NEW YORK -- Thousands of effusive marchers danced to club music in New York City streets Sunday as bubbles and confetti rained down, and fellow revelers from Toronto to San Francisco cheered through Pride Month's grand crescendo.
New York's boisterous throng strolled and danced down Fifth Avenue to Greenwich Village, cheering and waving rainbow flags to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall uprising, where a police raid on a gay bar triggered days of protests and launched the modern movement for LGBTQ+ rights.
While some people whooped it up in celebration, many were mindful of the growing conservative countermovement, including new laws banning gender-affirming care for transgender children.
"I'm trying not to be very heavily political, but when it does target my community, I get very, very annoyed and very hurt," said Ve Cinder, a 22-year-old transgender woman who traveled from Pennsylvania to take part in the country's largest Pride event.
"I'm just, like, scared for my future and for my trans siblings. I'm frightened of how this country has looked at human rights, basic human rights," she said. "It's crazy."
Parades in New York, Chicago and San Francisco are among events that roughly 400 Pride organizations across the U.S. are holding this year, with many focused specifically on the rights of transgender people.
One of the grand marshals of New York City's parade is nonbinary activist AC Dumlao, chief of staff for Athlete Ally, a group that advocates on behalf of LGBTQ+ athletes.
"Uplifting the trans community has always been at the core of our events and programming," said Dan Dimant, a spokesperson for NYC Pride.
San Francisco Pride, another of the largest and best known LGBTQ+ celebrations in the United States, drew tens of thousands of spectators to the city Sunday.
The event, kicked off by the group Dykes on Bikes, featured dozens of colorful floats, some carrying strong messages against the wave of anti-transgender legislation in statehouses across the country.
Organizers told the San Francisco Chronicle that this year's theme emphasized activism. The parade included the nation's first drag laureate, D'Arcy Drollinger.
"When we walk through the world more authentic and more fabulous, we inspire everyone," Drollinger said at a breakfast before the parade.
Thousands of people also flooded the streets Saturday night in Houston to celebrate pride parades and embrace the LGBTQ+ community.
"Houston is one big diverse family. Today is about celebrating people who are themselves, their authentic selves and letting everyone know that this is a city full of love, not division, not hate," Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said.
Many other cities held their marquee events earlier this month, including Boston, which hosted its first parade after a three-year hiatus that began with covid-19 but extended through 2022 because the organization that used to run it dissolved under criticism that it excluded racial minorities and transgender people.
A key message this year has been for LGBTQ+ communities to unite against dozens, if not hundreds, of legislative bills now under consideration in statehouses across the country.
Lawmakers in 20 states have moved to ban gender-affirming care for children, and at least seven more are considering doing the same, adding increased urgency for the transgender community, its advocates say.
"We are under threat," Pride event organizers in New York, San Francisco and San Diego said in a statement joined by about 50 other Pride organizations nationwide. "The diverse dangers we are facing as an LGBTQ community and Pride organizers, while differing in nature and intensity, share a common trait: they seek to undermine our love, our identity, our freedom, our safety and our lives."
Information for this article was contributed by Juan Lozano, Erin Hooley, Tran Nguyen, James Pollard, Geoff Mulvihill, Trisha Ahmed and Susan Haigh of The Associated Press.
A long Pride flag is carried during the St. Pete Pride Parade along Bayshore Drive on Saturday, June 24, 2023, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (Jefferee Woo/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
A parade participant fans people during the St. Pete Pride Parade along Bayshore Drive on Saturday, June 24, 2023, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (Chloe Trofatter/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
Parade-goers watch the St. Pete Pride Parade along Bayshore Drive on Saturday, June 24, 2023, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (Chloe Trofatter/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
The Dykes on Bikes motorcycle contingent lead the 31st annual San Francisco Dyke March on Saturday, June 24, 2023. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
People dance and chant during the 31st annual San Francisco Dyke March on Saturday, June 24, 2023. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
Participants carry a banner at the start of the 31st annual San Francisco Dyke March on Saturday, June 24, 2023. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
Revelers wait for the start of the NYC Pride March, Sunday, June 25, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
A person holds a fan that reads "Equality" during the 31st annual San Francisco Dyke March on Saturday, June 24, 2023. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
Revealers participate in the NYC Pride March, Sunday, June 25, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)Gallery: Pride parades honor LGBTQ+ community
