Last weekend, thousands of people took to Market Street in San Francisco for the city’s 56th annual Pride festival. Bedazzled floats moved down Market Street while cheering LGBTQ+ supporters and allies waved them on with colorful flags.
According to Adelina Gawad-Gonzalez, a rising sophomore at Gunn High School, many people in the parade — especially the younger generation — see it as a chance to tell the world they love who they are.
“The [San Francisco Pride] parade is an [opportunity] for everybody to open up about their identity and feel welcome,” Gonzalez said.
According to Oli, another parade participant, despite the current administration cracking down on gender identity and expression, they feel like the parade helps them and the whole community feel a sense of hope.
“It shows how brave they [pride participants] are to stand up [to injustices], and how we aren’t afraid of what they [Trump administration] want to do to us,” Oli said.
The Trump administration has enacted numerous legal restrictions on the LGBTQ+ community. Among many attempted and successful bills is Executive Order 14168, also titled “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” The bill alters the recognition of gender to only male and female, as assigned at birth. Additionally, in 2025, the administration excluded transgender students from Title IX, which was originally a bill that prevents sex based discrimination in any government-funded programs, according to the Department of Education.
Alongside all of the festival attendees, political figures also showed up for the event. With the race for California’s 11th congressional seat — currently occupied by Nancy Pelosi — on the horizon for this November, Scott Wiener took to the streets with many of his supporters. Other California primary candidates joined the festivities, including Assemblymember Matt Haney, Connie Chan and Brooke Jenkins, to promote their agendas and openly declare support for the LGBTQ+ community.
In attendance was also Nancy Pelosi, who advocated for the continuation of her legacy, the “breaking the glass ceiling movement” and for the support of women in politics.
Further, the San Francisco Pride parade has been a long-standing tradition of hope and unity, according to the San Francisco Pride. With people coming in from all over the nation to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community, another Midpeninsula high schooler, Leo Zeineh, feels like this parade is an important statement.
“[This parade] shows how we need to stand up for everybody’s rights, and that we [together] are powerful,” Zeineh said.
