How many different LGBT pride parades/festivals have you been to?

I was just realizing that I’ve been going to LGBT Pride parades and festivals since the early 1990s and hit quite a variety.
Chicago
Phoenix
Dallas
Columbus, OH
Ft Lauderdale
San Francisco
Los Angeles
Long Beach
San Diego
Tallahassee

I’m not sure I should count Tallahassee since it was a Pride event held by the FSU LGBT student group during spring since most students would be gone in the traditional late June Pride season. Not even sure if there was a Tallahassee Pride in the early 1990s.

So, how about you? Some of these I specifically traveled for Pride such as San Francisco and some are Prides in cities I’ve lived in such as Chicago

I have been to none. But the local AIDS project has an annual gala that I have been to three times. It is more of a civic event, but a fun party. It would be intriguing to attend a Pride parade here in Topeka, since this the city that is home to the rock the Westboro Baptist Church is located under.

I’ve only been to the local one in Durham (which is in September due to the weather here), but it looks like a lot of the local ABC stations will be broadcasting the parades in their cities tomorrow, so it might be possible to drop in online to see how others do theirs.

Only one because they always fall on very hot days :slight_smile:

I’ve been to Cleveland in the past and hope to go to Akron this year because one of my LGBT friends is leaving town sometime after the party.

Pride events here in town but not the parade.

Been to the parade in West Hollywood.

I’ve been in every one in New York City from 1970 to 1995.

I’ve been in every one in Cleveland from 1996 to 2019.

None, being a heterosexual male.
But I certainly support the cause.

I miss the early ones, back in the 70s, which were actual marches, never parades. They weren’t sanctioned by the police, streets weren’t blocked, and we had to deal with traffic, pedestrians and protesters, as well as the cops. Nothing like floats and music. Many got tear-gassed or arrested. I was in similar marches when ACT-UP started in the 80s.

What make you think you’d be the only straight guy there? You absolutely wouldn’t.

Oh I know that, and having a transgender child I have no issue showing my support; I just haven’t…yet.

One here in downtown DC with friends about 15 years ago, and one in San Francisco in the early '90s when I was there for an ALA conference.

Two – Pittsburgh and Scranton. I would like to hit one in a more college town (Bloomsburg or State College for example) but the timing has never worked out.

Four I think…

London
Brighton
Bristol
Birmingham.

The best is always Brighton, which as a city is basically the UK equivalent of Provincetown, only bigger.

What do their motivation(s) tend to be? I’m not saying there aren’t but asking someone who would have a better idea than I would.

IME they have LGBTQ friends or family they go with, they want to show their kids a lovely, happy tolerant festival, or they just want a fun day out.

My local pride (Bristol) feels at times just as straight as it is gay - it seems like many people there see it as a great day out, regardless of their sexuality. Half the people I work with go - and they ain’t LGBTQ.

None: I did, however, go to an anti-amendment 2 (SSM illegalization) rally in Orlando 5-10 years ago. It’s the only event of that nature I’ve been a participant in for any cause. (I did see anti-war rallies in the early 2000s but that was more to view their exercise of free speech than because I was supporting (or against) them. I wanted to go to the several-months-old anti-detention camp rallies but I couldn’t find parking.)

None, but then again I generally never go to parades/rallies of any kind.

Some time in around 1986 or 1987 when I was in HS, I was part of some kind of a march across midtown Manhattan to the UN to protest something or other, I think something about Apartheid in South Africa. Which I was definitely against in principle, for sure, but the only reason I did the march was (a) the weather was nice and (b) it was in the company of a girl I was hoping to get closer to, which I did not. Ever since then I’ve been bitter and cynical about the ability of parades, marches, and other shows of large, peaceful group gathering solidarity having any tangible outcome resulting directly from it. (A mass riot, yeah, I could see that having tangible direct outcome, but probably a bad one.)

Personal anecdote aside, The “Gay Pride March” in its origin was meant for gay people to openly, proudly, and defiantly declare their orientation instead of lurking in the shadows of society, with their hetero friends/family possibly walking with them to show support, but it was expected to be predominantly gay. It’s become a “Gay Acceptance/Integration Celebration Parade” thing now, with an increasing percentage of hetero people participating and especially large corporate sponsors signing up to show solidarity as a gesture of inclusivity… And there are people quite unhappy about that.

LGBTQ Group Plans Alternative ‘Queer Liberation March’ on Pride Day

Zero. But I don’t go to anyone else’s festivals either.

To show support for the community would be the obvious one. Myself,I’ve only been to one parade, the Rose Bowl parade, and I was working it. I am not a parade person.

Since 1990 (the summer I was 18), I’ve been to both Capital Pride and Baltimore Pride several times. Sometimes I’ll go to both in the same month, since they tend to be a weekend or two apart.

I’m an ally. Whenever I’ve gone to Pride, it’s been with one or more LGBTQ friends; I’ve never gone with just other straight people. I think I would, though.

It would seem weird to me to go out to a parade in another city where I don’t actually know anyone. My understanding is that you go to them to show support, not to just watch and be entertained, so going there as “tourists” seems weird.

If it were a local one or I were invited by people I know, that would be a different story. Then I’d be supporting my friends or the community.