The NYC Pride Parade used to have so much more angst behind its message and charm behind its cardboard painted signage. Today, the parade is a joke considering it started as a protest spurring from the Stonewall Riots of 1969-when mostly transgender women fought back against police who kept raiding village bars and clubs. Why? The Parade had gotten too commercialized and corporatized for me. I eventually stopped attending NYC’s main Pride Parade opting instead for the smaller borough events or the annual Dyke march. In comparison to New York City, the Auckland Pride parade was like visiting a small-town Pride event or going back in time to NYC’s parade origins. I have been to a lot of Pride parades-mostly all over New York State including small towns for the last 10 years and New York City’s Pride events for the last 6 or so years.
