Floating Pride Parade

On Saturday, June 20, 2020, Seven Dancers Coalition presented an original way to show their support to the LGBTQSA+ community with a Floating Pride Parade. Participants gathered at the Old Cheese Factory landing and pushed off at noon with over twenty kayaks, canoes, and rubber boats as friends, family and partners serenely floated down the St. Regis River on a glorious sunny afternoon to celebrate the freedom to be themselves and to love whom they love.

Jonel Beauvais, Seven Dancers stated, "Our LGBTQ2SA+ population is at the most risk for violence because of them not getting enough support and it's important for us to continue to create and hold space for them because they are vital to the wellness of a community. Instead of interrupting traffic, I thought why not just go on the river where we can have more social distancing and make use of the much-needed nice weather of summer! We had a really good turnout and lots of people requested to make this an annual event! It is good to have feedback about what people think is productive for them and the Community. We need more visibility for them, and they may suffer in ways that others might not take the time to understand and as a mother of a son who is trans right now.... is extremely important for me to let him know that he isn't alone ...even though they suffer privately and publicly with they are born to be."

Pride Parade has its roots in the 1969 riots at the Stonewall Inn in New York City. In a pattern of harassment of LGBT establishments, the New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn in the early hours of Saturday, June 28, 1969. The reaction of the bar's patrons and neighborhood residents that assembled in the street was not typical of these kinds of raids. Instead of dispersing, the crowd became increasingly angry and began chanting and throwing objects as the police arrested the bar's employees and patrons. Reinforcements were called in by the police, and for several hours they tried to clear the streets while the crowd fought back. The initial raid and the riot that ensued led to six days of demonstrations and conflicts with law enforcement outside the bar, in nearby Christopher Park, and along neighboring streets. At its peak, the crowds included several thousand people. Those protests are often credited as a flashpoint for LGBT rights in the United States launching the modern gay rights movement and the subsequent annual New York City pride parade.

The Greenwich Village bar where many in New York gather to protest and celebrate civil rights victories became a National Monument in 2016, the first-ever national monument to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights.

The following year thousands marched in New York's Central Park during the nation's first gay pride parade on June 28, 1970. The event was held on the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall riots, the parade was called Christopher Street Liberation Day

Anniversary pride parades were held in Central Park the next year with parades being held in Los Angles Boston, Toronto Philadelphia, and San Francisco.