After drawing an estimated attendance of between 8,000 to 10,000 people, organizers of this year’s Jersey City LGBT Pride Festival called it a great success.
“The week exceeded my expectations,” said Eduardo Baez, co-founder of Gayborhood. “The events during the week were all well-received and attendance to all was great. The festival itself has officially been estimated by the fire chief at 8-10,000 and judging by social media it exceeded the expectations of others as well. It was really a great community effort.”
With rainbow flags draped outside many of the establishments along the Newark Avenue pedestrian plaza, Jersey City capped off a week of festivities with a festival on Aug. 29.
Tents lined both sides of the plaza offering a variety of goods and services, although some were more interesting than others, such as the tent over the full-sized barber chair.
“The week exceeded my expectations.” – Eduardo Baez
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This year participants had even more to celebrate after the ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that made same sex marriage legal nationwide.
Jersey City City Hall showed its support for the LGBT festivities by raising the rainbow flag on Friday.
While there is no real way know how many LGBT people are living in Jersey City, estimates made prior to the last census estimate more than 600,000 living in the New York City/Jersey City area. Over the last few years, Jersey City has been seen as one of the most LGBT-friendly cities in the nation.
New Jersey is making progress
As the state of New Jersey has taken steps toward offering full equality for same sex couples, Jersey City was in the forefront of the movement, local activists said. In 2006, the New Jersey Supreme Court determined that homosexuals have a constitutional right to receive the same state-level benefits, protections, and obligations as heterosexual married couples, and legislation was passed allowing for civil unions.
Fulop, who was among the first mayors in the state to perform civil unions prior to the legalization of same sex marriage, toured the festival along with members of the City Council, meeting up with festival organizers Eduardo Baez and Michael Billy to get a first hand report on progress being made in the city.
During the raising of the LGBT flag in front of City Hall a few days prior to the festival, Fulop said Jersey City has become a model for how a community ought to embrace the LGBT population.
The city’s first festival dedicated to the LGBT community was held in 2001.
Jersey City Lesbian and Gay Outreach (JCLGO), a community organization that works to increase visibility of the LGBT community, ran the festival for about 12 years. This year, Gayborhood and Humanity Pride Productions took on the organizational duties, although the event will continue to support the Hudson Pride Connections Center, which for a long time was the only LBGT center in the Jersey City area.
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.