San Francisco's 39th Gay Pride Parade proceeds down Market Street, below:
Gorgeous San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom shows his support with his attendance, below:
The ever whimsical Cloris Leachman was one of the celebrity grand marshalls, below:
You can find a gallery of photos of today's events here: SF PRIDE SF PRIDE SF PRIDE
(06-28) 18:23 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Carrying rainbow flags and "legalize gay" signs, legions of people packed downtown San Francisco on a hot Sunday to see the 39th installment of a parade that, all these years later, still combines steel-jawed outrage over discrimination with bountiful optimism.
They call it the San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Parade - a title that, despite its considerable length, may not fully describe the exuberant procession that pulsed down Market Street toward City Hall.
Participants steered motorcycles and classic cars, danced on elaborate floats wearing formal gowns or skimpy underwear, and walked on stilts or behind simple banners. Rodeo cowboys and cowgirls rode a mechanical bull, while "Mistress Liliane" was pulled in a pony cart by a leather-clad submissive.
All said they were in the mood to party - to celebrate - despite a difficult year that included the state's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage in November, not to mention Miss California Carrie Prejean's famous endorsement of it. The theme of this year's parade: "To form a more perfect union."
"This is family day for our community," said Norman Tanner, 51, speaking from inside a cable car that carried Black Brothers Esteem, a support group for gay and bisexual black men for whom he does outreach. He said the same-sex marriage ban "was a tragedy, but we're getting together and rallying and fighting even more because of that."
Temperatures nearly touched 90 degrees downtown, challenging those clad in leather or latex, feathers or balloons. It was T-shirt weather, and there were some memorable ones: "Heteros love homos," "Yay gay!" and, on the backs of employees of the city public defender's office, "Getting you off since 1921."
The day of festivities continued with live music and food at the Civic Center. But it started out on a troubling note when, early Sunday morning, arson investigators were called to the "Pink Triangle," a one-acre monument to gay holocaust victims that has been displayed on Francisco's Twin Peaks during the past 14 gay pride celebrations.
More than 100 volunteers had erected it on Saturday. But someone, said monument co-founder Patrick Carney, burned a hole in the middle of the triangle made of pink tarps and pulled up some of the tarps along the edges. The vandals also took stakes that held placards describing the history of the project, and stabbed those stakes into the tarps, Carney said.
"It's a reminder," Carney said after helping to make some repairs to the triangle. "In 2009, if this can happen in San Francisco, it can happen anywhere. We have to be vigilant. There's a lot of work to do. We have to remind people of the hatred of the past to make sure it doesn't happen again."
Many of those who joined the parade used the same word to describe their goal: "Awareness." In the words of Dianna Roraback, the 64-year-old vice president of a Sacramento-based transgender support group, "We honor ourselves, but we know people can't honor us until they know about us."
Standing beside Roraback, and also wearing the pink dress of a southern belle, was Jenny Rose, a 60-year-old cross-dresser who said she still hides her true identity at work. Rose admitted to flip-flopping when it came to gender, but said she was happy.
"I'm a guy at work, but 80 percent of my free time I'm female," said Rose. "Gays and lesbians are fighting for the same things, but they're a little bit ahead of us."
Perhaps even further behind in recognition were a nearby group of women from the San Francisco-based Asexual Visibility and Education Network, who were making their first appearance in an American gay pride parade.
Wearing t-shirts that said "asexuals party hardest," they said the Internet has brought together people who are not engaged in sexual activity - showing them that they can focus on what they want, not what other people tell them they should want.
"It's queerer than queer in some ways," said Karli June, a 26-year-old Stanford graduate student. "Asexuality gets pathologized, medicalized and infantilized."
Other groups in the parade included students from Gay-Straight Alliances, who work to root out homophobia in schools. Scores of people walked with Family Builders, San Francisco's official adoption agency, which now places most of the city's foster children with gay parents.
At one point, activists performed a "die-in," laying down in front of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's convertible to protest recent budget cuts that affected, among other things, nonprofit groups helping people with HIV and AIDS.
Businesses large and small took part in the parade, supporting gay rights while seizing a marketing opportunity. Fitness clubs competed for who could display the most men in briefs on floats. Politicians campaigned, and obscure causes were aired.
"You wanna cut off what?" said a banner held by an anti-circumcision group.
Parade grand marshals included Army National Guard Lt. Dan Choi, who was discharged after saying in a television interview that he was gay. Choi marched with Knights Out, which supports gay military members.
Zen priest Myôgen Steve Stücky, an abbot at the San Francisco Zen Center, traced his support of the parade to his religious faith.
