SF Pride remains committed to transparency and dialogue with our communities as guiding values, and this includes addressing comments and misinformation about our current policies and practices including the following:
SF Pride has never called for more police presence. The City of San Francisco required increased police presence in the wake of the Pulse Nightclub shooting in 2016 and again after the Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting in 2019. SF Pride and San Francisco’s other large events do not dictate law enforcement responses and security strategies. All large events work with law enforcement to balance this requirement.
SF Pride has never used the label “terrorist” to refer to protesters as we deeply support the rights of our community to be heard. In a May 10, 2024 IC3 report, the FBI and DHS issued a public service announcement providing awareness related to foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) or their supporters potentially targeting LGBTQIA+ events during Pride Month.
There is no Israeli float in the SF Pride Parade. SF Pride values the contributions of Jewish queer individuals in advocating for peace and acknowledge their enduring efforts. SF Pride is careful not to conflate Jewish groups and Jewish people living in America with the state of Israel.
We have welcomed and continue to welcome pro-Palestinian groups to the SF Pride Parade. If more are interested, they can join the Resistance Contingent (with the SF Pride Board), or if such a group wants to have its own contingent, we invite them to request a fee waiver.
SF Pride’s sponsors, corporate and otherwise, have no influence over the content of our programming or the stance of the organization. The high cost of infrastructure and other safety measures at such a large-scale public and free event is currently possible only with financial commitments from corporate and government funders. Receiving corporate funding and paying it forward to our community reflects our mission to center queer people and is not tied to any programming decisions.
While we encourage resistance against oppressive systems and governments that fail to recognize our humanity as queer people, we cannot achieve liberation by fighting other queer and trans people. The luxury of having queer institutions that we can critique and protest exists because of our history of refusal to back down in the face of calls to dim our light.
San Francisco Pride (SF Pride) has evolved for more than a half-century, transforming from a protest honoring a riot to a vibrant celebration of the worth and humanity of all queer individuals. Our biggest priority is the safety and wellness of the 50,000 Parade participants and the 1,000,000 spectators lining Market Street.
The theme of San Francisco Pride for 2024 is "Beacon of Love." In the spirit of love, and as we prepare for the world's most iconic Pride Parade and Celebration, we affirm the principle of radical inclusion. We invite you to sign on to show your support for the continued presence of Pride for all of us.
Executive Director Suzanne Ford & President Nguyen Pham