Resolve Marks Pride Month Finales

The monthlong celebration of LGBTQ+ Pride reached its rainbow-laden crescendo as New York and other major cities around the world hosted parades and marches on Sunday. Pride celebrations are typically a daylong mix of jubilant street parties and political protest, but this year's iterations took a more defiant stance as Republicans, led by President Trump, have sought to roll back policies supportive of LGBTQ+ people, the AP reports. The theme of the festivities in Manhattan was, "Rise Up: Pride in Protest." San Francisco's Pride theme was "Queer Joy is Resistance," while Seattle was simply "Louder."

Lance Brammer, a 56-year-old teacher from Ohio attending his first Pride parade in New York, said he felt validated as he marveled at the scope of the celebration, the nation's oldest and largest. "With the climate that we have politically, it just seems like they're trying to do away with the whole LGBTQ community, especially the trans community," he said. "And it just shows that they've got a fight ahead of them if they think that they're going to do that with all of these people here and all of the support." Doriana Feliciano, a self-described LGBTQ ally, held up a sign reading, "Please don't lose hope" in support of friends she said couldn't attend Sunday. "We're in a very progressive time, but there's still hate out there," she said.

Later Sunday, marchers will head down San Francisco's Market Street to concert stages at the Civic Center Plaza. City Hall is among the venues hosting a post-march party. Denver, Chicago, Seattle, Minneapolis, and Toronto are among the other major North American cities hosting Pride parades on Sunday. Global cities including Tokyo, Paris, and Sao Paulo held their events earlier this month, while others plan to later in the year, including London in July and Rio de Janeiro in November. Among the headwinds faced by gay rights groups this year is the loss of corporate sponsorship. NYC Pride said about 20% of its corporate sponsors dropped or reduced support, including PepsiCo and Nissan. Organizers of San Francisco Pride said they lost the support of five major corporate donors, including Comcast and Anheuser-Busch.