100 Fabulous Photos that Capture New York City’s 2015 Gay Pride Parade

Every year I make a promise to myself: to attend the Gay Pride Parade. But every year something always goes wrong. I forget to keep track of the date or it just happened to occur a week ago and I’m just now finding out. This was always such a cause of disappointment as I feel so strongly about the subject. Not only was the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize Gay Marriage NATIONWIDE a massive (explosively exciting) fucking surprise but I knew that I would never forgive myself if I missed this year’s parade. I contacted my good friend Rob Ordonez, who is a fashion photographer in NYC, and asked him if my friend Gabbi and I could tag along with him for the parade and he was pleased to acquise to our request. We met him and his crew at Elmo where a huge rainbow flag hovered above the bar of the incredibly designed restaurant where waiters were adorned in togas, reminescent of Grecian times. Two glasses of champagne later and a few photos in, we finally follow the parade along the crowd that stood in amazement behind the barricades and the smiles of the people on the sidewalk were overflowing, I couldn’t press my camera button fast enough to catch each one. Not only did I feel relief to finally attend an event that I have been dying to be a part of but to witness such blissful freedom is a feeling I am still having trouble to articulate. I felt so free and happy that others could be free to be themselves. Life yet again became a celebration and the various expressions of love were rejoiced, rather than criticized or questioned. For the first time in my life New York City’s streets were not a source of anxiety but a source of oxygen I have never tasted. This is my attempt to summarize this year’s incredible parade in a 100 photos. I will never forget this day.