Thousands of people lined the streets of downtown Oakland on Sunday morning for the city’s 16th annual LGBTQ Pride Parade, a colorful and joyful celebration of community and identity.
Spectators sipping coffee, holding rainbow flags and wearing colorful attire stood and sat along Broadway as music blasted down the street from the approaching parade.
Waiting on Broadway for the parade to start Sunday morning, Danny Barnhart sat perched on his blue-and-pink moped, a Transgender Pride flag draped around his shoulders to match. He said it was nice to be in a safe and affirming environment surrounded by friendly faces, where it feels like people “have your back.”
“Being in a safe group is a lot of it,” he said, echoing the theme of the celebration, “Pride, Power and People.”
Oakland Gay Men’s Chorus march in the Pride Parade in Oakland, Calif., on Sunday, Aug. 16, 2026. (Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle)
Chirelle McCorley and her sister Andrea waved and took videos of the passing floats, including the Oakland Fire Department blasting Lady Gaga from fire trucks. McCorley said she recently moved to Oakland and was enjoying living in a place with strong queer and Black communities.
McCorley said she had just bumped into someone she knew, and felt that Oakland Pride was more intimate than San Francisco Pride – she hopes her new city continues to create places of celebration and identity.
“I hope Oakland Pride continues to thrive,” she said. “Representation in the East Bay, queer community in the East Bay is powerful.”
The 90-minute parade, which bills itself as more family-friendly than its San Francisco counterpart, attracts many parents marching with their children. The parade tends to be more casual and less political than San Francisco’s, though this year’s contingents included groups protesting President Donald Trump’s crackdowns on immigrants and the transgender community.
Maggie Williams stood in the street holding a collection of items tossed to her during the parade: a red rose, a necklace of purple beads, and a pair of white rainbow sunglasses. The Sacramento resident said she had been coming to Oakland Pride for about a decade and loves its accessibility.
“It’s important to be here, it’s important to show up, especially in these times we live in now,” Williams said. “This is the place to be today.”
Oakland Unified School District participants march in the Pride Parade in Oakland, Calif., on Sunday, Aug. 16, 2026. (Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle)
Grand marshals for the parade were Monica Mosby, founder and executive director of the Sexual Minority Alliance of Alameda County Youth Center in Oakland; DJ LadyRyan, a KALW radio host and official DJ for the Golden State Valkyries; Rowena Brown, Oakland’s at-large City Council member; Valentino Carrillo, an Oakland club promoter and entrepreneur; and Joshua Huynh, a community fundraiser and owner of the Town Bar and Lounge.
Youth grand marshal was Ryan LaMarche, a 17-year-old Oakland student. Community organization grand marshals were Beatrix LaHaine and Mama Celeste, co-founders of Oaklash, a queer arts nonprofit that produces large-scale events. Multifaith contingent grand marshal was the Rev. Kevin Mann, chaplain with Sequoia Hospice. The Oakland Pride Board served as group grand marshal.
Noell Crosse wiped sweat from her brow as the parade wrapped up late Sunday morning and the sun came out. She wore a shirt with the name of her volunteer organization, Free Mom Hugs, and had already given out dozens that morning, offering the comfort of physical touch to anyone who needed it.
“I got so lost in the parade by hugging people that I lost my group,” Crosse said after running to catch up.
The parade was overwhelmingly positive, happy and judgement-free, Crosse said, looking around as a marching band trumpeted upbeat music, someone painted kids’ faces with rainbows and people shouted compliments in the crowd.
“There ain’t nothing here but love,” Crosse said. “What else do you see?”
Sister Eva Lynn Goode of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence attends the LGBTQ Pride Parade in downtown Oakland. (Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle)
The celebration continued after the parade with a festival at Frank Ogawa Plaza featuring several stages of performers, including Grammy-nominated singers Amerie on the main stage and Fey on the Latin stage, along with vendors, a dance pavilion, a family and kids zone, and information booths from groups serving the LGBTQ community.
This year marked a transition for the parade and festival after the Oakland Pride board of directors voted in January to formally dissolve as a stand-alone nonprofit and continue the celebration as a program of the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center. Organizers hope Oakland Pride will have greater financial stability as part of the community center.
The transition also meant the parade and festival were held weeks earlier than normal so they don’t conflict with September events such as Labor Day and Mexican Independence Day. This year’s Oakland Pride, which was still later in the year than LGBTQ+ parades and festivals in other cities, concluded a weekend of dance and drag parties at local nightclubs.
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This article originally published at Oakland Pride Parade and festival draw thousands: ‘Nothing here but love’.