Revelers at New York City’s Pride Parade on Sunday sounded off on a controversial chant by LGBTQ activists — with some saying the shouts of “We’re here! We’re queer! We’re coming for your children!” could spark more anti-gay hate.
The chant — yelled Friday at the annual Drag March in the East Village — was seen as a misguided joke by some parade attendees, who wondered whether it hurt the cause more than it helped.
“I don’t think it was the right group or the right time to make a joke (about that),” said Angela Ghiozzo, a mom from Cold Spring, NY, who went to the parade with her son, Matthew Pocarillo, who came out 12 years ago.
“They’re in danger every day,” Ghiozzo told The Post, referencing recent attacks on drag shows and the gay community as a whole. “They’re bullied, they’re harassed, they’re beaten, they’re killed. And that’s not the right time to make a joke. I don’t know what the purpose was, I don’t know what their mindset was. But it’s just adding fuel to the fire.”
But others were more cavalier, and dismissed the chant as a harmless jab at anti-gay activists who falsely accuse those in the LGBTQ community of being pedo“It’s all in good fun,” said Kelly Autorina, a longtime parade veteran who called herself a “huge supporter” of drag. “If you’re taking it like that, then that’s a you problem. Not an us problem.”
Still, neither the controversy, nor the humid, rainy weather could put a damper on the NYC Pride March’s spectacle.
Nearly two million rainbow-bedecked revelers of all ages flooded Manhattan streets, cheering as the thousands-strong procession of folks and floats marched by in the largest celebration of its kind in North America.
Local politicians such as Sen. Chuck Schumer, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams also participated in the march, which is now in its 53rd year and commemorates the June 1969 riots at Greenwich Village’s Stonewall Inn that sparked the movement for LGBTQ rights.
Sidewalk vendors hawked rainbow flags and rainbow afros, while West Village businesses dangled rainbow necklaces in their windows to show support.
Nypost