Pride Parade
United by pride, bound for equality

The annual Pride Celebration commemorates the rebellion of LGBT patrons of the Stonewall Inn in New York City’s Greenwich Village in response to a routine police raid on June 27, 1969.

The following year, a “Gay-In” that took place on June 27, 1970 that was the early progenitor of the current Pride Celebration. Since 1972, the event has been held every year, though under various names: “Christopher Street West” in 1972, “Gay Freedom Day” from 1973 to 1980, then “International Lesbian & Gay Freedom Day Parade” from 1981 to 1994, and finally, its present appellation, San Francisco Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Pride Celebration.

Since its modest beginnings, San Francisco Pride has ballooned into one of the largest and most well known Pride events in the world. Pride events everywhere have come to symbolize several things: the long history of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer resistance to the gender and sex binaries and the hegemony of heterosexist institutions, the freedom of all people to meaningfully and proudly express their sexual and gender identities, and the commitment of LGBT people to combating oppression.

From this history of rebellion grew the mission of San Francisco LGBT Pride: to educate the World, celebrate our culture, commemorate our heritage, and liberate our people.

San Francisco Pride holds a two-day Celebration and Parade that historically takes place the last full weekend in June. The 2008 Celebration begins at Noon on Saturday, June 28, in Civic Center Plaza, and runs until 6:00 p.m. On Sunday, June 29, the Celebration begins at Noon and runs until 7:00 p.m. The Parade will be held on Sunday, June 29, starting at 10:30 a.m., traveling west along Market Street from Davis to Hyde. 

There is no fee to attend the Celebration or watch the Parade (except in the case of Grand Stand Seating along the Parade route). They do request a voluntary $5.00 donation at the entry gates to the Celebration area. This donation goes directly toward Pride’s Community Partners Program that is awarded back to community non-profits.