The Olde Towne East Neighborhood Association

The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against a police raid at the Stonewall Inn, in Greenwich Village, NYC, that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969.

Christopher Street Liberation Day, June 28, 1970, marked the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall riots with an assembly on Christopher Street and the first Pride march in U.S. history. Pride marches took place simultaneously in Los Angeles and Chicago; the following year,  Pride marches took place in Boston, Dallas, Milwaukee, London, Paris, Berlin, and Stockholm. By 1972, additional participating cities included Atlanta, Buffalo, Detroit, Washington D.C., Miami, and Philadelphia. In June 1999, the U.S. Department of the Interior designated 51 and 53 Christopher Street and the surrounding streets as a National Historic Landmarks.

On June 1, 2009, President Barack Obama declared June 2009 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month, citing the riots as a reason to “commit to achieving equal justice under law for LGBT Americans”.

Sincere appreciation goes to all of the volunteers who contributed time, effort and materials for the construction of the float. Special thanks to the parade observers from Olde Towne East for your cheers. A very notable thank you to OTENA’S past leaders, Roger Bohn, Nina Masseria and Bill Shaffer for the pride of leading our neighborhood float.