After the Dykes on Bikes contingent roared past (fairly quickly), on of the first groups marching in the Pride parade was a Palestinian solidarity contingent.
That happened at the same time that more than 1,000 people who boycotted the event were marching in the Castro.
It may have been that protest event, but other than the first group there were fewer than usual political statements, protest signs, or anything other than celebratory activity than I’ve seen in the past.
It was, in other words, a very festive, exciting, crowded, and not terribly political Pride parade.
Some of the largest contingents were corporate: I think more people were representing Kaiser Health than any other org that I saw. Same for Genentech.
These folks pour huge amounts of money into the event.
After the cops and the sheriffs marched, everything stopped. The next group was at least half a mile back on Market Street. I asked one of the Pride staffers what was happening, and they said: The mayor is coming next.
It wasn’t because of protests or anything else, and if safety was an issue the cops were right ahead of her. It seemed to me, and to others around me, that Mayor London Breed just wanted us all to wait so she could make her own grand entrance.
Which, frankly, was a letdown. She had supporters, but not a huge number, and she spend most of the time almost hidden inside the truck. State Sen. Scott Wiener, City Attorney David Chiu, Assemblymembers Matt Haney and Phil Ting, Public Defender Mano Raju … they all were riding in open vehicles, waving to the crowd. Breed was somewhat hidden.
The only politician who walked the parade, as far as I can tell, was Sup. Aaron Peskin, who led a sizable contingent. “Walking is good for you,” the avid hiker told me later.
In the old days, they used to say campaign season really kicks off on Labor Day. Much earlier now. But if the Pride parade was any indication, not a lot of people are thrilled with the incumbent: I was taking pictures from a media post, so I got only a snapshot, but when Breed walked by the applause was … modest.
Also: beautiful warm sunny weather, and very little public nudity.
Wiener, back in the day, as a supervisor, passed a bill banning most public nudity in the city (wow, that was a pressing issue), but Pride and Bay to Breakers are exempt.
“I don’t know what’s the matter—it’s actually legal here,” one observer said to me.
Yeah, the Parade was fun, as always. And this year, pretty tame.
Full disclosure: My son and daughter both work for the Peskin for Mayor campaign.
