May 8, 2025 – August 31, 2025

Before it was a monthlong global celebration of the fight for LGBTQ+ rights, Pride was a local movement known as the Christopher Street Liberation Day March or the “Gay Liberation Parade.” Held in New York City as a direct response to the Stonewall Uprising of 1969, the march was a call for increased queer visibility at a time when New York still enforced so-called “sodomy” laws that facilitated the repression of the LGBTQ+ community. Taking its title from a common refrain heard at those early marches, Out of the Closets! Into the Streets! brings together 18 photographs by the internationally recognized multi-media artist Francisco Alvarado-Juárez that allow viewers to experience the chaotic and colorful vitality of this first iteration of Pride. As both historical documents and artistic expressions, Alvarado’s photos of the 1975 and 1976 marches showcase the racial and ethnic diversity of the early Pride parades and reveal the nuanced bonds of kinship formed among marchers from disparate backgrounds. Continuing the Hispanic Society’s commitment to exhibiting work by artists active in the local community, Out of the Closets! Into the Streets! constitutes the second installment of the annual series Arte en el Alto Manhattan which highlights artists residing in Upper Manhattan.