My favorite Pride traditions are going to see showcases of artists beautifully sharing their own pride, noticing the flowers and stopping to smell them, going to Washington Square Park to see the energy buzzing.

I also love going to Stonewall Park and watching local drag queens perform a lively rendition of a classic. Enjoying the beach with my partner is a must and going out to Bella Ciao on 154 Mulberry Street or Pieces on 8 Christopher Street for the fun drag shows. I love going to Big Gay Ice Cream, but I have slowed my sweet tooth.

My all-time favorite landmark to visit in NYC is Jacob Riis Beach.

Every year since 1998 (2020 excluded), my dear friend Conrad Rippy has hosted a Pride Party in his West Village apartment and atop his roof. I've been going for as long as I can remember, and each year feels very much like a family reunion. Conrad's hospitality is meaningful, as is the exuberance of his guests—but the walk from the subway station to his home is equally as important. It's an integral part of the experience. Traipsing through the West Village during Pride is a reminder of the vastness of our queer community and how the LGBTQIA+ banner weaves us all together. I like to say hello to strangers as I pass because I want everyone to feel a sense of community.

Our favorite Pride traditions (in whatever city we happen to stumble upon the festivities) are each dressing in full rainbow gear and being visible AF (especially with our kiddos). Liz's favorite float is the PFLAG *tears* as we all know gay kids aren't often born into gay families. Lina's favorite sight is any military or uniformed gays shaking their bods with pride, despite the patriarchical press-of-thumb that people of service must endure daily.

Our favorite landmark isn't a landmark, it's a minor architecture. Considering the constant change of moving queer spaces in history that kept our queers safe from hateful violence. A close second is Callen-Lorde, providing healthcare to all our LGBTQ+ with empathetic integrity.

Some Pride traditions coincide with my birthday as Pride Month also falls within Gemini season. A lot of the festivities are filled with celebrating friends, celebrating each other. Every day feels like a celebration. I hope to be able to celebrate Pride all year. I'd also like to note for the allies reading this that partying with us during Pride Month isn't the only way to celebrate us. A lot of us use Pride Month as a month to process our journeys and experiences and reflect. Send us money, support our practices, acknowledge our existence, and be genuine about your support as Pride month has always been about survival for us. 

I live with other trans people, so you could say our house is a landmark. I'd also say Fort Greene or Herbert Von King are parks where I find myself skating, smoking, drawing, or just walking through. There's also Nowadays, where I'll find myself dancing the night away till four in the morning. Anywhere I can be myself feels like a landmark!

The James Beard House. It’s not an obvious queer landmark for many, but as a queer chef, I am always delighted by its significance as a landmark of American culinary culture, while also being so discreetly queer. I don’t think most people who cross its threshold even know they’re walking into a gay man’s home. He was known to host dinner parties with the gay food mafia at his home, where they could celebrate and cook while not hiding their sexuality–all while he hid his publicly. It’s such a parallel to the actual existence of most queer chefs in the industry. And he was kinky. There are mirrors everywhere in this house, even above his bed. The bathroom is covered floor-to-ceiling in mirrors. I love it.

Embracing that part of me that was never supposed to be celebrated.

Our favorite Pride celebration usually includes a night at the legendary gayborhood bar, Woody’s, in Philadelphia and an equal effort both to seek air conditioning and avoid the youth. Beware of Woody’s occasionally iced-over fog machine upstairs; it’s known to hail over the summer.

My favorite Pride event is the Drag March!

I love the interaction of New York City: the city, men, our story, our truth, our physicality, our style. I love photographing gay events like the Piers or Pride Day or Folsom Street East. What I like about it is that I stand right in the middle of everybody. I’m with them. I’m not across the street with my long lens. I’m there, and I see everybody’s details. And it’s fucking pretty real.

I photograph them with love and respect, affection and respect. It’s great to be able to just be with each other and see each other and see our strengths and our weaknesses. It’s seeing where we come together. Where do I see pieces of myself in him? I want our truth.

It's like that Marsha P. Johnson photo. We talked to each other 20, 30 times in our youth, and one day I walk by and I walk back and I realize that I’d never taken Marsha’s picture. I asked her, “Marsha, can I take your picture now?” And Marsha does this big, toothy grin, same thing as always. And I go, “No, no, Marsha. I want you to look at me like I’m looking at you.” And she does. And I made that connection. It’s in the picture. That’s what I want. I want something with our brothers and sisters. I want some connection and affection. Respect. Some pride. Some acknowledgment that we’re not the dregs. We can be the highest. There’s nothing wrong with us–that's what they put on us.

My work is not about clever, I don’t like clever. I don’t need the clever concept. Seeing you, designing you. That’s my clever. Because I can only see you the way I can see you. I'm here for this reason.

I always try to make it to Justin Vivian Bond’s Pride residency at Joe’s Pub, and on the Sunday afternoon of NYC Pride weekend, I go to the Christopher Street Pier with my best friend Lauren. There’s so much queer history at the Piers, and the crowd there is diverse and joyful—exactly the people I want to be celebrating, and celebrating with.

The incredible “Keith Haring bathroom” at The Center!

My favorite Pride tradition is my birthday! It always falls on Pride weekend, which makes me extra proud. I love seeing the SAGE contingent–it's an amazing non-profit for older LGBT folks. For years I served as a volunteer with them and have marched with them in the past. PFLAG of Westchester (my home county!) also always makes my heart sing. Honestly, I am usually at the gallery on Pride Sunday, which feels fitting as I am very proud to be a vocal and active space showcasing QUEER CULTURE AND HISTORY. From Jimmy Wright's drawings from the 1970s depicting the fever dream of pre-AIDS NY to Wilder Alison's slit-subject paintings, I have always championed queer art at the gallery.

My favorite LBGT landmarks are old gay bars! Many don't exist anymore, sadly, but one of my first curatorial efforts was a performance festival in 2010 featuring the likes of Kalup Linzy, Michael Mahalchick, Ryan McNamara, and others. It was at the now-defunct Starlite Lounge, a pre-Stonewall black-owned gay bar on Nostrand Avenue in Crown Heights. I love stubbornly queer spaces even as the world becomes more 'inclusive'–inclusion often has a flavor of erasure. Even as a teetotaler take me to the Cubby Hole!

Putting on a pair of short shorts on Pride Sunday and taking an early evening stroll through the Village to the piers.

I have a deep affection for the LGBT Center on 13th Street. When I’m in the East Village, I always think about the former sites of the Saint on 2nd Avenue and 6th Street and the St. Marks Baths around the corner.

One of my favorite Pride traditions happens in Providence, RI–a giant street fair and party. Essentially, downtown Providence is shut down and only available to foot traffic. There are live bands, performances, art booths, and most importantly, community. Everyone and their mom is dancing together, singing together, showing love and support for the LGBTQ Community.

STONEWALL INN. Absolutely. This living landmark memorializes the protests and demonstrations that a group of queer and trans folks held in response to police brutalization and terrorization in the early morning of June 28, 1969.

Pride is an action. The choice to fully love yourself every day; to not hide yourself; to truly be authentic; to hope and work for a future where everyone is equal and free.