Celebrations and protests mark the culmination of LGBTQ+ Pride month in NYC and beyond – NBC New York

The month-long LGBTQ+ Pride celebration reaches its lavish grand finale on Sunday, with rainbow-laden revelers taking to the streets for major parades in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and elsewhere around the world.

The elaborate festivities will serve as both cheer parties and political protests, as participants recognize the community’s gains while drawing attention to recent anti-LGBTQ+ laws, such as bans on transgender health care, passed by Republican-led states.

This year, tensions over the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza are also reflected in the festivities. This exposes the divisions within a community that is often aligned on political issues.

Already this month, pro-Palestinian activists have disrupted pride parades in Boston, Denver and Philadelphia. Several groups participating in marches on Sunday said they would attempt to center the victims of the Gaza war, provoking resistance from supporters of Israel.

“It’s definitely a more active presence this year in terms of protesting at Pride events,” said Sandra Pérez, the executive director of NYC Pride. “But we were born out of a protest.”

Pride Month celebrates all the achievements and contributions of the LGBTQ+ community. But why is it celebrated in June? The story begins in a bar in New York City: The Stonewall Inn. This is reported by Jennifer Vázquez of NBC New York.

The first pride march was held in New York City in 1970 to commemorate the first anniversary of the Stonewall Inn Uprising, a riot that began with a police raid on a Manhattan gay bar.

In addition to the NYC Pride March, the nation’s largest, the city will also host the Queer Liberation March on Sunday, an activism event launched five years ago amid concerns that the more mainstream parade had become too commercialized.

Another of the world’s largest Pride celebrations kicks off Sunday in San Francisco, with more parades planned for Chicago, Minneapolis and Seattle.

In addition to concerns about protests, federal agencies have warned that foreign terrorist organizations and their supporters could target the parades and surrounding locations. A heavy security presence is expected at all events.