Every month is a time to be proud of who you are, but there's only one Pride Month. It's a time for the LGBTQ+ community to celebrate, allies to cheer, and the world in general to celebrate love in all its beautiful and varied forms. Around the country, cities and communities celebrate with colorful and inclusive events that honestly, just make me wish there was a way to go to all of them. Since science hasn't figured out teleportation yet, (seriously, science, get on that), for now, these photos of Pride 2018 around the United States will have to do.
Many of the parades and events are timed to honor the anniversary of the the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City's Greenwich Village, which is credited with kickstarting the gay rights movement. This year, with politics being what they are, many of the festivities are honoring that legacy of struggle right along with the celebrations of love — many events around the country have been given themes like "rainbow resistance" or "defiantly different."
While pride goes all month, in many places the highlight of the festivities is the Pride Parade. In New York City, more than 48,000 marchers were planning to participate in the annual parade, per AM New York. In San Francisco, there were an estimated 1 million people who attended the 2017 event, according to ABC7. While the world may be a terrible, depressing place a lot of the time, it's still important to step back and appreciate life, love, and the ability to stand up and be proud, and these joyous photos are a perfect way to do it.
New York's Pride parade is famous, and rightly so. The enormous event is in its 49th year, with the first iteration of the march held in 1970, a year after the Stonewall riots. This year, the parade celebrated with Grand Marshals including tennis star and equal rights champion Billie Jean King and civil rights organization Lambda Legal. In the hours leading up to the parade, which boasted the them "Defiantly Different" on June 24, more than 2 million attendees were expected, according to ABC7. That's a lot of rainbow flags, and from the photos, it looks like it was an amazing event.
Things got packed — but would you want it any other way?
In San Francisco, also a city known for its LGBTQ+ community, around a million people showed up for the parade on June 24, which had the theme "Generations of Strength," per CBS SF Bay Area. The celebration has a history on par with New York's, with a "Gay-In" to honor the first anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in 1970 eventually developing into the city's annual Pride celebration, per SF Pride's official website. In 2018, California Senator Kamala Harris showed up to the parade, where she waved to the crowds and later shared a tweet of herself marching.
People were hyped.
Up in the Pacific Northwest, Seattle had sunny skies and sunny faces for their parade on June 24. The city ran with the theme "Pride Beyond Borders," which was intended to recognize intersectionality in the LGBTQ+ community. "It celebrates our differences and our places of origin. It is also a reminder that there is still work to be done to keep LGBTQ+ individuals safe from discrimination and violence, regardless of the borders that surround them," the Seattle Pride website read.
Los Angeles was ahead of the curve, holding its Pride parade in West Hollywood on June 10 — nearly two weeks ahead of a lot of other major cities. Trying to show the rest of us how it's done, LA?
Houston, Texas had its own event on June 23, and switched things up with an evening parade. Probably not the worst idea in the world, since it hit an eye-watering 93 degrees Fahrenheit in the Texas city on the day of the festivities. But looking at how cool these photos are, I'm sure the heat didn't even matter.
Boston held their annual Pride event on June 9, and from the photos, they did it right. It was clearly a glorious, colorful day, and I wish I could've been there myself. The theme of the Boston event was "Rainbow Resistance," according to the Boston Pride website, and it looks like they definitely got both parts of that covered.
Every single one of these photos has given me some major FOMO — but at the same time, the contentment of seeing how joyous these photos are helps. Stay proud, everyone. Until next year.
