‘Rights are under attack': S.F. Pride parade kicks off with mix of flamboyance, resistance

San Francisco Chronicle​

5 hours ago

As San Francisco's month-long LGBTQ+ Pride celebration culminated Sunday in a massive rainbow-laden party packing city streets, event leaders made one thing clear: These were no ordinary festivities.
President Donald Trump's recent assault on queer and transgender protections prompted some of San Francisco Pride's biggest corporate sponsors to flee, raising important questions about the iconic event's future. Should it become more of a protest than a party? And, present political climate aside, could a budget shortfall force organizers to scale things back?
With Pride at an inflexion point of sorts, prominent officials tried to strike a delicate balance: voice defiance against many of the Trump administration's LGBTQ+-related policies, all while trumpeting Pride's potential as a unifying force during turbulent times. The result was a one-of-a-kind event that reflected the complexities of the moment and epitomized this year's theme of 'Queer Joy is Resistance.'
'This Pride hits different than recent prides,' Delaware Rep. Sarah McBride, the first openly transgender person elected to Congress, said in an interview with the Chronicle as she visited San Francisco for the Pride events. But, she added, it's also a moment to remember how far the LGBTQ+ movement has come, and to 'rediscover our superpower as a community.'
As hundreds of thousands of spectators flooded Market Street and the Civic Center for one of the nation's largest Pride parades, they saw the zany antics and flamboyant fun that have long been Pride's signature. There was a lone nudist applying sunscreen, a group of dancers in glittering cowboy hats bobbing to Lady Gaga's 'Applause,' and rainbow-bedazzled attendees wearing Pride flags as butterfly wings.
Through it all, somber reminders of the challenges LGBTQ+ people and other minority groups face peppered the festivities. At one point, San Francisco Sheriff Paul Miyamoto and a handful of SFPD officers passed through a mostly silent crowd, passing out rainbow flags. Wearing a purple hologram jacket, State Sen. Scott Wiener waved to the crowd atop a truck trailer as he held a sign that read, 'ICE out of SF.'
Emblazoned across the T-shirts of San Francisco City Attorney's Office employees were the words, 'See You in Court,' with the Statue of Liberty and a rainbow flag. This was a not-so-subtle reference to the eight lawsuits filed by the city against the Trump administration.
'As the Trump administration violates the Constitution and undermines the rule of law every day, we have to defend our city and our communities,' City Attorney David Chiu said while riding atop a dinosaur float. 'Everyone's rights are under attack.'
By taking a more obstinate stance than in recent years, Sunday's festivities conjured memories of Pride celebrations from the 1970s and '80s — a time when politics were at the forefront, and corporate sponsors remained an afterthought.
The throwback vibe seemed warranted. After all, just days after the 10th anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling that recognized same-sex marriage nationwide, many LGBTQ+ people feel quite under attack.
'Trump is trying to take away the rights of human beings,' said Kristina Corrozza, who waited 30 years to come to their first Pride. 'San Franciscans won't stand for it.'
Just in the five months since Trump took office for a second, non-consecutive term, he has removed transgender people from the military, prevented federal insurance programs from paying for gender-affirmation surgeries for young people, and attempted to keep transgender athletes out of girls and women's sports. Then the Southern Baptist Convention, empowered by the overturning of Roe v. Wade, set its sights this month on ending same-sex marriage.
Some agendas, like Trump's move to rename the Harvey Milk naval ship, have felt like a direct shot at San Francisco — a city that has long taken pride in being a bastion for the LGBTQ+ community. In the process, S.F. Pride organizers had to reckon with a sobering truth: Major corporations tend to value moving product over inclusivity.
Since Trump was elected again, LGBTQ+ allyship has become increasingly unprofitable. This helps explain why five major corporate donors — including Comcast and Anheuser-Busch — pulled out of the event this year. Despite a late fundraising push spearheaded by smaller businesses, S.F. Pride entered Sunday about $180,000 short of its $2.3 million fundraising target.
'If we, somehow, in these next 10 days, can find another $175,000, and people show up on Pride Sunday, and our beverage program does well and our donations increase at the gate, we might get through this difficult period,' Suzanne Ford, the executive director of San Francisco Pride, recently told the Chronicle.
All that raised the stakes for what was once a lighthearted celebration of the LGBTQ+ community. For many of the families who flocked to Market Street and the Civic Center for parade floats, musical acts and general pandemonium, Sunday's festivities represented a vital opportunity — not just to show the world that inclusivity is worth celebrating, but to reaffirm that political oppression can only make allies stronger, corporate sponsors or not.
Marcella Pesavento lives in the neighborhood and walks her dog by every parade. But for this Pride, she stopped and climbed atop a traffic bollard to show her support.
'With everything going on with Trump, it feels important to stand up and be ourselves,' she said. 'It makes people feel they are not alone.'