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

While many colloquially call the event the Pride Parade, organizers refer to it as The March as a nod to the event’s heritage. After all, the first march was an unpermitted political protest of anti-LGBT policies and attitudes.

This year, rainbow-clad activists and allies will take to the streets in support of global LGBTQ rights at the NYC Pride March on Sunday, June 25. In recent years, The March has grown to include more than 700 groups with millions of spectators.

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

Stonewall Day on June 23, which Pride Live launched in 2018 to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion, is relocating to Hudson Yards to accommodate more guests at the development’s public square. The event is also a fundraiser for the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center (SNMVC), which will be the first LGBTQ+ visitor center within the National Park System, slated to open next June. Tickets are free, but VIP access starts at $82. 

And for the price of $0, you can enjoy a great show! Christina Aguilera will be headlining the concert, with additional performances by pop recording artist Mila Jam, the indie pop trio BETTY, and drag artist Mariyea. Actress Angelica Ross, Founder and CEO of TransTech will host, and Lina Bradford will be the resident DJ.

Get ready for an evening of dynamic and fun performances that showcase the rich diversity of the Indigenous LGBTQIA+ community. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian will host the free show on Friday, June 23. 

Landa Lakes (Chickasaw) hosts an extravaganza of dance, music, and humor featuring fellow Indigenous drag performers Lady Shug (Diné [Navajo]), Sage Chanell (Shawnee/Ponca/Otoe/Lakota Sioux), and Papi Churro (Coahuiltecan/Nahua-Otomi). DJ Jonray (Laguna/Acoma Pueblo) will provide the music.

For its seventh annual summer festival Queer|Art|Pride, the org will be partnering with LGBTQ+ party series and collective Body Hack to take over Nowadays in Ridgewood for a two-part celebration on Friday, June 23. From 3pm to 8pm on Friday, attendees can enjoy a queer vendor fair in the venue’s sprawling backyard, spotlighting local artisans, small queer businesses and trans-owned brands. Then, from 8pm to 6am, the event will transform into one of Body Hack's infamous happy hour parties, powered with late-night beats by DJs including Archangel, Battyjack, Cisne, Deathrayz, DJ Delish, Soo Intoit, Sp3cial K, Zolita, Zaida Zane, and 8ulentina. The event will fundraise three BIPOC trans-led organizations working to protect trans people in states most affected by anti-trans violence and legislation: inTRANSitive (Little Rock, AK), The McKenzie Project (Miami, FL) and TKO Society (Selma, AL).

The Roxy Cinema in Tribeca is celebrating queer cinema during Pride Month. Running all month long, Roxy REELness starts back in the 1960s with Jack Smith’s Flaming Creatures (16MM) and Shirley Clarke’s Portrait Of Jason (35MM). The festival journeys all the way up to modern times with 2018’s Knife + Heart.

Other films incude Two Wrenching Departures, Blue Is The Warmest Color, Happy Together, Paris Is Burning, Rocky Horror Picture Show and lots more.

To kickstart its monthlong "Iconic Pride" series, the uptown cathedral (located at 1047 Amsterdam Avenue at 112th Street) is honoring the city's vibrant LGBTQ+ community with a fittingly colorful ongoing installation by Mexican-American visual artist Gabriel Garcia Roman.

The display will light up the cathedral's majestic interior columns in the colors of the Pride Flag. 

St. John's will continue the celebration with activities all month including a Pride Family Day on Saturday, June 3; a Pride Panel Discussion on Monday, June 5; a community choir on Sunday, June 18. Events continue through July 1.

Check out the full scope of the "Iconic Pride" series at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine's website. 

Back for its third year in New York City, Aesop’s Queer Library will return this June to provide New Yorkers with free books by LGBTQ+ authors. Many of the books in the collection have been banned or challenged across the country, and the brand-sponsored queer library aims to increase access and discussion about these titles while highlighting the necessity of self-expression.

New York’s Queer Library branch will open at Aesop Williamsburg (85 North 3rd Street) from Tuesday, June 20 through Saturday, June 25. As in previous years, each visitor is invited to select a complimentary book from the shelves and take it home, while supplies last. 

Lincoln Center's super-fun "Summer for the City" festival is back this year, and the roster includes several Pride events.

During Pride Month, see National Queer Theater’s Criminal Queerness Festival; queer pop duo The Illustrious Blacks’ silent disco; Mariachi Arcoiris de Los Angeles, the world’s first LGBTQ+ mariachi group; and a tribute to Sylvester, one of the first openly gay artists in disco and R&B.

For the full lineup with days, times, and details visit SummerForTheCity.org.

Cap the Seaport Museum’s Pride Month festivities by getting out on the water on Saturday, June 24 at 1pm to join the LGBTQ+ sailing club Knickerbocker Sailing Association’s (KSA) 21st annual floating parade.

Two of the Museum’s National Register-listed historic ships will join over 30 vessels for the sail, which means you can join part of the parade on the 1885 schooner Pioneer or the 1930 tugboat W.O. Decker. The fleet of 30+ vessels will feature sails designed by Gilbert Baker who created the first pride flag and was a member of KSA.

The experienced crews will guide the vessels past New York’s iconic Lower Manhattan skyline and into New York Harbor to join the parade at the Statue of Liberty.

Advance registration is required, and tickets range from $15–$50. 

Playbill and the Times Square Alliance are teaming up for Pride In Times Square, a variety of free events on NYC Pride Weekend, June 23-24.

Expect stage and screen celebrities, Broadway/Off-Broadway productions, local Times Square business promotions, Pride Piano Bar sessions, live DJ sets, a TNB2S+ Pride celebration, a Drag Pride celebration, the return of last year’s The Big Broadway Disco, and more. 

