One month after the Stonewall Riots that fully ushered in the modern gay rights movement, a group of 500 people gathered in Washington Square Park for a a "Gay Power" demonstration, followed by a candlelight vigil in Sheridan Square. This event, which would become an integral annual part of what came to be known as NYC Pride, is now called The Rally, and is held on the Saturday of the weekend before the main march. Throughout the first decade of the 2000s, The Rally was held in Bryant Park. Last year, it moved to Central Park's SummerStage, where it will occur again for 2011 on Saturday, June 18, from 3 to 6pm.
Always fun but keenly focused on LGBT empowerment, this year's Rally will be emceed by TV personality Ross Mathews, and will headlined by Danish-born but now Brooklyn-based singer (and Katy Perry Teenage Dreams tour opener) Oh Land. Also featured will be the cast of Broadway's Priscilla Queen of the Desert, West Village gay bashing victim Damian Furtch, lesbian and gay gospel choir Lavender Light, indie rock band PaperDoll, comedian Christine O'Leary, musicians Danny Blu and Lady Zen, the Imperial Court of New York, the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund's Noah Lewis, and Immigration Equality's Rachel Tiven.
As usual, The Rally will be free and open to the general public. The entire event will also be ASL interpreted for those who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.
A bit of now-amusing Rally history: In 1973, ex-nun and future LGBT leader Jean O'Leary made her public debut on the Washington Square Park stage, and declared transvestite entertainment insulting to women; it took none other than Bette Midler belting out her highly fitting song "Friends" to calm the ensuing bedlam between girl homos and boy homos. (For more highlights from West Village LGBT history from 1971 to 2000, click here; from 1931 to 1970, see here; and from 1890 to 1930, go here.)
What: The Rally
When: June 18, 2011, 3-6pm
Where: SummerStage, Rumsey Playfield (72nd St. at Fifth Ave.), Central Park
Admission: Free (no tickets required)