The activist spirit brought home by local organizers from this extraordinary event resulted in Buffalo’s first ever Gay Pride Parade. In 1993, at least 500 Buffalonians traveled to Washington for the April March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Equal Rights and Liberation, one of the largest civil rights demonstrations in history.
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Another high spot of the 1992 Pride lineup was a performance by Lea Delia, again at the Tralf. The second annual Candlelight Wish Celebration featured a message from then-Governor Mario Cuomo, a moving address by (straight) Buffalo News columnist Donn Esmond and a male drag chorus line made up of performers from rival bars. Arthur and Lance Ringel, first director of the NYS Office of Lesbian and Gay Concerns. Highlights of the evening included appearances by Common Council President George K. This unique event, with its secluded outdoor setting and non-denominational spiritual element, offered a graceful transition between private and public celebrations of Gay Pride. This was the first major Pride event in Buffalo to be held outdoors in a public place. The first Candlelight Wish Celebration, held behind the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society, was the centerpiece of the 1991 Lesbian and Gay Pride Unity Fest. Other events from the ’80s, which became hallmarks of local Gay Pride celebrations, included the annual AIDS Memorial Candlelight Service hosted by the Interfaith AIDS Network, the Hall of Shame Awards (1990 nominees included “Hizzoner Jimmy Griffin” and school board member James Comerford), the annual womyn’s dances sponsored by GROW and SHADES, the Frontrunners annual Gay Pride Run, the Queen City Softball Day at Front Park and the famous Gearing Up for Summer Party at Ellicott Creek Park. The 1988 Pride Unity Fest, organized under the theme “Power through Unity with Diversity,” included a day of workshops, a Miss Buffalo Boat ride sponsored by Gay and Lesbian Youth of Buffalo (GLYB), a concert by the City of Good Neighbors Chorale, the DYKETONES at the Tralfamadore Café and a talk by transgendered activist Leslie Fienberg for Workers World and The Other Sex, a gay and lesbian film festival sponsored by HALLWALLS. The Network sponsored the Lesbian and Gay Pride Unity Fest (LAGPUF) for the next four years.
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In 1988, the Buffalo Gay & Lesbian Community Network was founded by Carol Speser and Larry Peck. By the mid-1980s, Gay Pride activities in Buffalo were more focused and centralized.