Lavender Line

Until the early 1990s, most New Yorkers associated the cityâ€™s LGBTQ population with the Manhattan neighborhood Greenwich Village. The Queens Pride Parade, inaugurated in Jackson Heights in 1993 by activists Daniel Dromm and Maritza Martinez, changed this, revealing a large LGBTQ community in the cityâ€™s most diverse borough. To mark the 25th Anniversary of the Parade, The Lavender Line: Coming Out in Queens provides snapshots of Queens LGBTQ history in recent decades, highlighting the contributions of several prominent activists from the borough, including Queensborough Community College IT Senior Associate Larry Nelson, a member of the Queens Chapter of PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). The parade, a reflection of the boroughâ€™s ethnic and racial diversity, remains an opportunity to come out and celebrate amid cheering neighbors, festive music, and colorful floats.

The exhibition is made possible through the generous support of the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation, LaGuardia Community College/CUNY and the New York City Council, through the office of Daniel Dromm (District 25).

Works in Exhibition

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Paradegoers cheer at the 1999 Queens Pride Parade. Photograph by Richard Shpuntoff.
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Photograph by Richard Shpuntoff.
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Miss Jessica Foxx, a transgender entertainer, performed often at the Queens Pride Parade Festival. She also helped to raise money for the Parade and Festival in gay clubs in Queens, including Hatfieldâ€™s in Kew Gardens and Krash in Astoria. Photograph by Richard Shpuntoff.
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A drag queen on a float (right) at the 1994 Queens Pride Parade. Photograph by Richard Shpuntoff.
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Qiamo, a Mexican singer, performs at the 1997 Queens Pride Parade Festival. She regularly performed at the parade and at other LGBTQ fundraising events, including PFLAG luncheons. Photograph by Richard Shpuntoff.
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Photograph by Richard Shpuntoff.
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Photograph by Richard Shpuntoff.
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Ed Sederbaum, founder of the activist organization Queens Gays and Lesbians United (Q-GLU), speaks at a 1995 rally for justice for Julio Rivera, a gay Queens resident beaten to death in a Jackson Heights schoolyard in 1990. The Rivera murder, designated a hate crime, sparked a wave of LGBTQ activism in Queens in the early 1990s.
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New York City Council Speaker Peter Vallone Sr. at the 2000 dedication of Julio Rivera Corner, on 37th Avenue and 78th Street, along the Queens Pride Parade route in Jackson Heights. During the parade, marchers pause for a moment to remember Rivera and all victims of LGBTQ hate crimes. (From left) Peg Rivera (Julioâ€™s sister-in-law), Council Member Karen Koslowitz (partially hidden), Council Member Christine Quinn, Daniel Dromm (behind Speaker Vallone), Council Member John Sabini, Council Member Sheldon Leffler, and Council Member Helen Marshall.
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Queens Pride Parade co-founder Maritza Martinez at the 1995 Justice for Julio Rivera Rally at PS 69 in Jackson Heights. Demonstrators hold posters of Eric Brown and Esat Bici, two of Riveraâ€™s murderers
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Activist Brendan Fay (front left) and other members of the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization protest the exclusion of gays in New Yorkâ€™s St. Patrickâ€™s Day Parade on Fifth Avenue in 1996. In the 1990s, Fay was arrested multiple times for engaging in civil disobedience for LGBTQ rights.
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St. Johnâ€™s University student Jimmy Van Bramer (left) and fellow student-activist Dave Marini (right) march in the 1993 Queens Pride Parade. Van Bramer is currently the Majority Leader of the New York City Council and Council Member for the 26th District, in Queens. Photograph by Doris Tamai. Courtesy Jimmy Van Bramer
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The Queens Lesbian & Gay Pride Committee prepares to march in the Queens Hispanic Parade in 1993. The committee, founded in 1992 by Daniel Dromm and Maritza Martinez, organized the parade to promote pride and awareness and fight for social justice in the wake of the 1990 murder of Julio Rivera and the 1992 rejection of the Children of the Rainbow Curriculum in local schools. Photograph by Daniel Dromm.
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The South Asian Lesbian and Gay Association (SALGA) at a Queens Pride Parade. Founded in 1991, SALGA seeks to increase awareness and acceptance of LGBTQ people of South Asian origin in the New York metropolitan area through leadership development, immigration advocacy, and mental health programs, among other initiatives. Photograph by Richard Shpuntoff.
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Queens Pride Parade participants carry the LGBT rainbow flag. Photograph by Richard Shpuntoff.
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At the 1994 Queens Pride Parade, participants commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots of 1969. The Stonewall uprising became a catalyst in the battle for LGBTQ rights in the nation. Photograph by Richard Shpuntoff.
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Members of Unity Fellowship of Christ Church march in the Queens Pride Parade. Founded in 1992, Unity Fellowship of Christ Church provides a spiritually and socially nurturing space for those on the margins of society, including homeless, HIV positive, formerly incarcerated, and LGBTQ individuals. Photograph by Richard Shpuntoff.
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Queens Pride House (QPH) members participate in a Queens Pride Parade. QPH provides a health information center and organizes support groups, monthly social and cultural events, and educational workshops. Photograph by Richard Shpuntoff.
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Brooklyn Pride activists march in the Queens Pride Parade. The Queens parade helped to inspire the Brooklyn Pride Parade, established in 1997 in Park Slope. Photograph by Richard Shpuntoff.
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Bronx Pride activists march in the Queens Pride Parade. Activists from all five boroughs often worked together in political coalitions to advance LGBTQ causes. Photograph by Richard Shpuntoff.
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Primer Movimiento Peruano (â€œFirst Peruvian Movementâ€) at the 2001 Queens Pride Parade. The organization works to unite the Peruvian LGBTQ community in New York. Photograph by Richard Shpuntoff.
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Queens Pride Parade co-founders Daniel Dromm and Maritza Martinez at Travers Park in Jackson Heights at â€œComing Out against Violence Dayâ€ in 1996.
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Jeanne Manford, the founding parent of the international organization PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), speaks at the inaugural Queens Pride Parade Festival in 1993, flanked on stage by parade co-founders Maritza Martinez and Daniel Dromm. A resident of Flushing, Queens, Manford established PFLAG after she became the first parent to march with her gay son, Morty, himself an early champion of LGBTQ rights, in the 1972 Manhattan Gay Pride Parade.
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Members of the Queens Lesbian and Gay Pride Committee (QLGPC) at a street festival in Queens in 1993. QLGPC often distributed literature at festivals in Queens to build its activist coalition and promote awareness about the LGBTQ movement. (From left) unidentified, Maritza Martinez, Hank Krumholz, Beverly Singleton, and Barbara Baruch.
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. Both Duane and Quinn championed LGBTQ causes in New York while in office.
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Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger at the 1997 Queens Pride Parade festival. Messinger was the Democratic Nominee for Mayor of New York City in 1997.