"I felt like the accident shook our sense of safety here in the States, like, profoundly, because we came here for safety," he said. Subhi Nahas, a Syrian refugee who has addressed the UN Security Council on the plight of LGBT people in his home country, said the Orlando shooting had jolted gay immigrants` relative sense of security.
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Police lined the route, which started in Midtown and culminated in Greenwich Village, home of the Stonewall Inn. Parents came with young children, tourists from overseas and exhibitionists indulged in show-stopping costumes and glittery catsuits complete with stilettos.
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Spectators donned rainbow feather boas and waved rainbow flags. Scouts carried 49 flags with rainbow stripes to honor the victims, a group was dressed head-to-toe in white and wore veils, with placards with the names and photographs of the Orlando dead hanging around their necks.Along the route, the newly created Gays Against Guns (GAG) pressure group staged a die-in to raise awareness, lying down on the hot road in a heap.īut despite somber remembrance, the parade was also a giant street party with participants dancing to thumping music, a giant arc of rainbow balloons and street vendors doing a brisk trade in all things rainbow. And I have to say the response has been amazing," he added. We will stand up to those who would try to undermine our values. "We have extraordinary NYPD presence to make sure that this will not only be the biggest but the safest parade we`ve ever had," said Mayor Bill de Blasio before the first march kicked off in New York with a moment of silence. The US events, also in Chicago and Seattle, were a celebration but also a tribute to the 49 people killed at a gay nightclub on June 12 in America`s single worst mass shooting, which has once again inflamed calls for gun control.
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Just days before the parade, President Barack Obama designated America`s first LGBT national monument at the city`s Stonewall Inn, where protests that came to be known as the Stonewall Uprising erupted in 1969 following a police crackdown.Īt the same spot, once synonymous with law enforcement brutality, a uniformed police band with "Happy Pride Day" signs played "God Bless America" to cheers.