A large roar erupted from a crowd gathered along 100 South when members of an LGBTQ motorcycle club revved their engines, signaling the start of the 35th annual Utah Pride Parade.
That enthusiasm carried for blocks Sunday as tens of thousands of spectators waved Pride flags and all sorts of rainbow-colored items toward the more than 100 organizations and businesses that made their way through the downtown Salt Lake City route.
Some came with signs reading messages like “Love First,” “Everyone is welcome” and “My existence is not political.” Many who came said they wanted to show their support during another complex time for the LGBTQ community.
“I think a lot of political things have happened recently, and I think more than ever it’s important to support Pride,” said Autumn Krogh, who traveled from South Jordan to attend the downtown event with her 3-year-old pet pig, Cuzzie, which was wearing a rainbow-colored hat and bandana.
Sunday’s parade followed a series of other events this weekend, including a march to the state Capitol and an interfaith worship service. That’s on top of a two-day festival that brought together members of the LGBTQ community and allies alike.
While these types of events have taken place for decades, this year’s events may have appeared to be more poignant. Some say new state and federal policies and decisions, such as this year’s HB77, have left many in the community feeling targeted.
HB77 became law last month, prohibiting governments and schools from flying Pride flags and other flags deemed political. Rep. Trevor Lee, R-Layton, the bill’s sponsor, said the move was meant to maintain political neutrality in public spaces.
“What we’re trying to do here is make sure that we have neutrality as it pertains to politics,” he explained as the bill was going through the legislative process earlier this year.
Lee made headlines again last week after he said he would seek “significant legislation” against “woke groups” after the Utah Mammoth and Utah Jazz posted messages recognizing Pride month on the social platform X.
Those comments didn’t stop the Jazz and Mammoth from having a spot in Sunday’s parade.
Members of the Salt Lake City Council, a majority of whom identify as queer, were also among the groups that paraded down the street along with other city employees. Many waved the city’s new “Sego Belonging” flags, a Progress Pride flag with the city’s sego lily logo on top that the city adopted as a new city flag last month, along with the other designs, to bypass the new state law.
This year’s parade is “more important now than ever” because of the current political climate, said Elliott Ramirez, a member of Utah Pride Guard, which participated in the event. Natalie Wolff, who attended the parade, agrees.
“We need to be here and show, support and love, and not be scared to use our voices to make sure there are not going to be laws that are going to take away rights that they’ve all fought so hard for — that we’ve all fought so hard for,” she said.
Seeing the large outpouring of support Sunday was “magical” and helped reinforce why Salt Lake City has taken steps to support the LGBTQ community, added Salt Lake City Council Vice Chairman Alejandro Puy, who rode down the route with a Sego Belonging flag attached to the back of his new motorcycle.
Puy added that he wished more state politicians would come to events like Sunday’s parade to see what the events are like.
“There’s a lot of discourse about what this means. Is it political? Is this to separate? Is this to discriminate? No. Nobody is discriminating here. Everyone is welcome,” he said. “This is about everybody. This is about celebrating our differences.”
Contributing: Andrew Adams