N.Y. / REGION

Jubilant Marchers at Gay Pride Parades Celebrate Supreme Court Ruling

By MATT FLEGENHEIMER and VIVIAN YEEJUNE 28, 2015

The revelers glimmered beneath sprinkling skies, carrying handmade signs and rainbow flags, screeching noisemakers and fussy children.

A familiar chant — at least before the coda — wafted over 41^st Street in Midtown Manhattan.

“What do we want?”

“Marriage equality!”

“When did we get it?”

“Friday!”

Two days after the United States Supreme Court affirmed same-sex marriage as a right, the nation’s well-timed pride parades on Sundaypromised a sort of social catharsis — along Fifth Avenue in New York City and Market Street in San Francisco — joining the country’s twin hubs of gay activism in a bicoastal embrace.

“All 50 states!” the New York crowd roared at one point. It was no longer a plea, but a celebration.

And if even the common pride parade can blur the lines between friend and stranger, Sunday’s proceedings quickly assumed the feel of a mammoth wedding reception, uniting graying activists, fledgling families and simple party-seekers in a historical moment that all seemed keenly aware they occupied.

Dean Barnes, 49, a minister from Southington, Conn., first came to the New York pride parade 18 years ago, when he came out. Now he rides a gleaming royal blue motorcycle with the Sirens, a motorcycle group that leads the parade. On Sunday, his daughter and her wife were there to cheer him on.

“Doesn’t matter race, religion, gender,” he said. “When people find love with each other, they should be equally treated.”

Watching the floats drift by in San Francisco, Michael and Tom Crawford, both 52, recalled their marriage in 2004, after Gavin Newsom, then the mayor, had authorized same-sex weddings. Soon after, the state’s Supreme Court invalidated the union. The pair moved to Massachusetts and married there before returning to California in time to see voters pass a proposition banning same-sex marriage in 2008.

“I feel like a full citizen for the first time in my life,” Michael Crawford said. “And I feel that people that still hate no longer have the government backing them up.”

Organizers and officials in both cities were bracing for potentially record crowds, though at least in New York, the parade — never dull even in less eventful years — has been blessed by particularly good timing before.

In 2011, it came just after New York State legalized same-sex marriage. In 2013, it was held days after the Supreme Court ruled that married same-sex couples were entitled to federal benefits.

A lone protester amid the parade crowd. CreditTodd Heisler/The New York Times

“Odd-numbered years we do well,” said James Fallarino, a spokesman for the parade.

One of the organizers, Chris Martin, said he had secured about 20 volunteers earlier this week to help inflate balloons. After the Supreme Court decision, his Facebook page was inundated with requests to be included.

“People were saying, ‘Add me, add me,’” he said.

By midmorning Sunday, scores of helpers had inflated more than 700 balloons, color-coordinated in sets of 20.

At East 36^th Street, as the actor Ian McKellen, a grand marshal, waved his rainbow flag at spectators, an announcer asked the crowd for a minute of silence in honor of those who could not be there today: those who died of H.I.V./AIDS, those who committed suicide, those who fell victim to hate crimes.

Moments later, the gravity gave way again to festivity. The actor Tituss Burgess broke into the national anthem and scantily clad men wove their way through the marchers.

The rain-soaked streets did not deter marchers from wearing heels.CreditTodd Heisler/The New York Times

Mayor Bill de Blasio was not far behind, towering over the crowd in a blue shirt, khakis and practical sneakers. He was wearing a rainbow tie. His daughter, Chiara, wore rainbow eye shadow and a rainbow hair tie. His wife, Chirlane McCray, and their son Dante held rainbow flags.

Indeed, elected officials have moved quickly to put their mark on the proceedings. Two days after Mr. de Blasio presided over two weddings and a vow renewal at City Hall, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo scheduled one of his own for Sunday morning. (Until this week, Mr. Cuomo did not possess the power to officiate; as part of a legislative agreement in Albany, he persuaded state lawmakers to give governors such authority.)

The ceremony was held at the Stonewall Inn, the site of the 1969 riots that helped galvanize the fight for gay rights. Since Friday’s decision, the institution’s stretch of Christopher Street has doubled as a de facto celebration headquarters.

Police barricades went up shortly after the ruling on Friday, closing the area to traffic and ensuring its status as a rollicking pedestrian plaza. Attendees took swigs from champagne concealed unsubtly by plastic bags, beside officers who did not seem to mind. Bottles piled triumphantly against the curb. An impromptu rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” broke out.

Many parade attendees on Sunday appeared to be first-timers. Destiny D’Angelo, 32, from Milltown, N.J., came with her girlfriend, Shante Wells, 27. Ms. D’Angelo said it was her first lesbian relationship, after ending what she described as an abusive relationship with the father of her two children.

She described the parade as a test of sorts. If it goes well, next year she might bring the children, a 6-year-old girl and 13-year-old boy, who she says have been supportive.

“My son’s just like, ‘whatever,’” she said.

The crowds also provided opportunities to the entrepreneurial set. On Sunday, Kamar John, 55, of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, positioned himself beside the Stonewall Inn with a collection of rainbow flags. Three dollars each.

“This is the only thing I can sell today,” he said.