Plus: the Dyke March roared through SF’s Mission District for the first time in six years.
San Francisco’s official 55th Pride Parade looked slightly different this year. The parade route, which began at the Embarcadero and ended at the Civic Center — covering about 1.5 miles — saw a renaissance of resilience and the usual array of colorful allyship. An estimated one million people descended on San Francisco this past weekend to celebrate Pride; as of publishing, SF Pride remains the city’s largest outdoor event and is responsible for millions of dollars generated through local businesses each year during Pride week.
But amid the twirling, celebrating, and delicious frivolity, something was blatantly absent this year: corporate sponsorships.
San Francisco Pride reported midling corporate sponsorship amounts as early as March. A month before its official Pride parade, the nonprofit reported a financial shortfall in the hundreds of thousands because of corporate sponsors either pulling out entirely or reducing their contributions.
Suzanne Ford, San Francisco Pride’s executive director, told ABC7 News in May that five long-term corporate sponsors initially had pulled out of this year’s Parade, though “some of which” returned before the Parade’s kickoff.
Amid the lack of corporate Pride funding — the antithesis to rainbow washing, as it were — smaller, local businesses took up the proverbial torch, raising much-needed funding.
“People like Benefit Cosmetics, La Crema, and we are talking with another company that dropped out,” said Ford, emphasizing how local companies stepped up in the weeks leading up to this past Sunday’s Pride Parade. “St. Francis Foundation, The San Francisco Foundation, SFO is a new sponsor, and Levis returned after a two-year absence.”
Regardless of the projected $200,000 loss of corporate support, the show did, in fact, go on. And the thread of solidity and solidarity remained strong … perhaps stronger than ever now with the delicate veil of pseudo allyship ripped out of our lines of sight.
What else transpired over the weekend? Let’s take a look.
- San Francisco’s Dyke March returned after a years-long hiatus. Motorcycles, leather, and queer joy were on full display at this year’s San Francisco Dyke March — the first since 2019 — through the Mission District. More info.
- Crane Cove Park is getting some fresh new attractions (at long last). Construction of a playground and dog park is underway at the newish SF park, which was caught up in the San Francisco Parks Alliance scandal. More info.
- Harvey Milk Plaza finally gets a construction date. 2026 will (hopefully) see the Castro-located corner plaza begin its year-long evolution, thanks to $25 million-plus in funding. More info.
- Fuck the Supreme Court. Just take a look. More info.