Here's the full schedule.

All month long, New York Botanical Garden will celebrate the history and contributions of the LGBTQ+ community in the botanical world. The main event is on Saturday, June 10, including live music, DJ sets, flower arranging and a runway show.

Other events include:

— Library Display, through June 30
The LuEsther T. Mertz Library will highlight items for visitors to read during their visit, including You Grow, Girl! Plant Kween’s Lush Guide to Growing Your Garden by Christopher Griffin.

— Dig! Plant! Grow! at the Edible Academy, all month
Venture to the Edible Academy to enjoy Rainbow Salad Mix demonstrations for Salad Days, as well as to learn about LGBTQ+ connections to botanical history

— Make Your Own Pride Button at the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden, Saturday, June 24 and Sunday, June 25 Make your own pride button and learn about the history of buttons to represent queer identity. An online video shows teen NYBG Explainers making flower lapel pins, just like English playwright Oscar Wilde did by wearing a dyed green carnation to symbolize his place in the gay community.

In a city with dozens of gay bars (gay men have clubs, lounges, cabarets, sports bars, karaoke bars, piano bars and dive bars), so few remain for lesbians, with none opening in the last 30 years. Until now. 

Since 2022, New York City has more than doubled its lesbian spaces, going from three mainstays—Cubbyhole, Henrietta Hudson and Ginger’s (all well-loved modernized relics from the 1990s)—to six, and counting! Here's the scoop the exciting resurgence of lesbian bars in NYC.

In honor of PRIDE Month, Edge at Hudson Yards is celebrating the LGBTQ+ community with a very cool photo opp. Edge unveilved "Skyline seats" that lead up from level 100 to level 101 with colors of the Pride flag. Visitors at Edge can take in the 360-degree views on these colorful steps throughout the month of June.

If you haven't been to Edge yet, it's the highest outdoor observation deck in the Western Hemisphere with a stunning bird's-eye view—that is, if you’re not afraid of heights.

A new immersive experience taking over the Lower East Side is part walking tour, part theatrical character monologue and an overall commentary on current celebrity worship culture.

A Gaga Guide to the Lower East Side runs through June 25 in celebration of Pride Month. The experience, which is about 75 minutes long and covers approximately 14 blocks, whisks visitors through the Lower East Side "with an emphasis on the exploits of [the tour guide's] favorite pop star and downtown denizen Lady Gaga."

Join Queens comedian Ricky Sim (New York Comedy Festival) in this chaotic, humorous and heartfelt stand-up solo show about his journey as a gaysian immigrant trying to come out of closet to his traditional mother just as she's diagnosed with cancer. As he puts it: "Talk about good timing!"

This Pride Fest in Downtown Brooklyn on Saturday, June 24 focuses on families. Hosted by Lola Star of Dreamland Productions, the inclusive celebration for all ages will shine a spotlight on fabulousness and creativity.

Families and kids of all ages are encouraged to come in costume and join in the Rainbow Parade, Brooklyn’s only Family Pride Parade, which will circle through Albee Square and Flatbush Avenues led by stilt walkers, strong men, and dancing rainbow roller skaters.

Entertainment highlights include Fogu Azul drumline, Anna Copa Cabana and the Love Show, hula hooper Pinkie Special, and Lola Star’s Happy Dance Club Family Party. Clothing retailer Primark will also launch its "Found Family" collection as part of the event.

As of 2023, New York City is home to just a few lesbian bars (Cubbyhole, Ginger’s and Henrietta Hudson) and a few inclusive queer bars (Oddly Enough, Mood Ring) to throw into the mix.

For lesbian, bisexual and queer women, spaces to find community, meet and gather can feel limited. Luckily, plenty of women-loving women (WLW), trans and nonbinary people are organizing weekly events and parties to help unite the community.

Here’s a full round-up of where to meet and party with WLW every night of the week in NYC.

Voyage through Gowanus Bay on Thursday, June 29 with this special paddle. Rainbow flags and apparel are encouraged for this maritime parade. Tickets cost $23.

As The Paley Museum puts it, "few shows have left as lasting a legacy on television" as Will & Grace, which helped pave the way for greater recognition of the LGBTQ+ community on television.

For Pride month, The Paley Museum in Midtown West pays homage to this show from June 2 to July 9. Visitors can sit in Café Jacques, pose on the iconic couch in "Will and Grace's" living room and see original costumes from the show.

Artisanal creamery Van Leeuwen is upping the cool factor with a new flavor inspired by one of the artists who helped define the New York we know today: the late, great Keith Haring. 

In honor of Pride Month, the special-edition flavor is Passion Fruit Berry Pop, a fittingly multicolored mix of blue raspberry ice cream and yellow passion fruit ice cream with swirls of strawberry jam made to mimic the colorful pop-art sensibilities of Haring's most famous and iconic works. And of course, the carton has to look as good as its contents—each pint will be covered in Keith Haring artwork.

The flavor will be available by the scoop and by the pint through Monday, August 31, at Van Leeuwen scoop shops as well as at select grocery stores in the Tri-State area. 

This corner-side contemporary art gallery curates exhibits by LGBTQ+ artists and accompanying events. Virtual exhibitions are also available to those unable to pop up. Stay up-to-date on performance residencies, show openings and more for a community night out.

A bookstore unlike any other, New York’s only queer, trans and sex worker-run bookstore has it all: Radical zines, bestsellers, and titles organized to support trans kids. Visit to browse the books and also for free events like readings and book discussions, letter writing to incarcerated LGBTQ folks and more.

A historically inclusive queer beach, this stretch of Rockaway is a meeting place for LGBTQ+ New Yorkers from every borough, eager for judgment-free time in the sun. Pack extra snacks to share if you want to make friends.