On Long Island, thousands gathered in Long Beach yesterday for the 28th annual gay pride parade, “Pride on the Beach.”
This year, the parade’s grand marshals included members of the Gay-Straight Alliance Club from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where a gunman killed 17 people this past February.
Glen Cove City Councilwoman Marsha Silverman, the Council’s first openly gay member, said she was heartened that the public accepted her sexuality, “and understood that I was working hard for good finances and in the interest of the public, and the fact that I was gay was an afterthought. And that’s how it should be all the time for everybody.”
Silverman also explained that she was marching for “more acceptance and realizing that people are people whether they’re gay or straight, different colors, difference sizes, different genders, anything in between, everybody’s a person and everybody has equal rights.”
In a special memorial, over 60 surfers formed a circle in the water to honor the Parkland victims, including Long Island native Scott Beigel, a teacher who lost his life during the school shooting.