Bronx Pride March
overview
The first annual Bronx Pride Parade and Multicultural Festival was held on July 11, 1998, in the Concourse neighborhood of the Bronx.
Chaired by Gloria Diaz, Matt Hinojosa, and later by Marisol Santiago, the parade and festival sought to promote the emerging spirit of Bronx pride by collaborating with the borough’s diverse multicultural, religious, and LGBT groups.
Bronx Pride members march with a hand-sewn banner down Grand Concourse. July 11, 1998. Screenshot from an episode of HoMoVISIONES, 1998, via Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Library and Archives.
Attendees at the Bronx Pride Festival stand in front of the stage in Joyce Kilmer Park. July 11, 1998. Screenshot from an episode of HoMoVISIONES, 1998, via Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Library and Archives.
Arthur Aviles, Charles Rice-González, Elizabeth Marrero and Jimmy Monaghan, stand backstage at the Bronx Pride Festival. July 11, 1998. Source: LGBT Community Center National History Archive, Gay Men of the Bronx Newsletter, July/August 1998.
Melba Moore performs on stage in Joyce Kilmer Park at the Bronx Pride Festival. July 11, 1998. Source: LGBT Community Center National History Archive, Gay Men of the Bronx Newsletter, July/August 1998.
Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer sits in the front seat of the “Stonewall Car” alongside members of the Imperial Kings and Queens of New York: Jenni Egan, Cindy Chan, Amir Qaharr, and Willson Henderson (founder of the Stonewall Rebellion Veterans Association). July 11, 1998. Source: Stonewall Rebellion Veterans Association.
Led by a man holding a Puerto Rican flag, parade attendees carry a giant rainbow flag down the Concourse. July 11, 1998. Screenshot from an episode of HoMoVISIONES, 1998, via Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Library and Archives.
A collage of photos from the 1999 Bronx Pride Parade taken by Daniel Del Valle. July 10, 1999. Source: LGBT Community Center National History Archive, Gay Men of the Bronx Newsletter, July/August 1999.
Bronx Pride activists contingent at the Queens Pride Parade. Undated. Source: LaGuardia and Wagner Archives, photo by Richard Shpuntoff.
History
Although there were gay groups organizing in the Bronx in the 1970s and 1980s, the 1990s ushered in an era of increased LGBT visibility in the borough, with the emergence of groups like Gay Men of the Bronx and Bronx Lesbians United in Sisterhood and large-scale events—namely, the 1992 “We Are Everywhere Conference” at Lehman College and the closing ceremony of the 1994 Gay Games at Yankee Stadium. Building on this momentum, in 1997, Gloria Diaz founded Bronx Pride, recognizing that “although lesbians and gays comprise a significant percentage of the Bronx population, there wasn’t a local outlet for us to express ourselves or demonstrate our Pride.” That year, planning for the first annual Bronx Pride Parade and Multicultural Festival began with monthly meetings held every second Wednesday at the Pride in the Bronx Program space at 2390 Grand Concourse.
Co-chaired by Diaz and Matt Hinojosa, and galvanized by the support of Brooklyn Pride, Queens Pride, and a wide array of volunteers, the 1998 Bronx Pride was scheduled for July, aiming to expand pride celebrations beyond June—the month that three other boroughs held marches. Mirroring the theme for the 1998 New York City Pride March, Bronx Pride centered around “Unity Through Diversity.”
The Bronx is here. The Bronx is queer. We’re not in the Village. We’re everywhere.
On Saturday, July 11th, 1998, the Bronx Pride Parade and Festival was held in the Concourse neighborhood of the Bronx, drawing nearly 5,000 attendees. Coordinated by Kim Bertolino, the parade commenced at noon at 170th Street and Grand Concourse, following the path of the Concourse south to Joyce Kilmer Park, where the festival would take place. Parade participants included a variety of performance groups, clubs, and organizations such as Bronx Lesbians United in Sisterhood, Gay Men of the Bronx, Gay Men of African Descent, the Bronx Lesbian and Gay Health Consortium, Alianza Dominicana, Las Buenas Amigas, Club Alisae, the Lesbian and Gay Big Apple Corps, Imperial Kings and Queens of Greater New York, and the Audre Lorde Project. A delegation from the New York Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project (now the Anti-Violence Project) marched alongside the mother of Peter Garcia, a young gay man who was murdered in the Chelsea section of Manhattan on Memorial Day of that year. Yet, alongside somber moments, as Bronx Pride organizer Marisol Santiago observed in an interview with the New York Daily News, “I saw regular people on the street waving at us, just enjoying the moment. It was like we were united at the heart, and that was beautiful.”
The parade was led by two grand marshals, Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, selected in recognition of his longtime support of LGBT rights in the Bronx, and Crystal Dove Paris, the former president of Bronx Lesbians United in Sisterhood, the Bronx Lavender Community Center, and a commissioner of the Board of Elections. At Joyce Kilmer Park, festivities were emceed by Jimmy Monaghan and stage-managed by Charles Rice-González (founder of the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance). Performances featured Michael Lynch, Elizabeth Marrero, and the cast of Bronx public access gay soap opera Strange Fruits, among others. The festival culminated with a performance by singer Melba Moore, organized by Warehouse promoter Mike Stone.
We loved marching in a pride parade in our own town.
