“You can’t sink a rainbow” is a beloved activist slogan that dates back to 1985, in the wake of the bombing by the French secret service of the environmental group Greenpeace’s flagship the Rainbow Warrior as it prepared to monitor nuclear tests in French Polynesia. The boat’s name was originally inspired by a book propounding a “Native American prophecy” that turned out to be bogus, about different tribes uniting to save the Earth. But it also has roots in the term Rainbow Coalition, coined by Black Panther leader Fred Hampton in 1969 to describe his multicultural antiracism movement and adopted by Jesse Jackson for his 1984 presidential campaign.
In the decades since, the concept of the rainbow as a broad symbol for intersectional coalition-building on the left has morphed and tightened, becoming more recognizably the calling card of the LGBTQIA+ spectrum. Despite some societal and legislative victories, such as the national legalization of same-sex marriages, that constituency is feeling particularly beleaguered of late, with a conservative Supreme Court majority poised to take away their legal protections as soon as it’s done eviscerating Roe v. Wade. Maybe it’s time for “You can’t sink a rainbow” to get revived.
At last Saturday’s Hudson Valley Pride March and Festival in New Paltz – the first to go live since 2019 – rainbow gear was in evidence wherever one looked. Clad in rainbow socks and seated on the stone wall (symbolically meaningful during Pride Month) in front of One Epic Place, diagonally opposite the (probably unintentionally) rainbow-striped marquee of the Sunoco station, this HV1 correspondent noted the following items sported by marchers as they streamed down Main Street: rainbow flags, dresses, caps, cloaks, leis, fans, parasols, scarves, neckties, kites and even canine apparel. That’s not counting the vendor with a pushcart full of fanciful items that included rainbow-colored hats in the shape of googly-eyed squid.
Times may be challenging for LGBTQ folks, but there’s no denying the spirit of festivity and buoyant defiance that characterizes this annual event. Not one but two brass bands set the sprightly pace for the parade: a small ensemble accompanying grand marshal Bill Coleman – famed music producer/manager, deejay and founder of Peace Bisquit Productions – as he vigorously waved a multi-rainbowed flag from the sunroof of the lead vehicle; and the larger Rosendale Improvement Association Brass Band & Social Club, further back in the line of march. The turnout was lighter than usual, after the two-year hiatus, but the mood was upbeat.
The marchers were young and old, black, white, brown and yellow, able-bodied and wheelchair-bound. Dignitaries and candidates for public office including Pat Ryan, Juan Figueroa and Jen Metzger waved happily to spectators lining the sidewalks. A posse of kids from the Human Rights Club, Diversity Club and Band at Rondout Valley High School handed out hand-lettered informational cards explaining gay rights movement basics such as the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity. There was even a middle-aged woman with PRIDE printed across her otherwise-bare bosom, crying out, “Join me! No more tyranny of the boobs!”
At the end of its traditional route from the New Paltz Middle School, down Main and across Plattekill Avenue – passing the Peace Park where former mayor Jason West conducted same-sex marriages that shook New York State back in 2004 – the parade entered Hasbrouck Park, converging with a larger crowd for the Pride Festival. Music performances outnumbered speeches this year, as attendees socialized without masks and circulated around the many tables set up by vendors, churches, arts, environmental and health-related organizations and social service agencies. The Hudson Valley Misfits were there in their “Skate, Don’t Hate” roller derby tee-shirts, and Habitat for Humanity put up an elaborate display of raffle prizes and stick-built structures.
Many tablers had free swag to offer – you could follow the soap bubbles in the air to find the bubble wands being handed out by a coalition of three inclusive local churches – along with various hands-on activities for kids. Arguably the coolest of the latter was the New Paltz Youth Program’s Smashing Negativity exercise: a table where you could write the things you want to eliminate from your life, such as “hatred” and “bigotry,” with markers on a blank white ceramic tile. Behind the table, a tarp was spread on the ground with a trashcan behind it. Once your tile was suitably adorned, you could don protective goggles, pick up a hammer and smash that tile to bits. Truly a cathartic experience! NPYP volunteers were on hand to sweep up the resulting mess of shards.
As always, New Paltz’s Pride Festival was a lesson in how to transform a lifetime’s worth of oppression and rage into creativity and joy. And above the crowd, as if custom-designed for the occasion, a rainbow-colored double halo formed around the sun – reminding us all to keep looking up, even in the darkest of times.
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