(wnp72.085 © Greg Gaar Photography / Courtesy of Greg Gaar) Marchers holding “Gay Freedom by ’76” banner at O’Farrell and Polk during Gay Freedom Day Parade, June 30, 1974. San Francisco photographer Greg Gaar attended the event and took many pictures, capturing the joyous festival in all its glory. The images featured here are from the 1974 parade, then called the Gay Freedom Day Parade. With this year’s festivities going virtual, it is a good time to look back at the first ten years of San Francisco Pride. This year’s 50th anniversary celebration was expected to be another huge gala. The annual event has drawn over a million people for the last 13 years and hundreds of thousands for the 30 years prior to that.
Unfortunately, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s celebration scheduled for June 27th-28th has been canceled and moved on-line. The San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Parade and Celebration (“San Francisco Pride”) turns 50 years old this year.
