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From the article:

It commemorates the 1969 Stonewall uprising, in which patrons of a Greenwich Village gay bar resisted a police raid.

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Brief history of the modern childlove movement

NAMBLA emerged from the tumultuous political atmosphere of the 1970s, particularly from the leftist wing of the Gay Liberation movement which followed the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City. Although discussion of gay adult-minor sex did take place, gay rights groups immediately following the Stonewall Riot were more concerned with issues of police harassment, nondiscrimination in employment, health care and other areas.

HARRY HAY
and the
SPIRIT OF STONEWALL
New York, 1994

Harry made the following statement to a press conference on June 24, 1994, in the former Stonewall Inn on Sheridan Square in New York, site of the riots that launched the modern gay movement in June 1969. The press conference was called to announce the Spirit of Stonewall (SOS) contingent in the Stonewall 25 march two days later. It was moderated by SOS co-organizer and indefatigable activist Bill Dobbs. Other participants were Christine Martin, sex educator and documentary filmmaker; Glenda Orgasm (aka Glenn Belverio), drag queen activist and filmmaker; Scott O�Hara, editor and publisher of Steam magazine; Val Langmuir of Feminists Against Censorship (London); Julia Smedley, member of Stonewall Now; and Charley Shively of Fag Rag and professor of American Studies at the University of Massachusetts.
This statement was transcribed from a videotape of the press conference. A much shorter version�which omits any mention of NAMBLA or SOS, as well as the entire last half of the statement and the first paragraph�appeared in Radically Gay: Gay Liberation in the Words of Its Founder Harry Hay, ed. Will Roscoe (Boston: Beacon Press, 1996), p. 303. These omissions seem odd in view of the fact that Harry read from a written text. The truncated version also used capital letters for words such as �Brothers and Sisters� and �Queers,� a convention that is not followed here since this complete version is not based on a written text.

Sir Julian Huxley, the great English biologist, said, at the beginning of this century, no negative trait�and, as you know, a negative trait is one that does not reproduce itself�no negative trait ever appears, and reappears, millennia after millennia after millennia, unless it in some way serves the survival of that species. We gays and lesbians may embody, or have discovered, some things that you folks desperately need to know about.
I�m here today as a survivor, as well as the founder of the first ongoing gay organization in the United States, the Mattachine Society, first formed in 1950 in Los Angeles, and now, naturally, a member of SOS, the Spirit of Stonewall, because things we discovered about ourselves and principles we developed in 1950 to �53 are now being trashed by queers who don�t know their own history, all over the place.
We decided from the beginning that, first, because we were still discovering our parameters, we wouldn�t censure each other. If people like NAMBLA self-identify themselves to me as gays and lesbians, I accept them as brothers and sisters with love.
Second, when we decided to rejoin the social or political mainstream again, we would integrate as the group we saw ourselves to be, complete with our own set of values, or we would not integrate at all.
And third, we would no longer permit any heteros�nationally or internationally, individually or collectively�to tell us who we are, what persons our groups should or should not consist of. We assert our right to self-determination, we assert our right to collective self-definition. We queers will decide for ourselves who our members should be.
Members of SOS, notably NAMBLA, have been accused of child molestation. Insofar as child molestation is concerned, the most common form is the sexual coercion by which gay and lesbian children are bedeviled into hetero identities and behaviors. And this is practiced daily by the whole national and international hetero community�parents, family, teachers, preachers, doctors, lawyers, and Indian chiefs, not to overlook U.S. senators and pooh-bah media.
This outrageous coercion of gay kids into hetero identities and behaviors against their wills is not only sexually abusive, it is spiritually devastating rape, because the child unbeknowingly is being led into developing self-loathing at the same time. For this gigantic criminal trespass against not only today�s children but against all of us also�all of us�since childhood, from the queers my age of 82 down through all the generations of queers assembled here in New York, to the gay kids still being bedeviled by sexual coercion against their wills, we the international gay and lesbian people here this week should unite to sue the whole guilty heterosexual community lock, stock, and barrel to within an inch of their lives, and for every nickel they�ve got, as a beginning of compensation. And while we�re at it, we should request our first-class citizenship as well. This could be the class-action suit of the century.

