As Dr. Martin Luther King observed, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” To make change happen, sometimes people of conscience need to get ahead of that curve. Twenty years ago in New Paltz, former mayor Jason West performed wedding ceremonies for 25 gay and lesbian couples, seven years before same-sex marriage was legalized in New York State and 11 years before that right became established across the US. So it was that the village became a sort of historical holy place for the LGBTQ community, and each year since 2004 it has hosted a Pride March and Festival. Bright warm sunshine beckoned on the first of June 2024, the beginning of Pride Month, and once again the region’s rainbow tribe answered the call.
The big parade got underway at noon, led off by a squadron of motorcycles flying rainbow flags. A convertible carried this year’s Grand Marshal, popular drag performer Katarina Mirage, who waved, blew kisses and called out “Happy Pride!” to the crowds on the downtown sidewalks, evoking enthusiastic applause. A large contingent from the Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Center followed, carrying a banner and an enormous rainbow flag. Behind them walked a contingent of local officials, among them Village of New Paltz mayor Tim Rogers and representatives Michelle Hinchey from the State Senate and Sarahana Shrestha from the State Assembly.
On and on came one group after another, all in high spirits: churches and community organizations, health and social service agencies, businesses and political committees. There were families of every imaginable definition, with marchers ranging in age from the Old Lesbians Organizing for Change to a big turnout of school diversity clubs. Queers for Palestine shared space amicably with activists carrying signs in Hebrew.
The arts were well-represented, with drummers from the Center for Creative Education and the Rosendale Improvement Association Brass Band supplying upbeat marching music. The Apoca-Lips cast strutted their Rocky Horror costumes; the Mid-Hudson Misfits rolled by carrying signs saying, “Skate, Don’t Hate;” the Hudson Valley Ghostbusters brought up the rear in their Ectomobile. All were headed toward the Pride Festival at Hasbrouck Park, traversing village hall’s freshly repainted rainbow crosswalks.
In their early years, these gatherings were organized primarily by the Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Center in Kingston, with other regional organizations such as Big Gay Hudson Valley gradually coming on board as co-sponsors. The host community of New Paltz would put together an ad hoc committee to coordinate the logistics of each year’s event, but there was no permanent hub for ongoing services to the local LGBTQ population. That is now in the process of changing, as a new organization called the New Paltz Pride Coalition (NPPC) secured not-for-profit status in 2023. This year’s Pride March and Festival was officially touted as a “collaboration” between the Community Center and the New Paltz group.
NPPC is now actively fundraising to establish a physical location for its programs. “A lot of people in New Paltz don’t have the means of travel,” explained volunteer Amanda Del Favero. “We started out as a group of friends, asking, ‘Why aren’t there any resources here?’ And then we gradually became an organization.”
Visitors to the NPPC website at www.newpaltzpridecoalition.org can find an extensive list of resources for LGBTQ folks – notably, links to health, mental health and social services organizations that provide free or low-cost counseling services and crisis intervention. Suicide prevention remains a major concern among agencies working with LGBTQ youth, and homelessness is often a challenge for young people forced to flee unsupportive families. Groups whose missions are to alleviate such problems had booths set up everywhere one looked at the Pride Festival, ready to offer their services to anyone who inquired.
But mostly, the tone of the event was one of celebration, solidarity and good cheer. There was considerably more entertainment than speechifying, led off by rousing songs from the Resisterhood Community Choir. A drag show followed, with Veela Peculiar as emcee.
Grand Marshal Katarina Mirage was the star attraction, dressed as Rapunzel and enchanting youngsters in the crowd with “When Will My Life Begin?” from the Disney animated movie Tangled. Mirage, a Newburgh native who studied Theatre Arts at SUNY New Paltz, has been performing, producing and hosting drag shows in New Paltz and beyond for about a decade, including the monthly First Saturday shows at Snug’s. “I’m the auntie of the community,” Mirage explained. “I did a Drag Queen Story Hour at Elting Memorial Library, only for Pride, but we’d like it to continue. There are places I’d like to approach.” Venues interested in hosting story hours and other drag events can reach Mirage at bookings.katarinamirage@gmail.com or @katarinamirage on social media.
An afterparty at Snug’s in the evening promised to provide a somewhat spicier wind-up to the day’s festivities; but at Hasbrouck Park in the afternoon, everything was wholesome and family-friendly enough to deflate any homophobe’s worst nightmare. “Look at this — doesn’t this give you hope?” asked Village of New Paltz deputy mayor Alexandria Wojcik, who’s also the secretary of the New Paltz Pride Coalition. “It’s really dark out there these days, but if we can come together like this, we can take it all on. It’s a new era of building community.”
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