Pro-choicers leaders of Pride pack
The pro-choice group Planned Parenthood took center stage at Sunday’s Pride March, teeing off the colorful cavalcade down Fifth Avenue two days after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
New Yorkers who spoke to The Post said they were happy to see the organization’s pink banners and signs alongside the celebration’s usual fare of rainbow flags celebrating gay pride.
“I think our right to marriage is on the same chopping block,” said teacher Mike McGowan, 28, who is gay, while watching his first Pride parade in Manhattan’s West Village.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas — in his opinion concurring with Friday’s ruling overturning the federal right to abortion — called for the nation’s highest court to also re-examine and potentially toss out rulings that protect gay marriage and access to birth control.
McGowan said of the Planned Parenthood marchers, “These voices are needed. Them leading the march right now in New York really signifies how important Planned Parenthood is in states where women don’t have access to abortion.”
The parade went off without a hitch or violence from anti-gay groups.
NYPD cops lined the route at nearly every intersection, preventing onlookers from crossing or entering it.
Other Pride-goers who spoke to The Post said the court decision inspired them to turn out at the event to support the LGBT community, even if the two issues aren’t the same.
“It’s one of the reasons I wanted to come today,” said Karissa Doering, 39, who is straight, of her decision to head into Manhattan from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, for her first Pride March.
Finance intern Katilin Farnan, 21, said she thought it was “really cool” to see the pro-choice group front and center.
“They’ve always been supporters of us, even as women haven’t always been supportive of the LGBTQ community,’’ she said.
Jacob Sheldon, 25, a straight man, said, “There’s a lot of crossover in supporters.”