Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, made a historic appearance as the first presidential candidate ever from any major political party to join the Pride Parade.
As the parade kicked off yesterday with thousands of members and supporters of the LGBT community parading the streets of New York, fans of Clinton showed excitement at seeing the former Secretary of State up close and personal.
Twitter exploded with happy comments about Clinton’s surprise appearance, such as William Ferrall’s tweet which received 14,000 likes in less than 24 hours:
“Future Madam President joins NYC Gay Pride parade.”
Future Madam President joins NYC Gay Pride parade.
— William Ferrall ? ? ? (@wmferrall) June 26, 2016
But Clinton is not new to joining the city’s Pride Parade. She marched in the parade already back in 2000 as First Lady when she was running for Senate in New York, and then in 2006 during her Senate reelection campaign.
However, last year she skipped the parade, sending her daughter Chelsea Clinton as a surrogate instead. And Clinton’s relationship with the LGBT community hasn’t always been smooth, as she was once against same-sex marriages.
But in 2013 she announced her support of same-sex marriages, and since last year, LGBT organizations like the Human Rights Campaign have endorsed her campaign. She has also shown support by emphasizing gay-rights in the wake of the recent Orlando mass shooting.
In fact, the recent tragedy added an element of fear and sadness to the parade. The owner of Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Barbara Poma, rode with entertainment manager Neema Bahrami on the lead float. All names of the 49 victims were read before the moment of silence that began the parade.
A mountain of flowers marked a memorial to victims of the Orlando shooting outside the legendary Stonewall Inn, which is where Clinton joined New York Mayor Bill DeBlasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo for the march. Stonewall Inn was designated just this week by the Obama administration as the first national monument to LGBT rights.
Some pointed out that Clinton only made a brief appearance, marching just a couple of blocks. Also, her campaign video targeting the LGBT community, released shortly before the parade, makes her appearance less of a surprise and indicates more of a carefully planned campaign strategy.
But all in all, her appearance gave an overwhelmingly positive response on Twitter and social-media.
The internet is flooded with joyful pictures of this historic moment with presidential candidate Hillary Clinton showing her support of the LGBT community by marching the 46th annual New York City Pride.
