BY: Liliana Rocio Suarez Salcedo, Senior Editor. @ 25^th St 5^th Ave NYC  June 29^th 2025

NYC Pride | Heritage of Pride, a longtime national leader in LGBTQIA+ Pride organizing and advocacy, announces its official theme for 2025.

“Rise Up: Pride in Protest.” As the LGBTQIA+ community faces increasing hostility and legislative attacks, this year’s theme is a reflection of the Pride movement’s origins in protest—and is a powerful call to action for our communities and allies to rally and march in defiant celebration, advocacy and solidarity.

“Rise Up: Pride in Protest” meets the moment before us and honors the legacy of the first Pride March in 1970, which commemorated the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.

“This year, more than ever, we acknowledge that Pride can be celebrated in many ways, but at the heart of our mission, we recognize that we must also remain steadfast in protest,” said Kazz Alexander, NYC Pride Co-Chair.

“The challenges we face today, particularly in this political climate, require us to stand together in solidarity. We must support one another, because when the most marginalized among us are granted their rights, all of us benefit.

Pride is not merely a celebration of identity—it is a powerful statement of resistance, affirming that justice and equity will ultimately prevail for those who live and love on the margins.”

In the face of increasing discrimination, we must continue to push forward,” added NYC Pride Co-Chair Michele Irimia “As New Yorkers, we know: Pride is resistance, Pride is activism and, most importantly, Pride is for everyone. ‘Rise Up: Pride in Protest’ reminds us that the fight for equality is far from over.”

The NYC Pride 2025 calendar includes the annual NYC Pride March, among the largest LGBTQIA+ Pride marches worldwide, and PrideFest, the largest LGBTQIA+ street festival in New York, on Sunday, June 29.

NYC Pride also offers a diverse array of year-round opportunities to gather through our Pride365 programming, ensuring that our activism and community impact extends beyond the month of June.

NYC Pride had many events in 2025 and Grand Marshals, who embody the spirit of resilience and activism during Pride Month and beyond.

NYC Pride’s 2025 Pride Gives Back grant awards, which support local nonprofits and initiatives serving the LGBTQIA+ community, will also be announced soon.

NYC Pride is made possible through the support of community members and allies. To sustain our mission and continue advocating for LGBTQIA+ rights.

Many political leaders were in attendance, which included Governor Kathy Hochul, Attorney General Letitia James , Zohran Mamdani , NYC Democratic Mayoral Candidate, New York City Comptroller, Thomas P. DiNapoli, New York City Public Advocate, jumaane williams, Council Members, Senators and many more community leaders .

Jessica Tisch, New York City Police Commissioner, alongside Det. Brian Downey, Gay Officers Action League to protest NYC Pride March over uniform disagreement.

GOAL wants to participate in the March while wearing their full police uniforms, which means carrying concealed firearms.

Heritage of Pride, the nonprofit that organizes NYC Pride, says that goes against the weapon policy for the Pride March and offered a compromise – letting GOAL march in uniform but without carrying their service weapons.

“Members of our organization and our community feel that we need to be safe in the March and in the space that we are inhabiting together. That means no weapons,” Heritage of Pride co-chair Kazz Alexander said in a statement.

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