Though this was the first Heritage of Pride-affiliated parade and festival in the borough, Bronx-based LGBT organizations had been marching in the Bronx since at least the early 1980s and in Manhattan since the early 1970s. In May of 1982, Bronx Lesbian and Gay Independent Democrats marched in the Bronx Day Parade, and in June of 1972, Bronx United Gays marched in the annual Christopher Street Liberation Day March in Manhattan.
Due to internal conflict between the board of Bronx Pride and festival chairs, Gloria Diaz was asked to step down just two weeks before the festival commenced. Marisol Santiago was appointed co-chair and continued to serve Bronx Pride in that position for the rest of the festival’s tenure, until its conclusion in 2001. Both women would come to be recognized for their achievements surrounding Bronx Pride, with awards from Borough President Ferrer.
Announced in the 1999 Heritage of Pride Pride Guide’s March, Pride, and Media Awards, Bronx Pride was given a Special Recognition Award for “successfully producing its first pride event” in 1998.
The Bronx Pride Parade and Multicultural Festival ran annually in July for four years, between 1998 and 2001. Today, its legacy is carried on by several organizations and events throughout the summer months: the Bronx Pride Festival and Health Fair (organized by Appolonia Cruz, known as “The Queen of the Bronx”), the Bronx Pride March (organized by the Office of the Bronx Borough President and the Bronx LGBTQIA+ Taskforce), and Da Bronx Pride Festival (organized by Destination Tomorrow).
Entry by Cecelia Halle, project consultant (August 2024).
NOTE: Names above in bold indicate LGBT people.
Sources
Appolonia Cruz, Audrey DeJesus, Donna Guzzardi, and Reverend Carmen Hernandez, interviewed by Cecelia Halle, July 26, 2024.
Bronx Pride, Organizational Files, LGBT Community Center National History Archive.
“Bronx Pride,” In The Life: The Mid Hudson Valley’s Monthly Lesbian & Gay Newspaper, June 1998, 4, Archives of Sexuality and Gender, bit.ly/3MfjluO.
Bronx Pride 1998, LGBTQ Collection, Series: Subject Files, Box#: 150028 Folder#: 22, LaGuardia and Wagner Archives.
“BxLGP,” Brooklyn Pride, vol. 2, no. 1, January-February 1998, Archives of Sexuality and Gender, bit.ly/46SMZiO.
Charles Rice-González, interviewed by Cecelia Halle, June 28, 2024.
Charles Rice-González, “Bronx Pride 1998,” Gay Men of the Bronx Newsletter, July/August 1998, Gay Men of the Bronx, Organizational Files, LGBT Community Center National History Archive.
Charles Rice-González, “Gay Pride! Bronx Pride! Where was GMoB?” Gay Men of the Bronx Newsletter, July/August 1999, Gay Men of the Bronx, Organizational Files, LGBT Community Center National History Archive.
Charles Rice-González, “Happy Bronx Gay Pride!,” Gay Men of the Bronx Newsletter, July/August 1998, Gay Men of the Bronx, Organizational Files, LGBT Community Center National History Archive.
Charles Rice-González, “The Bronx is Buzzin’,” Gay Men of the Bronx Newsletter, March/April 1998, Gay Men of the Bronx, Organizational Files, LGBT Community Center National History Archive.
Christine Dinsmore, “Bronx swells with pride,” New York Blade News, July 17, 1998, 9, LGBTQ Collection, Series: Scrapbooks, Box#: 150064 Folder#: 07, LaGuardia and Wagner Archives.
Christine Dinsmore, “City Desk: The Bronx,” New York Blade News, January 9, 1998, 6, MS The Allan Berube Papers: Series IV: Research Subject Files Box 134, Folder 13. Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Historical Society, Archives of Sexuality and Gender, bit.ly/4fSsPJJ.
Denis Hamill, “Bronx gay pride is growing,” New York Daily News, July 23, 2000, 6.
Dorothy Deringer, “A Summer of Pride,” Brooklyn Pride, vol. 2, no. 5, Sept. 1998, 7, Archives of Sexuality and Gender, bit.ly/3AtYa5r.
“Gloria Diaz,” Women for Women Connection, MS Geographic Files, Lesbian Herstory Archives, Archives of Sexuality and Gender, bit.ly/3yzNe5S.
Heritage of Pride, “The 1998 March, Pride, and Media Awards,” 1999 New York Pride Guide, MS John Loughery Collection, 1934-2021 Box 2b Folder 18, GLBTQ Archives, Elihu Burritt Library, Central Connecticut State University, Archives of Sexuality and Gender, bit.ly/4cuBEGN.
Imperial Kings and Queens of Greater New York, “June ’98 Pride Celebration,” Newzy Letta of I.Q.K., vol. 30, no. 8, Summer 1998, LGBTQ Collection, Series: Scrapbooks, Box#: 150064 Folder#: 07, LaGuardia and Wagner Archives.
“Queens and Bronx Pride Events,” Center Voice, vol. 14, no. 2, April-May 1998, 1+. Archives of Sexuality and Gender, bit.ly/4dRAVAM.
The Audre Lorde Project, “Our Pride’s Out,” The Missive, vol. 2. no. 2. Pride 98, LGBTQ Collection, Series: Scrapbooks, Box#: 150064 Folder#: 07, LaGuardia and Wagner Archives.
“The Co-Chairs,” Brooklyn Pride, 2003, MS Organization Files, Lesbian Herstory Archives, Archives of Sexuality and Gender, bit.ly/4dmmoNz.
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