GAY & LESBIAN AMERICANS
OF NEW YORK CITY

For Immediate Release
June 17, 1994 Contacts
Paul Halsall   HALSALL@MURRAY.FORDHAM.EDU


NEW YORK GAY & LESBIAN ACTIVIST GROUP TO GO 
TO COURT FOR STONEWALL MARCH PERMIT

	New York, NY - The New York chapter of Gay & 
Lesbian Americans (GLA/NYC), a national gay-rights 
organization, represented by the New York Civil Liberties Union 
(NYCLU), will file suit to force the Giuliani administration to 
permit an alternative civil rights march starting at Sheridan 
Square in Greenwich Village, in addition to the march past the 
United Nations being planned by the Stonewall 25 Committee.        

	The court action follows several months in which 
planners of STONEWALL 25 celebrations have battled Giuliani 
administration officials for the rights to march on both First and 
Fifth Avenues on June 26, the day which commemorates the 
25th anniversary of the 1969 riots at the Stonewall Inn in 
Greenwich  Village which began the modern Lesbian and Gay 
movement. 

	GLA/NYC,  which sees itself  in the tradition of the 
original Stonewall movement,  approached the city for a permit 
after it became apparent that the STONEWALL 25  march route 
was from First Avenue to Central Park via 57th Street. This 
action has led to uproar in New York's lesbian and gay activist 
community, as well as threats of illegal marches from several 
organizations.  On June 16, GLA/NYC was turned down by the 
city, and preparation of the lawsuit commenced. 

	"We're sympathetic to the STONEWALL 25 
Committee's desire to focus on the United Nations and 
international human rights," said GLA/NYC member Mike 
Taglieri, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, "But 25 years ago in Sheridan 
Square, a critical historical event happened.  Lesbians, gay men 
and queers of all sorts - with wonderful style and guts - rose up 
against our oppressors for the very first time.  They started the 
modern lesbian and gay rights movement right on that spot.   A 
STONEWALL 25 celebration with no connection to Sheridan 
Square is really ignoring the place where it all began, and the 
very people whose bravery we're celebrating."  

	Norman Siegel of the NYCLU commented, "We believe 
that Gay and Lesbian Americans of New York City has a First 
Amendment right to march from Greenwich Village to Central 
Park.  We hope the Giuliani Administration will review the issue 
and grant a permit. Unless that happens we plan to go to court 
early next week."

	GLA/NYC invites all members of the gay, lesbian, 
bisexual, and transgendered communities to join us in Sheridan 
Square at 10am on Sunday June 26 for a Rally.  This will be 
followed,  (GLA/NYC hopes) by a legal march to Central Park. 

- END--


GLA/NYC: 208 W. 13th St. New York, NY 10011, (212) 978-
7940
Gay and Lesbian Americans is a diverse, nonpartisan coalition of 
grassroots advocates committed to civil rights for gay, lesbian, 
bisexual, and transgendered people, and to a cure for AIDS.