NYC Pride March Will Be Especially Huge For Stonewall Anniversary

NEW YORK — New York City's annual LGBT Pride March will be nearly three times as large this year as activists mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, officials said Tuesday.

As many as 130,000 marchers and 129 floats will flood the 2.5-mile parade route in Manhattan on Sunday afternoon, NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan said. That's up from 46,000 marchers and 87 floats last year, according to the chief.

The massive march will come two days after the 50th anniversary of the riots near the West Village's Stonewall Inn that birthed the modern LGBT rights movement. It will also close out the WorldPride festival that the city has hosted throughout the month, marking the first time the international event has been held in the United States.

Security will be tight — thousands of cops will be on the ground, several streets will be closed to cars and a drone will watch the festivities from above, police officials said.

"Our NYPD cops and civilians are honored to be part of what’s happening here this week and this month, whether it’s safeguarding the various Pride events or marching as members of our Gay Officers Action League," NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill said at a news conference. "It truly is remarkable how far we’ve come as an organization and as a city in the last half-century."

The noon march, sponsored by Heritage of Pride, wil run down Fifth Avenue from 25th Street to Eighth Street, then proceed on Christopher Street toward the Stonewall Inn before continuing up Seventh Avenue and ending at 23rd Street.

About 2.5 million spectators are expected to flock to the parade, which will run a route about three quarters of a mile longer than last year's, police officials said. Julian Sanjivan, the march director for Heritage of Pride, gave a higher estimate, saying the festivities could draw 5 to 6 million people.

The NYPD and march organizers first changed up the route last year ahead of this year's WorldPride celebration.

"It was important for us to make sure that Stonewall was part of the route, the AIDS memorial park was part of the route, because these are important landmarks to the community," Sanjivan said Tuesday. "So we wanted to make sure that was included. But we also wanted to make sure safety was part of that discussion."

Cars won't be able to get crosstown between Eighth and 33rd streets from Eighth Avenue to Park Avenue starting at 11:15 a.m. Sunday, Monahan said. There will also be blocker vehicles and sand trucks on the streets to form a "ring of security" around the parade, he said.

Police officials said there is no specific or credible threat against the march, and cops will tackle any hate crimes that may target the revelers.

Securing the march is a task on par with policing some of the city's other massive celebrations, O'Neill said.

"It's right up there with New Year's Eve," he said.