Bay Ridge to GayRidge as nabe plans 1st Pride event
South Brooklyn is ready for a gay old time.
The first Sunday of Pride month will see the neighborhood of Bay Ridge hold its first Pride event.
Organized by GayRidge, a group whose mission is to connect the area’s LGBTQ community with their allies, GayRidge Pride will be a free afternoon with events for all ages, including a picnic, drag queen storytime, live music, an art show, a queer pet march and a contest to see who can free a T-shirt from a block of ice.
The winner will take home a shirt featuring GayRidge’s colorful logo. The fun will start at noon near the Tree of Life at Owl’s Head Park, 68th St. and Shore Road, with entrances at 68th St. and Bliss Terrace.
“As our neighborhood’s first official Pride event, this will be one part party and one part history,” Councilman Justin Brannan (D-Bay Ridge) told the Daily News.
Representatives of Metro Plus Health will also be on hand “to talk to the community about affirming and inclusive health insurance,” said GayRidge Pride Captain LJ Vogel, 24.
Vogel booked some of the drag performers — including Xaddy Addy and Witti Repartee — as entertainment.
GayRidge started off as a Facebook group three years ago, when local couple Pierre Mercier-Puccio and David Thomas Puccio-Mercier decided to create an online community to “help queer people and allies [living in Bay Ridge] connect and support each other.”
Then COVID-19 hit — and GayRidge became a lifeline for Bay Ridge residents.
“During the pandemic, the queer community here in Bay Ridge found each other, thanks to this Facebook group,” Mother MacKenzie, one of the group’s administrators and mother of a 13-year-old, told The News.
The 49-year-old storyteller, artist and community builder joined the group in March 2021. Over the last year, the group “more than doubled” to just over 500 members, she added.
They meet regularly on Zoom meetings, as well as a growing number of in-person events, such as queer brunches, game nights, picnics, a “Great Gatsby” night and even a pumpkin festival.
“Given this momentum, we decided as a group that the best way we could connect and support our South Brooklyn LGBTQIA+ community this year was to launch a website and host Bay Ridge’s first-ever Pride day,” said McKenzie, who identifies as a lesbian and came out as trans three years ago.
They reached out to their local representative Brannan, who put the group in touch with the Department of Parks and Recreation and got a permit for the first Sunday in June, as well as a rain date for the following Sunday.
Brannan, who represents Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bath Beach and Bensonhurst is excited that “GayRidge is officially on the map.”
“As someone who grew up here, finally having an organized event like this really makes my heart sing because GayRidge has proudly planted their rainbow flag in our neighborhood and people are saluting,” he said.
Bay Ridge resident Mary Chen, born and raised in the neighborhood, is coordinating the event’s queer pet march. The 34-year-old proud owner of a 2-year-old corgi named Courtney said she has always been “very passionate” about being part of the LGBTQ community.
Being able to help organize her neighborhood’s first Pride celebration is especially rewarding, Chen told The News. “I’m super excited to participate and meet a bunch of amazing friends, as well.”
“We’re very proud that our group is representative of our neighborhood,” added McKenzie. “Our neighborhood, like many Brooklyn neighborhoods, has been changing demographically. Constantly. And GayRidge wants to be a place that helps the queer people of all those different communities find each other, and across those lines as well.”