“I saw a lot of things I wasn’t expecting to see.” Things like the sheer volume of people who walked in support of whistleblower Bradley Manning, the San Francisco Leather Alliance bondage float and “public nudity - which, OK.”
It was Marvin Munoz’s first time at the pride parade. While there was no wedding pavilion, like at the 2008 parade when gay marriage was legal for a brief time, the theme of marriage was everywhere, from a man in a wedding dress on a parade float to a car with tin cans tied to the bumper and a sign in the back that read “Just married with liberty and justice for all.” The San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band played a warm up song: “Chapel of Love.” In the morning at around 9:30, the contingents lined the side streets of Market Street, the parade’s route.
Bay Times editor Betty Sullivan was chosen as one of the grand marshals of the parade. This year’s gay pride parade in San Francisco was a historic celebration, coming just days after the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act and in effect nullified Proposition 8.īecause the Journal and the San Francisco LGBT newspaper The Bay Times share the same printing company, the Journal was offered two seats on the Bay Times float, a bright blue open-top bus with balloons tied to the railings.