Dyke March NYC 2019
photo by Amanda Hatfield

Dyke March NYC 2019 in pics

It’s the grand finale weekend of NYC’s huge month-long celebration of World Pride, which celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. Mayor (and would-be Democratic presidential nominee) Bill de Blasio christened Friday (6/28) Stonewall Day in the city, speaking at a rally at the historic Inn, and on Sunday the enormous, colorful spectacle that is the Pride March takes over Manhattan from 26th St down to Christopher Street. The afternoon before that, though, queer women (and people of other gender identities) hit the streets, marching down 5th Ave from 42nd Street Bryant Park to Washington Square Park for the annual Dyke March. It’s less a party (although it is fun, with plenty of people dancing to troops of drummers and the Lesbian & Gay Big Apple Corps Marching Band, stationed at the side along the route) and more of a protest, eschewing corporate sponsors and excess pageantry. Many marchers carried signs denouncing ICE and the Trump Administration this year, and supporting Transgender people. As per tradition, volunteer marshals linked hands at intersections, protecting marchers from traffic. Upon arriving at the route’s end in Washington Square Park, lots of people headed right for the fountain to cool off in its spray. Check out pictures (some are NSFW) of the 2019 Dyke March in the gallery above.

For another non-corporate, protest-oriented Pride event, the Queer Liberation March and Rally happens on Sunday morning (6/30), beginning at 9:30 AM on 7th Ave south of Christopher Street. From there the March will retrace the route of the Christopher Street Liberation Day March of 1970, heading north on 7th Ave for one block and then east to 6th Ave on West 10th Street, and from there north to Central Park’s Great Lawn, where a rally will be held at 1 PM. Anyone is welcome to join the march at any point (Bryant Park at 11 AM is listed as one possible place to join), and organizers say there will be no police in it. More info here.