{"id":258714,"date":"2026-06-08T01:54:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T01:54:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/258714\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T01:54:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T01:54:29","slug":"queens-pride-takes-over-jackson-heights-with-unstoppable-pride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/258714\/","title":{"rendered":"Queens Pride takes over Jackson Heights with \u2018unstoppable Pride\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Queer New Yorkers hailing from the World\u2019s Borough and across the city kicked off Pride month on June 7 at the 34th annual Queens Pride Parade in Jackson Heights, celebrating their \u201cunstoppable pride\u201d as they marched, performed, and spent time with their loved ones.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI always try to come out and never miss it, because this is the only opportunity that we have to create a united front as trans women,\u201d Pamela Torre Alba, 36, who has lived in Queens for four years and is originally from Venezuela, told Gay City News in Spanish.<\/p>\n

For Torre, Pride means \u201can opportunity to exist, it means resilience, and it means everything that has meaning as a human being,\u201d she said after marching along with her chosen family along with a coalition of organizations including Make The Road, the Colectivo Intercultural TRANSgrediendo, and the Translatina Network. \u201cThe \u2018T\u2019 cannot be untied from LGBTQ.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The annual celebration is traditionally the first major Pride parade of the season in New York City. Former City Councilmember and public school teacher Daniel Dromm and activist Maritza Martinez founded Queens Pride following the brutal murder of Julio Rivera, a gay man, in 1990, who the route commemorates, and sparked by pushback at the time against the pro-LGBTQ Children of the Rainbow school curriculum. The event was renamed the New Queens Pride<\/a> in 2022 after the LGBT Network<\/a> claimed leadership.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"SpectatorsSpectators cheer for marchers along the parade route.Donna Aceto<\/p>\n

Even before the noon kickoff, crowds began gathering along 37th Avenue. Marching bands were warming up, cheerleaders from Cheer New York practiced their moves, and queer people of all ages, from youth to older adults from the Queens Center for Gay Seniors<\/a>, prepared for the spectacle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"RepresentingRepresenting the Queens Center for Gay Seniors.Donna Aceto<\/p>\n

Chloe Elentari was ready to lead.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone deserves a life where they can be happy, where they can be celebrated by the people around them,\u201d said Elentari, a drum major and one of 209 people marching in the Queer Big Apple Corps.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI am 45 years old, Chloe is only about three years old, so before that I was living as a cis-het man on Long Island,\u201d she said, explaining that she attended her first pride in 2024. \u201cIt\u2019s a wonderful journey coming out as myself, being able to discover who I am, realizing what gender is, understanding my own body.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The contingent of lesbian motorcyclists Dykes on Bikes headed off the procession.
\n\"DykesDykes on Bikes lead the way.Donna Aceto\n<\/p>\n

Prominent elected officials, including NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani and New York State Attorney General Letitia James, flanked by crowds of supporters, were not far behind.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"MayorMayor Zohran Mamdani looks on during Queens Pride on June 7.Donna Aceto<\/p>\n

As is tradition, the parade paused for a moment of silence \u2014 and speeches \u2014 at the intersection of 37th Avenue and 78th Street, where Rivera was murdered.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to make sure that every single LGBTQ Queens and New York City resident\u2026 [is] safe and feel like they belong in every single community,\u201d Dromm told the crowd. \u201cPride is an important part of that, and we are unstoppable as a community.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer City Councilmember and teacher Daniel Dromm (center) and New York LGBT Network president David Kilmnick.Donna Aceto<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anyone ever tries to threaten a New Yorker or the laws that protect New Yorkers, know that every single one of us will be there to fight back,\u201d Mayor Mamdani said. \u201cBecause Pride is something that we don\u2019t just have in June, it\u2019s something that we have every month of the year.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Apicha Community Health Center contingent marches along.Donna Aceto<\/p>\n

Not everyone at the parade was celebrating. Before the festivities began, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, flanked by LGBTQ officers, held a brief press conference alongside the Gay Officers Action League to protest the decision of Heritage of Pride, the organizers of the city\u2019s main Pride March, to exclude police officers from carrying firearms while marching.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat decision is as hurtful as it is a slap in the face,\u201d said Tisch, deriding what she called the march\u2019s \u201coffensive and exclusionary stance on this issue,\u201d as cops plan, for the sixth year<\/a>, to skip the march.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"PolicePolice Commissioner Jessica Tisch marches with the Gay Officers Action League contingent.Donna Aceto<\/p>\n

As Tisch and the weapons-bearing officers marched, a group of protesters, holding signs stood by the side reading \u201cNo Pride in Genocide,\u201d \u201cZionism\u00a0 = Terrorism,\u201d and \u201cSilence = Death.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI love Queens Pride; it\u2019s one of the most diverse, oldest prides, very inspiring space, very community-oriented,\u201d Ray, 32, one of the protestors, told Gay City News. \u201cAnd as a person who supports Palestine, it\u2019s very important for me to be here, because there are queer people in Gaza who are being bombed who don\u2019t get to benefit from this, and people often don\u2019t think about this.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many onlookers of the march celebrated it as a representation of the borough\u2019s diversity.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI like that it\u2019s so local, it\u2019s not as corporate as the major one in Manhattan,\u201d said Leo, 32, who lives in Queens and has been coming for the past 6 years. \u201cI think it\u2019s celebrating diversity in general, in the diversest place in the city.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LocalsLocals explore the vendors at Queens Pride.Dashiell Allen<\/p>\n

Leo was holding a rainbow-making face paint stamp that he shared with strangers in an attempt to \u201cgayify all of Queens,\u201d he explained. \u201cWe\u2019re working on it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s immediately apparent that it\u2019s a lot more communal than Manhattan Pride,\u201d said Maxine, who stood along the route with her girlfriend Molly.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

The couple, who are both 27, have been together for the past four and a half years. This is their first time celebrating pride in Queens. Molly wore the shirt she painted a rainbow onto to mark the occasion.<\/p>\n

\"MarchingMarching hand-in-hand.Donna Aceto
\n\"QueensQueens District Attorney Melinda Katz.Donna Aceto
\n\"QueensQueens Borough President Donovan Richards and Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal.Donna Aceto
\n\"NobodyNobody can take those Rainbow Flags down.Donna Aceto
\n\"TheThe message of the era.Donna Aceto
\n\"FogoFogo Azul marches to the beat.Donna Aceto
\n\"AA Rainbow Flag for everyone at Queens Pride.Donna Aceto
\n\"EnjoyingEnjoying the moment at Queens Pride.Donna Aceto<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Queer New Yorkers hailing from the World\u2019s Borough and across the city kicked off Pride month on June…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258715,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-258714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}