On June 30, New York City’s official Pride march kicks off around 11 a.m. at 25th Street and Fifth Avenue, with the theme “Reflect. Empower. Unite.” Also that day are PrideFest, the annual street fair in the West Village, and Bliss Days, a celebration of queer women at the DL Rooftop and Lounge. A day earlier, the annual Dyke March takes off from Bryant Park on June 29.
Other area Pride marches and festivals come to:
Plans are on track despite a warning issued this month by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security that foreign terrorist organizations or their supporters may target Pride events in the United States, though the alert did not specify any cities. The State Department also issued a travel advisory for American citizens abroad.
In a statement, Councilman Erik Bottcher of Manhattan addressed the advisories: “We will be vigilant and heed the advice of antiterrorism authorities, but we are proud, strong and united, ready to defy any attempts to sow fear during Pride Month.”
In that spirit, here’s a rundown of events planned for June in New York City.
Party Time
On June 1, MoMA PS1 in Queens hosts Night at the Museum, an after-hours party with access to its exhibition of photographs by Reynaldo Rivera and a shock-rock performance by the Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black.
Twelve Hours. Six Parties. Three Stages: That’s what’s on tap on June 29 at PlanetPride, a dance party at Avant Gardner in Brooklyn’s East Williamsburg. Dance by daylight the next afternoon at Dreamland: Pride in Central Park, at SummerStage.
Celebrate with cause: Visual AIDS, an organization that supports HIV+ artists, hosts a benefit Pride party at 9 Bob Note in Brooklyn (June 12). The annual Latex Ball, one of the year’s biggest vogueing events and a benefit for G.M.H.C., returns to Terminal 5 in Manhattan (June 22). Starting June 29, Queer|Art, a national organization for L.G.B.T.Q. artists, will host a 36-hour party, including family activities and live sunrise performances, at Nowadays in Brooklyn to raise funds for G.L.I.T.S., an organization supporting transgender and sex worker communities.
Screen Time
NewFest, an annual queer film festival in the city, presents a mini-fest, in person and streaming, through June 3. Highlights include the premiere of “A House Is Not a Disco” (May 30), Brian J. Smith’s love-letter documentary to Fire Island, at SVA Theater; and a free outdoor screening of Lady Gaga’s concert film “Gaga Chromatica Ball” (June 3) at Gansevoort Plaza in Manhattan’s meatpacking district.
Other queer-themed movies showing this month include the new documentary “Hidden Master,” about the gay photographer George Platt Lynes (opening May 31 at Quad Cinema and available to rent or buy on major platforms), and “Bound” (June 29-30), the 1996 lesbian thriller with Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon, at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens.
Drag Stars
On June 5, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the New York City AIDS Memorial partner on “Legends of Drag,” a revue celebrating drag queens featured in the book “Legends of Drag: Queens of a Certain Age.” Hosted at the Whitney, the event includes performances by Egyptt LaBeija and other drag veterans.
The drag queens Jackie Beat, Sherry Vine and Kelly Mantle and the actor Sam Pancake put their spin on episodes of “The Golden Girls” in “The Golden Girlz Live: NYC!” at Red Eye in Manhattan (June 27-29). Several alums of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” including Aquaria and Chad Michaels, will put on a Vegas-style show in “Proud Divas” (June 29).
Pride Shows
The Kumbia Queers, a quintet from Buenos Aires, bring cumbia villera and rock to Lincoln Center’s Summer in the City series (June 15). On its outdoor dance floor, Lincoln Center is also hosting several free silent discos in June, including a night of global dance music by the art collective Papi Juice (June 23).
Frigid New York presents the 10th annual Queerly Festival at Under St. Marks (June 13 to July 3); most of the performances will be livestreamed. Shows include “Asexuality! The Solo Musical” and “Ladies at a Gay Girls’ Bar, 1938-1969.”
“Dream of a Common Language” (June 21-23) is a new evening-length ballet inspired by the lesbian writer-activist Adrienne Rich and her 1970s poetry collection of the same name. The program is directed by Adriana Pierce, the founder of Queer the Ballet, an initiative that seeks to broaden the scope of classical ballet to more widely include L.G.B.T.Q. people.
What a Read
On June 4 the New-York Historical Society will host the journalist and drag historian Elyssa Maxx Goodman in a discussion of her new book “Glitter and Concrete: A Cultural History of Drag in New York City.”
On June 5, Sonora Reyes, the author of “The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School,” will present a free author talk for teens at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library in Midtown and online, part of the New York Public Library’s Teen Banned Book Club.
On June 15, Anyone Comics and Geeks Out! are sponsoring a free Brooklyn Pride Comic Book Fair at the Brooklyn Community Pride Center in Crown Heights.
Family Time
The High Line and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center partner for a Pride Family Picnic (June 8) that includes a Drag Story Hour. On June 23, the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine will also host a Pride Family Picnic, including a performance by the Queer Big Apple Corps marching band.
See the City
The New York City Department of Parks & Recreation offers Pride-related events throughout June. Learn about the L.G.B.T.Q. history of Orchard Beach in the Bronx (June 2), or join the Urban Park Rangers on a trip through Willowbrook Park in Staten Island (June 22).
For the athletically inclined, Brooklyn Pride’s 5K Run/Walk (June 8) starts at 10 a.m. in Prospect Park. Fireworks and a Pride Mets cap come with tickets when the Mets play the Houston Astros for Pride Night at Citi Field (June 28).
The Classic Harbor Line offers its Pride Sail (June 29) on board a classic schooner, benefiting Hetrick-Martin Institute, a nonprofit organization serving L.G.B.T.Q. youth.