Copyright Ã‚Â© NAMBLA, 2003. All rights reserved.

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“Although discussion of gay adult-minor sex did take place, gay rights groups immediately following the Stonewall Riot were more concerned with issues of police harassment, nondiscrimination in employment, health care and other areas.”

Evil does exist! As does incredible irony!

The application to march in the 1994 Gay Parade:

SOS
Spirit of Stonewall
c/o Gayme Magazine
PO Box 15645
Boston, MA 02215 Tel.(617) 695-8015
Fax (617) 266-1125
NAMBLA MARCHES WITH US
AT STONEWALL 25, JUNE 26, 1994

Spirit of Stonewall (SOS) calls on Stonewall 25 and the gay and
lesbian movement to return to its roots. The Christopher Street
uprising was an outcry by those at the bottom and on the margins
of society against puritanical self-righteousness and bigotry.
It was a cry for full sexual liberation as part of the struggle
for social justice. Stonewall was the spontaneous action of
marginal people oppressed by the mainstream - of teenaged drag
queens, pederasts, transsexuals, hustlers, and others despised by
respectable straights and “discreet” homosexuals. They did not
call for their rights, they seized their own freedom. They did
not ask for integration into middle-class America, they screamed
against its pretensions of propriety.

SOS is an ad hoc committee of lesbian, gay and other individuals
and groups formed to bring Stonewall 25 back to the principles of
gay liberation. We focus on one of the most glaring departures
from those principles: the attempt to exclude the North American
Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), and possibly other groups,
from the Stonewall 25 March and from their place within
gay/lesbian space and discourse.

Red-baiting, scapegoating, censorship and exclusion have been
hallmarks of American society. Just as unions, the civil rights
and peace movements were pressured to cleanse themselves of
suspected “communists,” the lesbian/gay movement is now expected
to rid itself of social misfits, the vulnerable pederasts first
of all. Never before has such an ostensibly progressive movement
jumped so quickly through the hoops of its enemies. At least
there were years of debates among activists before some
capitulated to McCarthyism. ILGA, the Human Rights Campaign
Fund, Stonewall 25, and others who claim to support sexual
minorities and human rights have stumbled over each other as they
rush to deny these rights to those deemed unacceptable.

We find this the height of hypocrisy - to invoke the name of
Stonewall to cast out the alleged molesters among us. The issue
is not, first of all, intergenerational sex - although that is
one the movement needs to confront honestly rather than avoid.
SOS takes no stand specifically on age of consent laws or sex
between adults and those deemed legally “children.” The issues
that now confront Stonewall 25 are free speech, free association
and inclusiveness.

NAMBLA’s record as a responsible gay organization is well known.
NAMBLA was spawned by the gay community and has been in every
major gay and lesbian march. It has demonstrated in solidarity
with people with AIDS, and for lesbians in custody cases. NAMBLA
takes progressive positions on U.S. intervention in Central
America, the military draft, reproductive rights, the death
penalty, corporal punishment and racism. NAMBLA publicly
condemns the exploitation of children, including genuine sexual
abuse. NAMBLA believes the interests of young people demand not
paternalistic protection, but empowerment to make real choices.
Every organization within Stonewall 25 need not endorse every one
of the other organization’s positions. NAMBLA’s call for the
abolition of the age of consent is not the issue. NAMBLA is a
bona fide participant in the gay and lesbian movement. NAMBLA
deserves strong support in its rights of free speech and
association and its members’ protection from discrimination and
bashing.

Unless we return to the principles of Stonewall, the fate of
NAMBLA today may be the fate of other “different” and
“controversial” causes tomorrow. Gay and lesbian activists
before Stonewall understood the task of liberation. We agree
with the 1951 Mattachine Society slogan: “We will integrate as a
group on our own terms, or we will not integrate at all.” We
will define our own agenda and decide for ourselves who we are!
Within our movement, if our brother or sister self-identifies as
gay, we will march with them and they with us. We call on
Stonewall 25 to rescind its attempt to ban NAMBLA. Meanwhile,
SOS announces: NAMBLA marches with us!

