Hundreds of Thousands at Pride Parades in New York and San Francisco Against Violence and Vucic: Protests in Serbia Expand

Crowds poured into the streets of America’s West and East Coast metropolises, waving rainbow flags and wearing colorful costumes to draw attention to the rights of gay, bisexual, transgender and other minorities.

The parade in San Francisco has traditionally been led by “dykes on bicycles” (lesbians on motorcycles). Former Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and California Representative Adam Schiff also joined the procession through the city.

The Pride Parade dates back to the Stonewall riots of 1969. At the time, revelers at the popular gay bar “Stonewall Inn” on Christopher Street in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village had defended themselves against a police raid. On the first anniversary of the clashes, about 4,000 people marched through New York demanding equal rights – today this is commemorated worldwide on the annual Christopher Street Day (CSD).

This year’s Pride celebrations also highlighted the concerns of the LGBTQ community about diminished rights and the rise in violence and hate crimes against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. LGBTQ is the English abbreviation for these groups.

Legislative initiatives designed to prevent transgender people from playing on sports teams that match their gender identity have been seen as examples of such discrimination in conservatively governed US states. Some states want to criminalize sex reassignment treatment in adolescents. A much-criticized Florida school law bans the subject of “sexual orientation or gender identity” from kindergarten through third grade and also restricts it to older students. (sda/dpa)