More than a million-and-a-half people celebrated lesbian/ gay/ bisexual/transgender/queer Pride in San Francisco the last weekend in June. Thousands joined the Trans March on June 27 and the Dyke March the following day, and the largest crowd ever took part in the annual Pride Parade and festival on June 29.
A multi-national crowd of hundreds of thousands of people lined Market Street — among them tens of thousands of high school and college age youth — to cheer on a record 243 contingents. The gathering was so immense that at times it completely overwhelmed the Bay Area mass transit systems.
A strong contingent supported Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning, the transgender U.S. service member who was sent to prison for the “crime” of exposing U.S. war crimes in Iraq. After being arrested in 2011, Manning was subjected to physical and psychological torture at the hands of the military leading up to a trial and outrageous sentence of 35 years. Meanwhile, the top officials of the U.S. government who actually committed war crimes, including launching a devastating war of aggression against a country that never threatened the U.S., have never faced trial and continue to live in luxury.
The support for Chelsea Manning was reflected by the crowd’s loud cheers for the contingent and the thousands of people wearing “Free Chelsea Manning” stickers.
The recent string of victories in the struggle for same-sex marriage rights was no doubt a factor in the size, exuberance and solidarity that permeated the crowd.
