New York City will be filled with smiling people, rainbow attire and good music this year, like it is every year for Pride weekend. But the theme of “Rise Up: Pride in Protest” sums up how much of the LGBTQ community is feeling in 2025.
The beginning of the year ushered in a new administration and upheaval in the lives of many Americans. We saw the first openly trans lawmaker make her way to Capitol Hill, and we saw one of her colleagues targeting her bathroom use before she could even unpack her office supplies. The Supreme Court just ruled that Tennessee can restrict gender-affirming care for people under 18 years old. Earlier this month, at a national meeting of Southern Baptists, delegates called for a ban on same-sex marriage that has been legal for more than 10 years.
The headlines are tough to read. The broadcasts are tough to watch. “Doomscrolling” on social media is taking on a whole new meaning.
But that’s the thing about Pride: It started as a protest in Manhattan, with a brick thrown at officers who were raiding the famous Stonewall Inn. This year, it remains a protest.
The theme was no accident. “People just knew that it was going to be protest season based on the results of the election, so it feels apropos to do a theme based on where the country is,” NYC Pride Co-Chair Kazz Alexander explained. “I think it’s important that we are attuned to our communities and what’s important in our communities, that is to demonstrate that our First Amendment rights are being challenged, along with our civil liberties as queer people. So rising up and being in protest is us meeting the moment.”
A recent Pew Research Center survey found that few LGBTQ adults say there’s a “great deal or fair amount of acceptance” for transgender and nonbinary people. That data also showed that 68% of transgender adults have dealt with slurs or jokes about their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Despite the anxiety and concern many are feeling, Pride is expected to be as busy as ever. The main event is the Pride March on Sunday, June 29, and one of the many familiar faces there will be DJ Lina Bradford, known for her work in nightlife and as a media personality. NYC Pride chose her to be a grand marshal, and caught the moment she was asked on video.
“Wait, what?” Bradford asked, raising her voice. You can see her become emotional and go in for a hug.
I talked to her once she had time to process the news. “I was in tears, I was so moved,” Bradford said. “I knew being a grand marshal was a great honor.”
But the job isn’t just sitting on a float and waving to the millions of people expected to line the route. Bradford is representing New York City as a native New Yorker, and she says she’s definitely ready for the big day. “I have one outfit for press, Sugar, and then an outfit for grand marshaling.”
I talked to Bradford about what being front and center at the march means to her as a trans woman and at this moment in time. “Something that I always find that’s very helpful in any decade is to know where you came from so you know where you’re going,” Bradford said. “Know your history and embrace your brothers and sisters of every demographic and every age.”
This year’s event has also seen its challenges. In May, NYC Pride put out a call for donations, saying it was contending with a $750,000 budget shortfall. Several large corporations have pulled back on their Pride sponsorships this year, following the White House’s efforts to end diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Many have faced backlash in the form of boycotts, including Target, which had been a big supporter of Pride initiatives and rolls out a yearly Pride merchandise and apparel collection.
But despite the hardship a dip in funding is creating, there’s been a major silver lining, according to Alexander. “We’re happy to say that many of our corporate sponsors have doubled down and continued to support us.”
This weekend, queer New Jerseyans and allies alike will get on a bus, take the PATH train, or drive through the tunnels or over the bridge to join the festivities. Between the march and the parties all over the city, made for all different facets of the LGBTQ community, there’s something for everyone.
“NYC is the welcoming committee for the U.S. We are the hallmark, the bastion of liberation in the United States,” Alexander told me. “I think that welcoming spirit is part of what makes NYC Pride so special. It’s an opportunity for [people] to be their authentic selves and come to a place where everyone matters. We love being able to create that safe space.”
One of the other grand marshals this year is Karine Jean-Pierre, who served as then-President Biden’s press secretary, the first Black and openly queer person to stand at that podium in the White House briefing room and update reporters on the latest goings-on in Washington. Between her, Bradford, and the other grand marshals, “We have a strong reflection of the trans community and queer womanhood,” Alexander said proudly.
For Bradford, Pride Sunday and being involved in this capacity is something she’s been preparing for all of her life. She has attended Pride since the late 1980s, exposed at a young age by her grandmother. “I’ve always known how important Pride was in Manhattan because of her… She literally passed me the witch’s broom.”
And Bradford plans to stand tall and proudly, representing the city that she loves and has given her so much. “When you see me up there looking sickening, I’m looking sickening for everyone who’s not there with us, and all the ones who are there.”
