Fifty years of Pride

Last year’s Pride Weekend, the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Inn riots , was an especially exuberant occasion which included New York hosting World Pride for the first time. This year, the 50th anniversary of the Pride March, will be decidedly quieter as the festivities go virtual to thwart a still omnipresent coronavirus pandemic.

But there’s plenty to cheer, as the march for full LGBTQ rights and representation pushes ever forward.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court delivered a surprising 6-3 decision affirming that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act forbidding sex discrimination in the workplace also protects gay and trans employees. The decision was especially remarkable given that it was penned by Trump appointee and conservative star Neil Gorsuch. Even dissents by conservatives Brett Kavanaugh and

Samuel Alito went out of their way to note the basic dignity of LGBTQ individuals.

Meanwhile, just nine years after approving same-sex marriage via legislative vote — nine years that feel like a generation, given that two-thirds of Americans now back the right — New York stands at the forefront of history.

With significant leads in crowded Democratic primary fields in their congressional primaries (and many absentee ballots yet to be counted), Mondaire Jones and Ritchie Torres, who are black and Afro-Latino respectively, seem poised to become the first openly gay men of color elected to Congress. They won not because of their sexual orientation, but because of their skill, intelligence and charisma.

As an added sweetener, Torres dispatched notorious homophobe Ruben Diaz Sr.

Happy Pride!