Pride flags fly high at Queens Borough Hall

Pride flags fly in front of Queens Borough Hall in Kew Gardens. Photo courtesy of Queens Borough Hall.

By Jonathan Sperling

Pride flags are flying in front of Queens Borough Hall for the first time ever, just in time for the borough’s 27th Annual Pride Parade and Festival and the start of Pride Month.

The Pride flags will remain on display throughout the month of June in honor of Pride Month and in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion of 1969, Queens Borough President Melinda Katz announced on Friday. Borough Hall teamed up with Queens Pride to commission the flags’ installation.

“The Borough of Queens is unabashedly Pride — all day, every day,” Katz said in a statement. “During LGBTQIA+ Pride Month and throughout the year, let us be loud, vocal, united and relentless both in celebration of Pride and in our universal push for inclusion, equality and justice.”

The flags also celebrates New York City’s WorldPride, and come just days before the 27th Annual Pride Parade and Festival, organized by Queens Pride. The parade sees revelers march along 37th Avenue in Jackson Heights on Sunday.

“Pride Month is not only a celebration of individuality, but progress and achievements towards equal rights. Queens Pride is proud of its achievement along with the Queens Borough President to display the Rainbow Flag in front of Borough Hall for the Month of Pride, especially as New York hosts WorldPride this year,” said Queens Pride President Tina Arniotis in a statement.

“As the first borough to kick-off the official Pride Month we are honored to be the first Borough to wave the Pride Flag,” Arniotis added.

Katz will also host an annual Pride Month Celebration with Councilmembers Daniel Dromm and Jimmy Van Bramer on June 19 at 5:30 p.m. at Queens Borough Hall. Anyone interested in attending is asked to RSVP at www.queensbp.org/rsvp or call 718-286-2661.