'I think that we should be able to say we've been here for so long, and so many people are gay that everybody should be able to have the chance to enjoy their lives and be who they are,' Clay said. The parade in New York and others like it across the nation concluded a month of events marking the anniversary.Įraina Clay, 63, of suburban New Rochelle, came to celebrate a half-century of fighting for equality. Marchers and onlookers took over much of midtown Manhattan with a procession that lasted hours and paid tribute to the uprising that began at the tavern when patrons resisted officers on June 28, 1969.