Even a downpour couldn't stop the Gay Pride March down Fifth Avenue yesterday, which attracted half a million participants and an estimated million spectators. Besides the costumed performers, motorcyclists, bands and floats, elected officials were part of the parade. Along with Mayor Bloomberg and Senator Schumer, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Governor David Paterson marched and spoke out on behalf of gay rights. Paterson, who has been very supportive of gay rights, was welcomed......

Photo via Ira Monko's Flickr. This Sunday marks the annual Gay Pride Parade. The march will run from 5th Avenue & 52nd St. to Christopher & Greenwich St. beginning at noon -- so either join in on the fun, or adjust your driving and walking routes lest you incur some delays (NYC DoT has some tips). This year should be especially celebratory given that same-sex marriage is now legal in California! The first NYC......

Last month, New York City kicked off a big global advertising campaign to attract more tourists to the Big Apple. The ads appear in a number of venues, and the Post notes that media space has been bought in Out magazine and on the LOGO network, as well as LGBT websites. A Bloomberg administration official explains that gay and lesbians have more disposable income, as they are usually dual-income without kids, "What we're saying......

Of all the days and in all the neighborhoods for this to happen: On Sunday, the Daily News reports that Khadijah Farmer, a "masculine lesbian," was kicked out of the women's bathroom at the Caliente Cab Co. on Seventh Avenue in the West Village. And this happened to be a few hours after the Gay Pride Parade! Farmer says that when she went into the ladies' room, another woman gave her a look and said,......

Yesterday was the 38th Annual Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride March, and thousands of people participated - from shimmying and showing off their outrageous costumes to waving gay pride flags and hollering their support. The grand marshals of the parade were religious leaders Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum and Reverend Dr. Troy Perry; Kleinbaum said, "We stand for a progressive religious voice. Those who use religion to advocate an anti-gay agenda I believe are blaspheming......

THEATER: HERE Artistic Director Kristin Marting concludes the OBIE-winning art center’s season by directing performer/dancer Alexandra Beller in us, “a highly athletic, sensual and dynamic blend of movement with song, text and a layered soundscape. Beller created this deeply personal commentary on the state of the union from the perspective of a woman who is at a crisis point in a love relationship.” As we haven’t seen it, we’ll defer to The New Yorker on......

The State Assembly voted in favor of allowing same-sex marriages in New York. Newsday said it was the first time a gay marriage bill was "debated publicly in one of the houses of the State Legislature Tuesday." However, the bill is not expected to make it pass the Republican-controlled Senate. Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno said, "We're not doing gay marriage by [tomorrow's adjournment], that's for sure." The Sun had a breakdown of how the......

The NY Times doled out two big endorsements for the upcoming Democratic primaries this weekend: One for Attorney General and the other for Governor. And Mark Green, the former city Public Advocate, gets the nod, even though the editoral starts out, "If there are excellent Democratic candidates for governor this year, the race to succeed Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is a lot more contentious and a lot less promising." Green's "prickly personality" is noted, as......

The NY State Court of Appeals ruled that gay marriage is not allowed. The Court of Appeals heard a NYC case in which Judge Doris Ling-Cohan ruled that gay marriage was allowed. The city appealed, and the case made it way up to the highest court in the state. Here's the ruling (PDF) and here's some of what it says:We hold that the New York Constitution does not compel recognition of marriages between members of......

- Boy George gets community service for his drug posession charge - and the judge wasn't having any of his antics! - A penny jar stops a bullet and the apartment's owner, who has been crusading against drugs, takes note - A house in Brooklyn is evacuated because it's unstable; apparently digging around the foundation somehow led to cracks to appear in walls - Queerty has some Gay Pride Parade video - Aw, Scarlett......

Thousands of people (WNBC says 500,000!) lined Fifth Avenue and Greenwich Village streets to enjoy this year's Gay Pride Parade, in spite of a bit of rain. In fact, one performer on the "Carnival in Rio" float told the NY Times, "Today is our day. The rain won't stop us. Mother Nature is a drag queen." One of the stars of the parade was Kevin Aviance, the drag queen who was brutally beaten by......

Many politicians will be marching in the Gay Pride Parade, as it's a big election year, and, like many constituencies with issues at stake, the gay community generally heads to the polls to support their candidates. Which makes Republican Senate hopeful Kathleen T. McFarland's new disclosure about her family fascinating. The NY Times reports that McFarland's advisers told to her reveal that her childhood home was "physically abusive" and why she became estranged with her......

The Gay Pride Parade started at noon at Fifth Avenue and 52nd Street, but don't worry, you'll be able to check it out as it winds its way down Fifth, making a right when it right 8th Street and then heads towards Christopher Street, and will take a few hours. And there will be lots of celebrating along the way and afterwards, what with Pridefest and the Dance on the Pier. The parade's co-Grand Marshals......

Mayor Bloomberg weighed in on this weekend's savage gay-bashing outside East Village gay bar Phoenix, saying, "Anybody that thinks they can get away with a hate crime is sadly mistaken. It was a disgrace." Well-known performer and drag queen Kevin Aviance is being released from the hospital today after surgery to his jaw. He hopes to recover in time to perform at the Gay Pride Parade on June 25. Aviance was wearing a black sleeveless......

Newsday had some photographs of various politicans at the Gay Pride Parade, and we stopped in our mouse-scrolling tracks when we saw this picture of Senator Charles Schumer. Gothamist thought it might be former Mayor Ed Koch, but it was actually our senior senator from Brooklyn! Now, aside from Chuck not having an aide make sure the Senator isn't posing in unflattering angles, we're concerned because he seems to have really let himself go (here's......

Much to the delight of gay and straight New Yorkers, yesterday's steamy weather meant that there was more reason for marchers in the Gay Pride Parade to go shirtless. If you were downtown, everywhere people would turn there was bound to be a fairly naked, glistening body. New Yorkers enjoyed themselves, and some noted how the parade has become "mainstreamed." The parade was started as to mark the Stonewall uprising in 1969, and some who......

Sue Sena, S.W.i.S.H. Founder...

Just a day after the Gay Pride Parade, the City Council voted to override a veto from Mayor Bloomberg on a bill that would force businesses working with the city to give same-sex domestic partners benefits. Businesses with more than $100,000 of work from the city would be subject to the law, which was sponsored by Democratic City Council members, Christine Quinn and Speaker Gifford Miller, but many smaller non-profit groups (churches, ethnic groups) are......

Yesterday's Gay Pride Parade couldn't have asked for a better day: The sun was shining, everyone looked beautiful, politicians went out to show they support gays but are mum about gays marrying...good times, good times. Mayor Bloomberg said, "Each of us are different in our own ways, and we should all be proud of who we are, and I don't think anybody should try to be something they're not." But he stopped short of agreeing......

Yesterday's Gay Pride Parade was held on a sparkling day with even more spectacular participants (crowds were estimated to be at 300,000). The usual suspects of non-gays marched and cheered (politicos, friends, unwitting tourists, a couple getting married whose photo album now will look as hot as...well, Details). The mood was especially festive, what with the Supreme Court ruling last week. As one man said to the Times, "The costumes are great and, of......