The 10,000 marchers, ranging from the elegant to the extraordinary, waved and shouted to those who jammed the sidewalks. The parade was sponsored by Christopher Street West/Los Angeles, a nonprofit group that provides grants to the gay and lesbian community. Veteran CARES, a group of gay veterans representing all branches of the military, led 257 floats and marching groups in the pageant. “To me, the parade is a celebration of pride, a day I don’t have to worry about AIDS.”
“I think it’s a great day, I feel good I am still here,” said Paul Duncan, who was undergoing treatment for AIDS. The event is regarded in the homosexual community as the turning point in the modern gay and lesbian rights movement. The theme of the celebration, which capped a two-day street festival, was “Stonewall 20: A Generation of Pride.” The festival marked the 20th anniversary of the 1969 rebellion at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar on Christopher Street in New York. “When this generation started, it was not gay to be gay.
An estimated 200,000 attended the 1989 parade, which took place during the height of the AIDS epidemic and included counterprotesters from a Christian fundamentalist group.
