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There were gay ''Star Trek'' fans, AIDS activists and church groups singing gospel music. The parade, which commemorates the 1969 uprising at the Stonewall Inn credited with sparking the modern gay rights movement, was led by Stonewall veterans in drag riding behind a rainbow of balloons stretched across Fifth Avenue. ''I'm pleased to be here on behalf of equal rights for gays and lesbians.'' ''This year, because of the hate crimes bill In New York and the civil union law in Vermont, it's a year we can look back on and say there's been some progress,'' she told reporters.
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She gave the thumbs-up sign and clapped her hands to the disco music. Clinton marched 20 paces behind a man in a pink tutu and a Rollerblader wearing nothing but a thong. Clinton shouted ''You look gorgeous'' and ''We love you'' as the first lady joined the parade accompanied by state and local officials. ''It's a tremendously significant year,'' said lesbian activist and former White House aide Virginia Appuzzo, one of the Heritage of Pride Parade's grand marshals.
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Political victories were celebrated as activists pointed to passage of a hate-crimes bill in Albany and a Vermont law that allows civil unions between homosexuals. Rick Lazio, chose to spend the day campaigning upstate instead. Senate candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton marched in Sunday's event in New York, but Clinton's new Republican rival, Rep. Gays also marched Sunday in parades in San Francisco, Chicago and Atlanta. NEW YORK - Drag queens and dignitaries shared Fifth Avenue in the always-colorful annual Gay Pride parade known as much for its politics as its revelry.