New York City’s official Pride theme this year is Strength in Solidarity, an apt reminder that Pride was born as a protest movement against bigotry wherever it manifests. Not that there isn’t room to party, too.
The actor and singer Billy Porter and the activist Randy Wicker are among the grand marshals of this year’s Pride March, which kicks off at noon on June 25 at 25th Street and 5th Avenue. (It will be broadcast on ABC 7.) Also that day, Christina Aguilera headlines Pride Island, the big annual dance party, at Brooklyn Army Terminal.
New York’s official Pride calendar also features a Juneteenth brunch with Black L.G.B.T.Q. chefs on June 18 and, on June 24, events centered on people of color and a Youth Pride party.
Other area Pride marches and festivals will be held in the Hudson Valley (June 3); Queens (June 4); Brooklyn (June 10); Long Island (June 11); the Bronx (June 17); and Harlem (June 24). The annual Dyke March — “a protest march, not a parade,” according to organizers — is June 24.
Gen Xers who came of age in New York are in for two doses of gay nostalgia this month. Junior Vasquez — whose track “If Madonna Calls” is a gay ’90s anthem — spins at Fire Island’s Ice Palace (June 3). The cabaret singer Joey Arias, who was a glam presence at the Fiorucci store and the Wigstock festival, performs at Red Eye in Manhattan (June 28).
On June 23, Queer|Art, an organization of L.G.B.T.Q. artists, and Body Hack, a mutual aid project for transgender and nonbinary groups, are throwing a 15-hour party at the Ridgewood venue Nowadays to raise funds for transgender rights in the South. There will be a daytime queer vendor fair and a dance party until daybreak.
If the water calls you, you have multiple chances all month to take a Sparkle in the Dark Pride cruise on Manhattan’s waterfront, with killer views of the Statue of Liberty, cocktails and late-night dancing.
Picture This
Queer desire drives two new exhibitions in Manhattan. At the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art through July 16 is “I Love You Like Mirrors Do,” Coyote Park’s show of photographs that documents their love between partners past and present. “Under Cover: J. C. Leyendecker and American Masculinity,” at the New-York Historical Society through Aug. 13, explores the gay undertones in the artist’s paintings and print advertisements.
Through June 30, the Queens Museum and the nonprofit group Photoville present “Live Pridefully,” an interdisciplinary exhibition in Rizzuto Park in Richmond Hill, Queens. Curated by Mohamed Q. Amin, the executive director of the Caribbean Equality Project, the exhibit “celebrates queer and trans Caribbean resilience through a racial justice lens,” according to the museum.
Learn Something
The Bureau of General Services — Queer Division, a bookstore inside the L.G.B.T. Community Center in the West Village, hosts two in-person talks. On June 14, the sex expert Zachary Zane will discuss his new book of essays, “Boyslut: A Memoir and Manifesto” with Jordyn Taylor, an editor at Men’s Health. The next evening, Avgi Saketopoulou and Ann Pellegrini will talk about their new book, “Gender Without Identity,” which explores theories of gender formation. Both events will be live-streamed on YouTube.
Throughout June, the Whitney Museum of American Art leads Queer History Walks in Manhattan’s meatpacking district, focused on the neighborhood’s L.G.B.T.Q. past. Pride Tours NYC offers daily guided walking tours, with stops at the Stonewall Inn and Julius’ Bar, the site of New York’s first sip-in.
Screen and Be Seen
Newfest, New York’s annual L.G.B.T.Q. film festival, runs June 1-5 with in-person and virtual programs. On June 5, Newfest and Rooftop Films present a free outdoor screening of “The Stroll,” Kristen Lovell’s documentary about the history of the meatpacking district, told from the perspective of transgender sex workers.
On June 21, Rooftop Films and the Fort Greene Park Conservancy partner on “Queerly Beloved: Pride Shorts in the Park,” a free program of short films from around the world, at Fort Greene Park in Brooklyn.
Other film options this month include “Doll Parts,” the Alamo Drafthouse’s five-movie series covering 70 years of transgender films, and “Queer Cinema, Top to Bottom,” a 10-film program at the Museum of the Moving Image curated by the critic (and New York Times contributor) Kyle Turner.
Drag Yourself
On June 14, the Queens Botanical Garden in Flushing hosts “Queens at the Garden,” an all-ages evening of drag performances hosted by Marti Cummings and featuring Nani Tsunami and Janae SaisQuoi.
“RuPaul’s Drag Race Werq the World” tour sashays into Atlantic City’s Tropicana Casino and Resort on June 17. If you want to support up-and-comers, the new website See the Queens lets you search by neighborhood or queen.
On June 24, the drag queen Donna Ria Montgomery emcees Drag Brunch Bingo at Lacey’s Bridge Tavern, an Italian restaurant in the Port Richmond neighborhood of Staten Island. Tickets include five bingo cards (but bring your own dauber).
The Gay Stage
Set in 1979, Nora Burns’s “The Village, a Disco Daydream” is a show about two men who find love (and sex) through a shared love of the dance floor. It runs through June 23 at Dixon Place.
Queer and country? Gay cowboy mystery man Orville Peck plays the Theater at Madison Square Garden on June 20. Queer and classical? Handel and Billy Strayhorn are part of Montclair Early Music’s “Rainbow Rhapsody” concert in Montclair, N.J., on June 25.
New works by Emily Aviles and Júlia Cerqueira are part of the Tank’s annual PrideFest (June 16-25). The performance festival highlights work that “celebrates the queer community in its healing,” according to organizers.
Take the Kids
Children and teenagers can celebrate Pride by getting crafty. On June 2, Poster House hosts two family-friendly events: an origami workshop by Taro’s Origami Studio and a poster-making class with the designer Acacia Rodriguez.
On June 3, King Manor, a historic house museum in Jamaica, Queens, hosts a Pride-themed afternoon during which kids can design rainbow salt-dough heart ornaments, a popular craft during the Victorian era.
An all-ages Pride weekend at the Bronx Zoo (June 3-4) includes live music and rainbow flag-making classes.