Abstract
This study examines the rhetoric of gay pride parades from their inception to their current incarnation though the examination of selected published photographs in The New York Times. The study analyzes six photographs from New York City’s gay pride celebrations, each corresponding with a significant event affecting the LGBTQIA rights movement. The study uses Entman’s (1993) four aspects of framing as its primary theory to analyze the selected images from LGBTQIA pride parades/festivals and combines Judith Butler’s theory of performativity, Gregory Herek’s theory of heterosexual masculinity and hegemony to supplement the theory and further examine the many factors comprising gay pride celebrations. The goal of this thesis is to illustrate that gay pride parades and festivals have changed from a form of civil protest to a celebratory event that is overtly sexual in nature.