"The Buddha went beyond the caste system in ancient India," he said as the parade began. "He opened up the community to everyone. We're following that tradition of being of a boundless mind."
E-mail Demian Bulwa at dbulwa@sfchronicle.com.
They call it the San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Parade - a title that, despite its considerable length, may not fully describe the exuberant procession that pulsed down Market Street toward City Hall.
Participants steered motorcycles and classic cars, danced on elaborate floats wearing formal gowns or skimpy underwear, and walked on stilts or behind simple banners. Rodeo cowboys and cowgirls rode a mechanical bull, while "Mistress Liliane" was pulled in a pony cart by a leather-clad submissive.
All said they were in the mood to party - to celebrate - despite a difficult year that included the state's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage in November, not to mention Miss California Carrie Prejean's famous endorsement of it. The theme of this year's parade: "To form a more perfect union."
"This is family day for our community," said Norman Tanner, 51, speaking from inside a cable car that carried Black Brothers Esteem, a support group for gay and bisexual black men for whom he does outreach. He said the same-sex marriage ban "was a tragedy, but we're getting together and rallying and fighting even more because of that."
Temperatures nearly touched 90 degrees downtown, challenging those clad in leather or latex, feathers or balloons. It was T-shirt weather, and there were some memorable ones: "Heteros love homos," "Yay gay!" and, on the backs of employees of the city public defender's office, "Getting you off since 1921."
The day of festivities continued with live music and food at the Civic Center. But it started out on a troubling note when, early Sunday morning, arson investigators were called to the "Pink Triangle," a one-acre monument to gay holocaust victims that has been displayed on Francisco's Twin Peaks during the past 14 gay pride celebrations.
More than 100 volunteers had erected it on Saturday. But someone, said monument co-founder Patrick Carney, burned a hole in the middle of the triangle made of pink tarps and pulled up some of the tarps along the edges. The vandals also took stakes that held placards describing the history of the project, and stabbed those stakes into the tarps, Carney said.
"It's a reminder," Carney said after helping to make some repairs to the triangle. "In 2009, if this can happen in San Francisco, it can happen anywhere. We have to be vigilant. There's a lot of work to do. We have to remind people of the hatred of the past to make sure it doesn't happen again."
Many of those who joined the parade used the same word to describe their goal: "Awareness." In the words of Dianna Roraback, the 64-year-old vice president of a Sacramento-based transgender support group, "We honor ourselves, but we know people can't honor us until they know about us."
Standing beside Roraback, and also wearing the pink dress of a southern belle, was Jenny Rose, a 60-year-old cross-dresser who said she still hides her true identity at work. Rose admitted to flip-flopping when it came to gender, but said she was happy.
"I'm a guy at work, but 80 percent of my free time I'm female," said Rose. "Gays and lesbians are fighting for the same things, but they're a little bit ahead of us."
Perhaps even further behind in recognition were a nearby group of women from the San Francisco-based Asexual Visibility and Education Network, who were making their first appearance in an American gay pride parade.
Wearing t-shirts that said "asexuals party hardest," they said the Internet has brought together people who are not engaged in sexual activity - showing them that they can focus on what they want, not what other people tell them they should want.
"It's queerer than queer in some ways," said Karli June, a 26-year-old Stanford graduate student. "Asexuality gets pathologized, medicalized and infantilized."
Other groups in the parade included students from Gay-Straight Alliances, who work to root out homophobia in schools. Scores of people walked with Family Builders, San Francisco's official adoption agency, which now places most of the city's foster children with gay parents.
At one point, activists performed a "die-in," laying down in front of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's convertible to protest recent budget cuts that affected, among other things, nonprofit groups helping people with HIV and AIDS.
Businesses large and small took part in the parade, supporting gay rights while seizing a marketing opportunity. Fitness clubs competed for who could display the most men in briefs on floats. Politicians campaigned, and obscure causes were aired.
"You wanna cut off what?" said a banner held by an anti-circumcision group.
Parade grand marshals included Army National Guard Lt. Dan Choi, who was discharged after saying in a television interview that he was gay. Choi marched with Knights Out, which supports gay military members.
Zen priest Myôgen Steve Stücky, an abbot at the San Francisco Zen Center, traced his support of the parade to his religious faith.
"The Buddha went beyond the caste system in ancient India," he said as the parade began. "He opened up the community to everyone. We're following that tradition of being of a boundless mind."
E-mail Demian Bulwa at dbulwa@sfchronicle.com.
Small recap of the procession today:
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