Display of Pride in Bushwick

NEW YORK--The LGBTQ community's celebration of Pride month here continued with the 6th annual Bushwick Pride and Solidarity march in Brooklyn on June 17. More than 100 LGBTQ immigrants, their supporters and immigrant allies marched through Bushwick, a working class neighborhood of largely Spanish-speaking residents and immigrants.

"We're celebrating marriage equality, but we want to also highlight the things we still need in our communities: better schools, trans rights, workers' rights, almost all aspects," said Karina Claudio, one of the organizers from Make the Road NY.

"We need to keep fighting and organizing around those things. For myself, I would prioritize immigrant rights--comprehensive immigration reform, including asylum for sexual and gender identity on a federal level. Gay couples who are bi-national need marriage equality so that they can live together and stay in the country."

The march was organized by Make the Road NY and LGBTQ and immigrant allies: FIERCE, Generation Q of the Queens Community House, the NYCLU, the NYC anti-violence project and Translatina of the LGBT center. The Rude Mechanical Orchestra, a radical marching band, joined the march and provided the soundtrack to an upbeat event.

Marchers raised chants supporting both LGBTQ rights and immigrant rights, in both English and Spanish, including: "¡El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido!--The people united will never be defeated."

"This is our 6th annual march, and we've been building awareness of the LGBTQ community in this neighborhood, getting more visibility and fighting homophobia," said Jesus Daniel Puerto, a Make the Road organizer. "We want to turn that homophobia into support."

The parade ended with a community barbeque and celebration provided by Make the Road, where individuals and groups made connections and discussed ideas for next steps in the immigrant, LGBTQ and women's struggles.