“We don’t go to the Pride Parade anymore, because instead of it being a political community event, it has become a corporate Mardi Gras,” said activist Ann Northrop. “And that is so opposed to everything we stand for.”
Northrop is so fed up with the parade that she’s helping to organize a rival event, the Queer Liberation March and Rally.
It kicks off at 9:30 Sunday morning - a couple of hours before the big parade - and travels north from 7th Avenue, just below Christopher Street, to a rally in Central Park.
It’s a sign of disagreement over the direction of the gay rights movement, on the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.
“People, no corporate floats, just people in the streets, marching for justice, liberation, mourning our dead, celebrating our victories and committing to the struggles that are still before us,” Northrop said.
The event is expected to resemble the early gay pride marches, when the focus was on gaining rights for a group of people who had none.
Back then, corporate sponsors wanted nothing to do with the LGBTQ community.