NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project
In the summer of 2024, Cecelia served as a Historic Preservation Consultant for the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, working to expand the organization’s regional coverage of LGBTQ history in the Bronx.
Bronx Pride March
The first annual Bronx Pride Parade and Multicultural Festival was held on July 11, 1998, in the Concourse neighborhood of the Bronx.
Chaired by Gloria Diaz, Matt Hinojosa, and later by Marisol Santiago, the parade and festival sought to promote the emerging spirit of Bronx pride by collaborating with the borough’s diverse multicultural, religious, and LGBT groups.
Bronx United Gays Zap
Bronx United Gays, the Bronx chapter of the Gay Activists Alliance, held a zap at the residence of Councilman Michael DeMarco on February 19, 1972, in response to his homophobic opposition to Intro 475, a bill introduced into the New York City Council to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The zap followed the failure of the city council’s General Welfare Committee to vote to pass the bill to the full council in late January of that year.
Gay Activists Alliance Zap
Prompted by the silence of Senator and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Edmund Muskie on gay civil rights, the Gay Activists Alliance coordinated a zap on November 14, 1971, at Gould Memorial Library, then part of the NYU University Heights campus, where Muskie was scheduled to speak.