PHOTO ESSAY BY DONNA ACETO | The annual Brooklyn LGBT Pride Festival and Parade enjoyed extraordinary early summer weather in Park Slope on Saturday June 13. After a morning 5k run in Prospect Park, attention shifted to Fifth Avenue, where thousands streamed between Third and Ninth Streets enjoying the afternoon street festival. One of the truly special features of Brooklyn Pride is its evening parade, which begins at dusk, also on Fifth Avenue. A parade that begins with some good amount of natural light still around concludes in the darkness, with the stars twinkling brightly above, setting the mood perfectly for the crowd to scatter to nearby bars and parties.
Pictured (from top) a rea contingent from the Park Slope-based Lesbian Herstory Archives; marchers from the Lambda Independent Democrats, the borough’s LGBT political group; grand marshal Brooke Guinan, the first out transgender female firefighter, who got her start in activism in her high school Gay-Straight Alliance; grand marshals Farid Ali Lancheros and George Constantinou and their family, owners of Bogota Latin Bistro and Miti Miti Taperia in Park Slope; Borough President Eric Adams; Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife, Chirlane McCray, whose home before Gracie Mansion was in Park Slope; Public Advocate Letitia James, who got her political start as a Brooklyn City Councilmember; and gay City Councilmembers Carlos Menchaca, Daniel Dromm, and Corey Johnson.
