June 26, the dynamic duo behind TETEO Pride and Mercury in Reggaeton are bringing the fourth installment of their Pride series, DL Pride. The Latin-centered queer party is bringing a star-studded lineup of DJs that will include talent from NYC to Mexico City as well as the city's fiercest hosts to create an overall immaculate energy. Expect sets by Tommy Hart, Alexis de la Rosa, Flirty800 and resident DJ SKYWALKER. Join them at SILO Brooklyn and step into your full Thunderpuss fantasy—Because there will be nothing "down low" about this party.

Take your movie-going experience to the next level this summer at Rooftop Cinema Club. The experience offers a chance to watch a movie on a Midtown rooftop with vegan popcorn, classic theater candy, and craft cocktails.

For Pride Month, screenings include But I'm a Cheerleader, The Color Purple, Showgirls, and more. As part of Pride Month, $1 from every Pride screening ticket will be donated to The Trevor Project. Get tickets here.

It's not everyday you see "Cathedral" and "Pride month" in the same sentence, but that's what makes Saint John the Divine Cathedral so dang iconic. The world's largest Gothic Cathedral will host a month of celebrations featuring a mix of lively performances, thought-provoking discussions, and family-friendly activities. The celebrations will kick off on May 31 or "Pride Eve," with a performance of "the Greedy Peasant." There will also be a family picnic on June 14; A free Juneteenth concert by the Gay Men's Choir on June 20; and a Pride Evensong service on June 29, a perfect way to repent for everything we'll be doing in June.