Hundreds of thousands of people lined Market Street in San Francisco Sunday for The Pride Parade and festival that followed at Civic Center Plaza. “A beacon of love” was the theme of pride this year. It was also nothing but smiles, rainbows and lots of pride, mixed with political messages and all in a massive and sometimes moving eclectic crowd of Pride partiers. The parade kicked off with the perennial roar from San Francisco’s “Dykes on Bikes” as they greeted a large crowd of people in the city for events this weekend. “It’s really such a beautiful thing. This whole month and this weekend events going on throughout the city and the whole city comes out to support us,” said Gwen of San Francisco. Pride Month 12 hours ago Parties and protests mark the culmination of LGBTQ+ Pride month in NYC, San Francisco and beyond news 18 hours ago More companies are staying quiet during Pride, but money is still flowing to LGBTQ+ causes It was a full weekend of events with music and dancing. But it was also a place to address THE LGBTQ+ community’s most pressing issues. “We have people around the country, in different states, who are trying to criminalize queer people. They’re trying to ban queer youth and especially trans kids,” State Sen. Scott Wiener said. Avenue that draws thousands of people from across the state every year to a city where they feel safe proudly showing their true colors. Gabriella Amaya attended the event with her mom this year, as they came a hundred miles from home in Modesto. “The Central Valley is a lot more closed-minded,” she said. The annual Pride celebration gives a lot of people hope for equality as they said they sometimes don’t find in their home communities today.