June is Pride Month and in New York City, that means a month of parades, marches, parties and protests for the LGBTQ+ community and its allies. It all culminates in the NYC Pride March – the nation’s largest – on Sunday, June 30.
But you don’t have to wait until the end of the month to take part in Pride events. Here’s a list of some of the biggest ones happening across the five boroughs in June for Pride.
Take the ferry to Staten Island to kick off Pride
The first major Pride event of the month takes place in the city’s oft-overlooked borough of Staten Island. Pride Festival, at Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden, will feature “live music, artists, craft vendors, food, activities, performers.” It’s June 1, starting at noon.
If you don’t get your fill of Staten Island fun on the first day of Pride, head to Dave & Busters at the Staten Island Mall on June 6 for a very special night of games, hosted by the Pride Center of Staten Island from 5 to 7 p.m.
A scene from a previous year’s New Queens Pride Parade.
Head to Queens for New York’s second-biggest Pride parade
Manhattan’s Pride March gets all the hype and hoopla, but Queens is no slouch when it comes to celebrating Pride in style. The New Queens Pride Parade began in 1993, and each year it serves as the city’s unofficial start to a month of celebrations. The parade route runs along 37th Avenue in Jackson Heights, and will take place in tandem with a festival featuring vendors, musicians, dancers and other performers. It steps off June 2 at 12 p.m. in Jackson Heights.
Check out Brooklyn’s Pride Week
Manhattan can’t have all the Pride fun. Brooklyn’s very own Pride Week kicks off on June 4, with an interfaith service. Then there’a variety of events including a movie night, a comedy night, Pride Night at a Brooklyn Cyclones game, and the annual Twilight Pride Parade – all taking place in the days before and after Brooklyn’s Pride Day on June 8. You can view all the planned activities here.
Party all day at TEAZE
One of the first official NYC Pride events goes down on Saturday, June 22 at East Williamsburg’s Club Lambda in Brooklyn. Billed as an “annual celebration of Queer Existence,” TEAZE is an eight-hour party that kicks off at 2 p.m. and runs until 10. Guests are invited to “dance the day away” at what organizers describe as an “unforgettable celebration of diversity, love, and liberation.” General admission tickets start at around $50, but you can go fancy and buy a VIP Table Experience if you’re willing to spend at least $350 on bottles.
Hang out at Orchard Beach in the Bronx
Greenwich Village may be the epicenter of Pride activities, but many corners of New York have some place in LGBTQ+ history. On June 2, NYC Parks will celebrate one of these less-well-known corners when it presents a talk discussing Pelham Bay Park’s Orchard Beach and its role in the LGBTQ+ community. After the discussion, you can spend the evening at the beach (since you’re already there) or head to City Island for some seafood. The world is your fried oyster! It’s at 2 p.m. in Pelham Bay Park
Celebrate the next generation at Youth Pride
This year’s Youth Pride celebration will take place June 29 outside South Street Seaport. The event “provides a safe and inclusive space where young people can freely express themselves, connect with others, and celebrate their identities.” LGBTQ+ youth and their families can spend a day on the water enjoying non-alcoholic drinks, snacks, performances, DJs and good company. The best part? It’s completely free. It’s June 29 starting at noon at South Street Seaport Museum.
Join (or cheer on) the Dyke March
Not every Pride event seeks anodyne mainstream approval. The New York City Dyke March is one such event. The March’s website reminds visitors that “The New York City Dyke March is a protest march, not a parade,” and it operates each year without obtaining permits or sponsors. Participants will gather at Bryant Park not only to celebrate the dyke community, but also to protest against discrimination, harassment, and violence. The march is open to any person who identifies as a dyke, while allies are encouraged to cheer on from the sidelines or donate to support the cause. It’s June 29 at 5 p.m., starting at Bryant Park.
Party all night at Planet Pride
Those less interested in sending a message to corporations always have the option to go out and dance, dance, dance. That’s the spirit of Planet Pride, an all-night bacchanal that bills itself as “12 hours. 6 parties. 3 stages. The greatest Pride ever.” Revelers can enjoy dozens of DJs, musicians and art installations all night long during Planet Pride’s massive takeover of Avant Gardner in East Williamsburg. All that partying comes at a cost: Tickets start at around $175. The good news is that a portion of the proceeds benefit FEMME House, a nonprofit working to provide opportunities for women and LGBTQ+ people in music. Planet Pride is June 29, starting at 6 p.m. at Avant Gardner; tickets here.
A person waves at a previous year’s New Queens Pride Parade.
See some theater celebrating queer stories
Queerly theater festival aims to “provide a space for queer artists who’ve rarely or never seen their identities portrayed on stage, to be able to represent themselves and tell their stories their way.” It’s also billed as a space for queer celebration, pride and strength.” This year’s lineup features more than a dozen plays at Under St. Mark’s, a 45-seat performance space perfect for intimate shows. The shows range from burlesque performances about Black queer pleasure to solo shows about a puritanical preacher struggling with queer thoughts. Tickets start at $20, and the festival runs from June 13 through July 3. You can learn more here.
Listen to the ChamberQUEER Constellation fest
The sixth annual ChamberQUEER festival features a wide range of musical performances designed to celebrate “queer community, diversity, and excellence in chamber music.” Set up in a fringe-style format, ChamberQUEER will offer multiple performances each day. They range from sound baths and yoga sessions to more personal works, like “Project [T]: A Mixtape”, about how a trans non-binary opera singer’s voice has been classified during their five-year transition. The festival runs from June 11 to June 16 at MITU580, an arts space in Gowanus. You can learn more here.
A previous year’s Pride celebration in Queens.
Chill at Bliss Days on the Lower East Side
Another official NYC Pride event, Bliss Days is a “celebration of LGBTQIA+ womxn.” Bliss Days was formerly known as Femme Fatale, and this year the party takes place at the LES nightclub the DL. Attendees can enjoy dancers, DJs, “special guests,” and drink specials. Tickets start at $50 and all proceeds benefit NYC Pride and the free events it puts on as part of its annual Pride celebration. It’s June 30 starting at 2 p.m. at The DL; tickets here.
Reclaim Pride at the Queer Liberation March
It’s no secret that Pride has come a long way from its grassroots civil rights beginnings, when even showing up to a march could get you arrested. Now, you can find corporations from banks to department stores to weapons manufacturers waving the rainbow flag during the month of June. Suffice to say not everyone is happy with this development. The Reclaim Pride Coalition seeks to return to the spirit of the Stonewall Uprising by putting on the Queer Liberation March; no police officers or corporate sponsors allowed. It takes place the same day as the official Pride March, beginning at Sheridan Square (next to the Stonewall Inn) and traveling south to Battery Park. It starts June 30 at 11 a.m..
Cheer on the Pride March and celebrate at PrideFest
Welcome to the grandaddy of all New York City Pride events. With a 2024 theme of “Reflect. Empower. Unite.”, this year’s Pride March will be the third consecutive in-person event after two years off during the height of COVID restrictions. The March begins at 25th Street and 5th Avenue at noon, and you’ll want to arrive early to get a good view of the action. The accompanying PrideFest, a street fair with live music and food vendors, takes place in Greenwich Village near the Stonewall Inn, where the historic Stonewall Uprising in 1969 sowed the seeds of the Pride movement. Both events are June 30. The March starts at noon in Chelsea. PrideFest starts at 11 a.m. in Greenwich Village.
Additional reporting by Ryan Kailath.
