Rainbow flag at Boro Hall signals Brooklyn Pride week

June 5, 2012 Brooklyn Eagle Staff
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By Raanan Geberer

Brooklyn Daily Eagle

The unfurling of a rainbow flag inside Borough Hall yesterday launched the 16th annual Brooklyn Pride Week, celebrating what Borough President Markowitz described as America’s ” largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities.”

Through Saturday, Brooklyn will host a wide variety of events, culminating in the “Night Pride Parade” on Saturday night in Park Slope.

This year’s theme is “Pride Links Us Together.”

Edie Jud of Brooklyn Pride said that locally produced neighborhood pride events have also sprung up across the borough.

Last year saw the first Bedford-Stuyvesant Pride event in Tompkins Park, she said; this year will mark the debut of Red Hook Pride, scheduled for Saturday, June 16. Among the day’s events will be a “group wedding ceremony.”

“Over the course of the last few years, I’ve seen many people move into other parts of Brooklyn – Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, even Bay Ridge,” as Brooklyn’s LGBT community “spread out a lot from its original foundation in the Park Slope area,” said Matthew McMorrow, co-president of Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn. “There are many pockets of our community.”

McMorrow added that the borough’s elected officials who supported the successful drive for marriage equality will be honored as parade marshals.

“Seeing all of the cheering people in crowds and their support is so encouraging to all those not only participating in the parade but also to the others watching. It is truly a wonderful event. And working with organizations such as GMAD, BATF, GLOBE, and so many others is so fulfilling. I am proud to be a part of Brooklyn Pride,” said Mickey Heller, co-chair of Brooklyn Pride.

This week’s Brooklyn pride events include:

• On Wednesday, June 6, the annual LGBT Pride Celebration at Borough Hall at 6 p.m. This will include an evening reception honoring Murray Hill, the “king of New York nightlife;” Elaine Greeley, executive director of Gays and Lesbians of Bushwick Empowered; Ivan Luevanos, LGBT justice organizer; and Senior Bishop Zachary Jones of the Unity Fellowship Church of Christ NYC.

• On Thursday, June 7, a salute to Storme DeLarvarie at 7 p.m. at the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture, 53 Prospect Park West in Park Slope. Ms. DeLarvarie is a veteran of the Stonewall Uprising.

• On Friday, June 8, a Pride LGBT Youth BBQ at 4 p.m. at 301 Grove St., Bushwick; at 10 p.m., a party hosted by Gay Men of African Descent at Chance 11 Lounge, 895 Fulton St. in Clinton Hill.

• On Saturday, June 9, at 9 a.m., the Pride 5K Fun Run starting from Bartel-Pritchard Circle at 15th Street and Prospect Park West in Windsor Terrace; at 6 p.m., a Multicultural Festival, details to be announced; from noon to 4 p.m., a Kids Space at Prospect Park West and Ninth Street; at 7:30 p.m., the big event, the Night Pride Parade, proceeding along Fifth Avenue from 14th Street to Sterling Place in Park Slope — the MCs will be Will Clark and Ron B (as Tina Turner); and at 9 p.m., an After-Parade Open Mic Youth Event at GMAD, 44 Court St., Downtown.

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