"On June 28, 1970, I attended the first New York Gay Pride March. The date marks the first anniversary of the Stonewall riots, which launched the LGBTQ+ liberation movement in the U.S. We left from Christopher Street, a gay cultural mecca in Greenwich Village, and walked up 6th Avenue to Central Park. To end the day, a kissing contest was held in the middle of the park! It was a great moment of joy, love and freedom. This couple, who kissed for hours under an umbrella, obviously didn't care about photographers" (Interview with Clément Thierry, 2021)
Original photo - Christopher Street Liberation Day March, New York - "The Kiss, Judy Bowen and Philip Raia"
Original black and white silver print ; with the stamp of Jean-Pierre Laffont for the Gamma agency, and a lengthy mimeographed caption for the French press.
Original prints from this event are extremely rare, as museums and galleries only have modern reprints.
A touching and vivid account of the first Gay Pride March, in the aftermath of the Stonewall riots that became the cradle of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement and subsequent gay liberation movements around the world.On June 28, 1969, police raided Stonewall, a mafia-owned dance bar in Greenwich Village catering primarily to gay and transgender people. The city had revoked the liquor licenses of gay bars and police officers regularly hassled its customers because of their sexual orientation. That night at Stonewall was one too many: cornered by Village residents and customers, the police were forced to retreat inside the bar and the riot lasted seven days. On June 6, 2019, nearly 50 years after the historic uprising, the New York Police Department has apologized for its role in the events.
Now considered to be the origin of the gay liberation movement, Stonewall led to the creation of some of the first gay rights activist organizations, such as the Gay Liberation Front and Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (better known as STAR and founded by two of the most prominent transgender activists: Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera). The uprising called for a new kind of movement. With this purpose, the Christopher Street Liberation Day March was held on June 28, 1970, one year to the day after Stonewall. Only a few brave groups first gathered at Sheridan Square (Greenwich village), before other people started joining in on their way to Sheep Meadow in Central Park, finally attracting more than 10,000 demonstrators. Annual Pride events were subsequently held in the summer in NYC and other major U.S. cities before reaching other continents after a few years, with hundreds of millions of people gathering for what has become one of the most prominent human rights demonstrations around the world.
Taken during the kissing contest, this picture shows Judy Bowen, prominent transgender activist and founder of Transsexual Anonymous, passionately kissing her friend Philip Raia, founding member of the Gay Activists Alliance.
Jean-Pierre Laffont first arrived in the U.S. in 1965 and began his career as a photojournalist in New York for Status Magazine and then as U.S. correspondent for the French agency Reporters Associés. He became Senior Foreign Correspondent for Gamma Press and in 1969 opened the Gamma Presse Images office in the U.S with his wife Eliane. Laffont covered major American historical events- the Civil Rights movement and social protests against racial discrimination, the Vietnam War, demonstrations for Peace, women's rights, and gay liberation, etc. Initially intended for the press, his artworks have now reached iconic status and are featured in international photographic collections.
