HOMOSEXUALS PARADE 'IN THE FACE OF DEATH'
June 29, 1987 - By Jane Gross - New York and Region - 893 words


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By and large, the crowds on the New York route supported the marchers, but there were isolated incidents. When two dozen police officers paraded past the library under the banner of the Gay Officers Action League, five mounted policemen wheeled their horses with the precision of a drill team, turning their backs on the marchers.

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The largest police contingent was positioned near St. Patrick's Cathedral - 300 officers between 48th and 52d Streets - where homosexual Roman Catholics and religious opponents of homosexuality held alternate demonstrations under a court order.

First on the steps were the protesters from Dignity, a Catholic homosexual group founded by Father McNeill, whom they honored with a bouquet of red roses and a somber recitation of the Lord's Prayer.

Next on the steps was a group of Orthodox Jews and Catholics, some wearing surgical masks and others carrying placards that said ''Deport Gays.'' Some recited the Rosary, working beads through their fingers, and others intoned: ''Do what is right in the Lord's sight, and he will take sickness away from your midst.''