Heritage of Pride

Heritage of Pride (HOP dba NYC Pride) organizes the official New York City LGBTQIA+ Pride Week events. HOP is a non-profit organization that began producing New York City's Pride events in 1984, building on the work of the Christopher Street Liberation Day Committee, who organized the first March in 1970. That march brought national attention to 1969's Stonewall Riots, one of many occurring in the US at the time.

After the 1970 event, Pride chapters formed in cities across the US. Pride London was the first non-US city to rise in support of Gay Rights in 1972 and Pride festivals (or Christopher Street Days) now occur on six continents. The official LGBTQIA+ Pride events for New York City end on the last Sunday of each June. Additional events in New York City are organized by Brooklyn and Queens Pride chapters. Antarctica has yet to officially organize a Pride Chapter but in 2016 it was declared the world's first LGBT friendly continent.

HOP is a volunteer spearheaded organization working by Robert's Rules 50 weeks a year to execute the activities of NYC Pride Week. The voting membership elects two Co-Chairs onto an Executive Board with Committee Directors. Until 2002 all NYC Pride Week activities were organized by volunteers. That January Anthony D. Dean began work as the first full-time paid Business Development Director of NYC Pride events. By late 2016 HOP had five employees working year-round from a rented basement office on Christopher Street. They assist in coordinating the desires of Membership- who work on behalf of the larger community. Membership is open to all individuals.

What began as a March has grown to more than a dozen events which comprise NYC PRIDE week including The March, The Rally, PrideFest, and Pride Island- a multi-day cultural experience (evolution from Dance on the Pier: 1987-2017). Pride Island is the final event held each year and culminates with the second largest annual fireworks display in Manhattan, bested only by Macy's 4th of July Fireworks. During Pride Month many facets of the community gather and join voices. In 2017, ABC7 broadcast three hours of HOP's Pride March for the first time, also making some content available on the Internet. The run time of the March was 9 hours, 38 minutes. The broadcast was nominated for a 2018 New York Emmy Award.

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