Thousands of people came out in downtown Oakland Sunday for the 16th annual Pride Parade and Festival. The theme this year was celebrating “Pride, Power, and People.” People lined up the street to watch and cheer. Music filled the street, while people waved flags as community groups, organ izations, and floats made their way along the parade route. “Supporting Oakland Pride and my cousin is visiting from Virginia and I thought it would be fun to show her a local kind of thing and I’m queer,” Berkeley resident Dru said. A sense of LGBTQ community and diversity rooted in Oakland. “It really is, I think a really is a beautiful slice of what life out here is about especially right now, given these political times we are living in,” San Leandro Dawn Surratt said. About 30,000 people were expected at the Parade and Festival. “Oakland is activated for Pride, and we are so excited because this is a new chapter in the life of Pride. Earlier this year, in January, the Oakland LGBTQ Center became the new operators of Oakland Pride,” CEO Co-Founder Oakland LGBTQ Center Oakland Pride Joe Hawkins said. ...read more read less