The organizers of New York City Pride March are looking for feedback on this year’s route and other related events as the group prepares to host WorldPride in 2019.
Heritage of Pride (HOP), which plans and produces NYC Pride along with city agencies like the NYPD, is asking anyone who attended this year’s march to fill out a survey, which is available online through Aug. 17.
“Given the momentous nature of next year, as we approach WorldPride and commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, it is essential for us to be transparent in our process,” Eboni Munn, NYC Pride’s communications manager, said. “The survey allows voices from our LGBTQIA+ community to be heard as we look for ways to improve over 18+ events in 2019 and beyond.
“NYC Pride looks forward to improving our efforts and engaging our community to prepare for 2019,” Munn added.
Every few years, InterPride, the international body that connects Pride events around the world, selects one city to host WorldPride. New York City was chosen to host the event in 2019, followed by Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2021.
WorldPride – combined with the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, when a police raid of the Stonewall Inn sparked demonstrations that helped launch the modern-day gay rights movement – is expected to draw roughly 3 million spectators.
The survey first asks participants to indicate which Pride Month events they attended (you can choose more than one) before delving into a host of questions about the march, NYC PrideFest, Pride Island and more.
Questions related to the Pride March mainly focus on the route change that was instituted this past June, as well as how the experience could be improved before WorldPride.
NYC Pride media director James Fallarino said in June that part of the reason the route was changed was to keep the march moving at a brisk pace since the 2017 Pride March lasted for over 9 hours.
In the months leading up to this year’s march, Heritage of Pride faced criticism from a group of participants, dubbed the Reclaim Pride Coalition, for what the coalition said was a lack of communication and closed-door decision making.
A spokesman for Reclaim Pride Coalition on Tuesday welcomed the survey but also called for more inclusiveness in the decision-making process for next year’s march.
“We’re encouraged that HOP has created a survey for community feedback about last month’s Pride, but HOP is long overdue in addressing the community’s concerns brought to them over the past seven months,” the spokesman said. “Reclaim Pride Coalition calls for immediate community participation at the highest levels of HOP decision making so that planning for Stonewall 50/WorldPride can start fresh without the past year’s baggage of HOP leadership that has married the march to corporatization, over-policing and marginalization of community and activist groups.”
Reclaim Pride Coalition is hosting a town hall meeting related to the 2019 WorldPride March on July 31 at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in the Village. It was unclear if NYC Pride organizers would attend the meeting.
