OVER THE RAINBOW : GAY PRIDE REVISITED ,

New York City can feel crass, hopelessly divided between race  and location. It also can be exhilarating, creative, fun. Sometimes it gives in to its better angels, as during the 9/11 tragedy or for the MeToo movement. This week, 50 years after Stonewall, the city looks ready to own its gay "Selma moment". Many bridges were crossed in 50 years, but many remain blocked all over America.

Grievances and indignation do not need to pile up. They are  also separated by their upstream history and diverse gravity. They might eventually come together historically, but such occurrences are the exception.

Gay Pride has become a shared, consensual event. In Manhattan today, the town appears to have been taken over by "rainbow fever." The LGBTQ community co-owns many levels and niches of society in NYC. The visibility has become a given, the often economic and creative cloud a political "entry pass". Fortunately, maturity also comes with a sense of  contemporary civility and inclusion. Yesterday's extravaganza warfare is no longer needed to get attention. Nor should it be deprecated. It is "history". Today is an other story, which appeals to a variety of participants...less colorful but rooted in a "past Bonfires age.

There is a need for another "rainbow" which appeals to all persons and all genders. A large coalition is coming together, in opposition to the populist, bigoted agenda of Trump & Co.. After World War II Americans flocked to Paris, where intellectual and sexual freedom ruled the streets. Today many of yesterday's European avenues risk being closed. Every person who searches for freedom had better start closer to home now, reclaiming the rights that could be stolen in plain view. The agenda of Gay Pride needs to be revisited. It must go further than just the "close abroad".  Climate, social engineering, health care, immigration, gun control, require a mobilization of all. AIDS is partially cured at the scandalous price of thousands of lives, lost in misery and ostracism. Should one push the repeat button and give the scorched-earth policies of the populist mafiosi another lethal free reign? There is a time when legitimate separate grievances and agendas must merge. Stonewall remains relevant but the delta of demands must reclaim a "shared" riverbed. It is time to forego the costume once and for ever and go for the mind and soul. 

"Gradualism"is no virtue here.