I was astonished we stretched out as far as I could see, thousands of us. I stayed at the head of the march the entire way, and at one point, I climbed onto the base of a light pole and looked back. Finally, we began to move up Sixth Avenue. One by one, we encouraged people to join the assembly.
This was long before anyone had heard of a “Gay Pride March.” Back then, it took a new sense of audacity and courage to take that giant step into the streets of Midtown Manhattan. We wondered if we would be able to get them to move off the curb.
And now, here we were, June 28, 1970, with people gathered west of Sixth Avenue at Waverly Place. We weren’t even certain we would be granted a permit. One year after the Stonewall Riots galvanized New York’s fearful gay men and lesbians into fighters, a handful of us planned our first march.
