New York Pride marchers target Trump

Chelsea Manning makes appearance after her release from jail

Large crowds turned out for Pride marches on Sunday in New York City and San Francisco, the two US places most associated with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights movement, with the East Coast city bringing a more political flavor to the event sparked by events there almost 50 years ago.

Participants included Chelsea Manning, the transgender US Army soldier who served seven years in prison for leaking classified data.

“Honored to represent the ACLU at this years NYC Pride March,” Manning said on Twitter, posting a photo of her riding in a red convertible. “Started to lose my voice from screaming so much,” Manning, who was released from a military prison in May, added.

A group of marchers heading down New York’s Fifth Avenue carried photographs of US President Donald Trump and his press secretary, Sean Spicer, as others waved banners bearing the word ‘ RESIST’ and the rainbow flag of the Pride movement.

In contrast, a smattering of antiTrump signs in San Francisco was drowned out by a desire to let loose. “It’s too good a day to be upset about Trump,” said Richard Babb, 66, of San Francisco.

In New York, Brad Hoylman, a Dem- ocratic lawmaker in the New York State Senate, said lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people were “under assault” by the Trump administration.

“He already rolled back rights for transgender students, for example, and the list is on and on,” he said. “So we have a lot more work to do, that’s why we are here today.”

As a candidate, Trump promised to protect gay people. But his move in February to revoke the Obama administration’s guidance letting transgender students choose which gender bathroom they use, and his executive order last month to promote religious liberty have been seen by some as discriminatory.

The New York march’s grand marshals this year include the American Civil Liberties Union, which was chosen for its history of litigation defending gay rights; Brooke Guinan, a transgender woman who works as a firefighter, and Geng Le, a gay rights activist in China.

“Pride this year is showing that we are here, we are queer, and we are not going to sit down for anything less than full rights, full equality,” said Austin Anderson, a 28- year- old advertising worker at the New York event.