Romans 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:

25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,

30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:

32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

Deuteronomy 22:5 The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God.

Making Sodom Great Again in the US: NYC prepares for huge Gay Pride on Stonewall’s 50th anniversary

Catherine TRIOMPHE. AFP•June 29, 2019

New York (AFP) – A staggering three million people waving bright rainbow colors are expected to cram the streets of Manhattan Sunday for a Gay Pride march marking the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, the episode credited with giving rise to the modern LGBTQ movement.

“I believe we are going to have the greatest Pride celebration in the history of the globe,” Mayor Bill de Blasio, a vocal defender of gay rights and a Democratic presidential hopeful, said Friday night.

Stonewall Day commemorates the June 1969 riots sparked by repeated police raids on the Stonewall Inn, a well-known gay bar in New York’s Greenwich Village, that proved to be a turning point in the LGBTQ community’s struggle for civil rights.

New York’s Gay Pride — a month of events marking Stonewall every year — has long been a lure for tourists, drawing hundreds of thousands of people, plus politicians and celebrities, each year.

A year after the riots 50 years ago, New York held its first Gay Pride march, kicking off a tradition that would spread to other cities around the world — made all the more pertinent as some 70 countries still criminalize homosexuality today.

This year organizers have gone all out as they plan to host what they called World Pride with visitors from around the globe.

The event comes against what critics say is Donald Trump’s Republican administration opening the door once again to overt discrimination against the LGBTQ community.

– A step back –

There are two marches planned with the main procession beginning at noon from 5th Avenue and 26th Street in Greenwich Village.

Some 150,000 people are signed up to walk in the main march, and the 70 companies acting as sponsors — including L’Oreal, Danone and Macy’s department stores — are a sign of how more and more businesses want to be associated with the yearly procession.

Organizers say they are expecting an estimated three million people to line the streets and watch the march, which is scheduled to conclude with a big bash in Times Square with performances by artists including Madonna, who is hugely popular in the gay community.

Visitors from abroad who are planning to march include Helen Gollin, a 63-year-old Australian, who helped found Sydney’s first Mardi Gras gay march in 1978.

“It’s about honoring all that went on before us and all those who died in the name of freedom,” said Gollin.

“It’s our history, it’s the reason why we can be whoever we want to be. That’s why it was important to come and celebrate,” added Francesco Servalli, 38, who came from Italy with four friends to take part in the march.

Servalli and others said Gay Pride is important for another reason: to muster strength to keep fighting for LGBTQ rights at a time when what they call extremist politicians — like Trump, or Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini and President Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil — have come to the fore.

“I feel like we are going backward,” said Servalli, citing in particular violence against transgender people.

“But maybe it’s history: sometimes you need to go backward to continue going further,” he added.

– Too commercial? –

The idea may be to keep fighting, but over the years Gay Pride has become a huge money maker, so much so that this year some LGBTQ rights activists are holding a separate march they consider purer.

“The annual Pride parade has become a bloated, over-policed circuit party. Pride is not for sale. It’s gone completely off tracks,” said Bill Dobbs, an organizer of the rival march. He described the latter as “an effort to keep with the spirit of Stonewall.”

With so many people expected to watch the march, police plan to deploy thousands of officers on the streets and rooftops of the city, and also use drones and helicopters to keep an eye on everything.