My boyfriend and I attended the annual LGBT Pride Parade in Queens, New York, on June 6. I was proud to celebrate among gay Latinos, who have a strong presence in the Jackson Heights neighborhood that hosts the event. What’s more, there seemed to be a strong supportive presence from the straight community at large. Vendors only cared about green, not that it was coming from pink and lavender.
I also was quite proud to see the outreach by the HIV/AIDS community. The Hispanic AIDS Forum and the Asian & Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS were providing free HIV testing and condoms. The AIDS Center of Queens County was a sponsor of the main stage (see pic).
I was born in Manhattan, but I was raised in Queens. When I was a teenager, the idea of walking down Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights with my arm around the man I love seemed like a dream. Well, dreams do come true sometimes.
Being around so many gay Latinos doing the same was a wonderful dose of reality.
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