10 can’t-miss Pride events in Brooklyn

By Duncan Freeman

Pride returns to Brooklyn this month after a year in which nearly all official pride events held across New York City moved online. Thanks, pandemic. Here’s a list of (mostly) in-person events and celebrations being organized by local businesses and community groups where Brooklynites can show their pride.

Brooklyn Pride Week
Brooklyn Pride has declared this week “Pride Week,” and is promoting a slough of events including their first organized in-person events since 2019. The celebrations kicked off with a cocktail party on June 7, on the roof of the Out of the Closet thrift store on Atlantic Avenue. Brooklyn Pride is hosting virtual activities over the next few evenings, including a mental health panel on Tuesday, a “Paint-N-Sip” class on Wednesday, drag bingo on Thursday, and a screening of “The Princess Bride” on Friday. Pride week culminates on Saturday with the 25th annual pride 5K run/walk in Prospect Park. Organizers require that racers register before Saturday and will be sending portions of each registration fee to local nonprofits that directly support Brooklyn’s LGBTQIA+ community. The race will be followed by a street festival on Fifth Avenue accompanied by music and drag performances on the nearby NYC Test and Trace Stage. Sponsors for Brooklyn Pride include the AIDS Health Fund, Planned Parenthood, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, and others.

Ride 4 Pride
Ride 4 Pride, organized by When the Light Hits You, “a community & social club for Black, Brown, and LGBTQ+ people,” is a cycling class founded to fundraise for local LGBTQIA+ mutual aid funds. Tickets are $35 dollars for one of two classes either at 3:15 or 4:15 at Spiked Spin on 1171 Fulton Street on Saturday, June 12th. The event is open to all members of the LGBTQIA+ community as well as allies.

Brooklyn Pride Comic Book Fair (And After Party): 
Anyone Comics at 1216 Union Street is hosting a comic fair featuring a “a host of queer comic book artists in a safe and socially distanced space,” on the sidewalk in front of the store from 12 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, June 13. The organizers goal is to promote local queer artists by giving them a space to share their work. Pride themed comic books from Marvel, DC, and other comic companies will also be promoted.

Following the fair will be an after party at Branch Otc on 225 Rogers Avenue hosted by Petra Fried featuring authors and illustrators of queer comics, drag queen performances, and a cosplay contest. Comic themed drink specials and prizes will abound and patrons will be allowed in only with New York’s Excelsior vaccination pass.

Pride was a Riot Birdwatching Pride Celebration with FBC and NYC Queer Birders
The Feminist Bird Club and Queer Birders are organizing a Prospect Park birdwatching excursion on Sunday, June 13, at 7 p.m. All proceeds for the event are going towards the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund and both members of the LGBTQIA+ community and allies are welcome to attend.

Dream Queen Drag Brunch
Dream Queen Drag Brunches will be hosted at Queen on 247 Starr Street everySunday in June with slots open at 1 and 3pm. Each hourlong brunch includes a show featuring kicks, splits, twirls, and flips from Pixel the Drag Jester, Nikita Sins, and a new guest queen every week. Each table includes one free drink along with the show while both bottomless mimosas and Mediterranean brunch are available for purchase.

Rock and Rally: NYC Pride Rally Screening
Logan’s Run, at 375a Fifth Avenue, will be hosting a free screening of the NYC Pride Rally on Friday, June 25 from 6 – 10 p.m. in the backyard of the restaurant and bar. Inside there will be prizes, surprise performances, and a “disco drag” set by Bagger Vance.

Queer Art Summerfest
Queer Art Summerfest, at 3 Dollar Bill at 260 Meserole Street on Saturday, July 10 from 2-7 p.m., will serve as an opportunity for queer artists to reconnect with the local Broolyn community. More than 30 vendors will be promoting their wares accompanied by live DJ sets, shows, and raffle prizes. All profits from the raffle will go towards GLITIS (Gay and Lesbians Living in a Transgender Society) who create holistic solutions for health and housing issues for Brooklyn’s queer community, specifically sex workers.

Atlantic Avenue Pride
On Sunday March 13, Brooklyn Pride and the Atlantic Avenue Local Development Corporation are hosting the first ever Pride on Atlantic Avenue. Local businesses will be decorating their storefronts to celebrate the festival of food, drinks, shopping, and music from noon to 5 p.m. from the waterfront to Fourth Avenue on Atlantic Avenue. Attendees who post to Facebook or Instagram in their most fabulous outfits in front of an Atlantic Avenue business with the hashtag #AtlanticAvenuePride will enter a chance to be kinged (er, queened) “Best Pride Ambassador” and win a prize.

LGBTQ+ Pride Month: Walt Whitman and the Celebration of Nature
Urban Park Rangers with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation will take interested patrons on a LGBTQIA+ pride-themed walk around Brooklyn Bridge park at 1 p.m. on Sunday, June 13. The rangers will discuss Walt Whitman and local nature that inspired the famous poet who historians and literary scholars have long understood to have been gay. The walk will start at Pier 1 at the corner of Furman and Old Fulton streets and is free and open to all.

Not Another Second
An interactive exhibit in The Watermark at Brooklyn Heights, Not Another Second focuses on the life stories of a diverse group of LGBTQ+ seniors, as told by themselves. In it, they reflect on their stories and how they “began living their true, authentic selves later in their lives.” Free public viewings of this exhibit take place every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. A reservation is recommended and the exhibit includes an augmented reality experience that allows viewers to fully experience and connect with the interesting and unique lives of these seniors. Not in Brooklyn? You can watch these seniors’ moving stories on Not Another Second’s website.