SIGNED: Harry Hay, Pat Califia, Gayle Rubin, Chris Bearchelli,
Scott O’Hara, Charley Shively, David Thorstad, Tom Reeves, Jim
Becker AND:

NAME:___________________________________________________________

ADDRESS:________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________
Telephones:

(h)__________________(w)________________(FAX)___________________

Identification: (Writer, Activist, Professor, Name of
Organization or Publication, etc. - does not imply endorsement):

________________________________________________________________

GROUP ENDORSEMENT: (if a group officially endorses the SOS call)

________________________________________________________________

I (WE) WILL MARCH IN NEW YORK, SUNDAY, JUNE 26, 1994 WITH
SOS:________________________________
WE CANNOT MARCH, but we will march “in spirit”:_________________
WE NEED HOUSING (Limited Availability at $30 per night, two to
three persons per room):______________________

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That thing in the lower right corner looks like a tellytubie.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg marched with Quinn and other elected officials including Lt. Gov. David Paterson.

Gay Marriage Bill is New Reason to Celebrate Gay Pride

Religious groups including Christians, Jews and Buddhists led the Gay Pride Parade on Sunday, lending gravity to the often outrageous event that celebrates the night gay bar patrons resisted a police raid.

`We stand for a progressive religious voice,'' said Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum of New York City's Congregation Beth Simchat Torah.

``Those who use religion to advocate an anti-gay agenda I believe are blaspheming God's name.'' Kleinbaum, who heads the world's largest predominantly gay synagogue, and the Rev. Troy Perry, founder of the Metropolitan Community Church, were the parade's grand marshals, waving from his-and-hers convertibles.

The march took place days after the New York State Assembly passed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage, which Gov. Eliot Spitzer supports.

Although the bill is unlikely to pass the Republican-controlled state Senate any time soon, parade-goers said they were cheered by the Assembly's action.

``This is one very important step toward full equality for all New Yorkers,'' Kleinbaum said.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, one of the nation's most prominent openly gay elected officials, said she could not predict when the Senate might approve same-sex marriage.

``All conventional wisdom in New York state on gay marriage is out the window,'' she said. ``I think we are really doing better than anyone would ever have thought we could be doing on this.''

As in past years, there was exhibitionism on display as the parade inched down Fifth Avenue and into Greenwich Village. Revelers gyrated in bikini briefs and pranced in spike heels.

But the placement of the religious organizations near the head of the march, ahead of AIDS service groups and political advocacy groups, gave them unaccustomed prominence.

A Buddhist group carried signs that said ``Construct Dignity in Your Heart'' and ``Don't Block Your Buddha.''

``We're all Buddhas,'' said Hortense De Castro, a teacher from Manhattan. ``It's just a matter of letting it come out.''

The gay Roman Catholic group Dignity had a float and a giant rainbow flag. Jeff Stone, secretary of the New York chapter, said he was hopeful that the church would someday change its stance opposing homosexuality.

``We see that the opinion of ordinary Catholics is changing,'' he said. ``Eventually what happens at the grass roots percolates up in the church.''

Mayor Michael Bloomberg marched with Quinn and other elected officials including Lt. Gov. David Paterson.

There were contingents of gay police officers and firefighters as well as ethnic gay groups including South Asians, Haitians and American Indians.

An Argentinian and Uruguayan group featured an Eva Peron impersonator in a flowing gown.

Tens of thousands of people attended the march. Spectators lining Fifth Avenue included gay people sporting rainbow flags and curious tourists.

Toni Cinanni of Perth, Australia said she was surprised at the prominence of the church groups.

``I thought the religious groups had hijacked the parade,'' she said. ``I couldn't put it together, religion and sexuality.''

Andrew Stanley of Shrewsbury, England said the march was ``very colorful.''

``I've never seen one before,'' he said, ``but I think it's a good idea.''

The annual gay pride parade, one of dozens that takes place around the world, commemorates the 1969 Stonewall riots when patrons at a Greenwich Village gay bar fought back against a police raid.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1856062/posts
(New York City) Gay Pride Parade highlighted by religious groups