The best Pride parades and festivals in the U.S. to celebrate LGBTQ rights

Festivities start May 22 with Harvey Milk Day, honoring the first openly gay California politician, slain in office in 1978, and continue into June with the WeHo (West Hollywood) Pride Festival, with Pride Weekend held June 2-4 with an annual Dyke March and Women’s Freedom Festival, a street fair, a Sunday parade and more. Mariah Carey and Megan Thee Stallion will headline L.A. Pride in the Park held June 9-10 at Los Angeles State Historic Park (their show will be June 9). There’s a slew of other events like an after-hours theme park experience at Universal’s Super Nintendo World on June 8, and the June 11 Pride Parade. Baseball lovers can join the 10th annual LGBTQ+ Night at Dodger Stadium on June 16. Plus, check out events in nearby Santa Monica.

Pride celebrations descend upon New York City throughout the month of June. Visit Roosevelt Island to see a ginormous 100-foot-by-30-foot Pride flag decorating a long staircase, or see a similar huge one in Chelsea. NYC Pride’s annual march takes place June 25, and there are a ton of associated events, like Christina Aguilera headlining the Pride Island event; Bliss Days, a celebration of LGBTQIA+ womxn; a street fair; rally; Horse Meat Disco and more.

Time to join in an exuberant street festival, the Chicago Pride Fest which takes place this year June 17-18. Then wait a week and go to Pride in the Park June 23-24, culminating in the 52nd annual Chicago Pride Parade on June 25. The parade began as a protest march in 1970 after New York’s Stonewall Riots and today attracts more than a million people to watch and cheer. At the fest in the Northalsted neighborhood, commonly referred to as Boystown, you’ll see live music on three stages, see the best of Chicago’s drag performers, go “awww” at the Proud Pet Parade and maybe get overly competitive at the high heel race (there are prizes). The Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus will perform, and there will be dance exhibitions, speakers, a slew of food and beverage booths, and teens aged 13-18 can visit the Youth Pride Space for their own music, dancing and socializing. It’s a blast with 60,000 of your closest friends (some you haven’t met yet), in honoring LGBTQ+ life, culture and community.

The Mile High City carves out a weekend in June for the Denver PrideFest when over 525,000 celebrants come out to play. This year, run in the Pride 5K which starts at the state capitol, and for sure watch the Coors Light PrideFest Parade that is expected to bring 100,000 people together. At the Absolut Dance World, dance all weekend (June 24 and 25, 2023) with an amazing schedule of DJs. Plus, peruse the booths of 250 exhibitors, visit 30 food and beverage vendors, and enjoy live performances.

Houston LGBT+ Pride Celebration® Festival and Parade events are spread out throughout the month, such as the Pride Market on June 4—a Biergarten with food trucks, exhibitors, and performances—and the Rock the Runway on June 22, an annual fashion show with queer designers, models, DJs and more, held at the RISE Rooftop, the city’s state-of-the-art retractable rooftop music & event space. Eden, an all-girl+ party, takes place June 23, while the Pride Parade happens June 24, attended by hundreds of thousands—then return to RISE for an afterparty that sold out last year.

Miami got a jump on Pride festivities this year with Miami Beach Pride events starting at the end of March and continuing through mid-April with a big parade at the end. Festivities return in June with Wynwood Pride (and you can find epic drag brunches year round). However, in April it was announced that a Port St. Lucie gay pride parade was canceled and other events surrounding Pride were restricted to ages 21 and over in anticipation of Gov. Ron DeSantis’s legislation meant to keep children out of drag shows, reported ABC News (and the festival organizers were correct in that fear: the bill passed the Senate ).

The city of San Francisco, as you'd expect and hope for, has a multitude of events planned for June; just about every like-minded bar, nightclub, museum and art gallery has something planned. This year’s theme is looking back and moving forward. The celebration rolls over two days, June 24 and 25, with the Pride Parade on June 25. Early in May, San Francisco Pride announced that although they were intending to use Twisted Sister’s “We’re not gonna take it” as the unofficial rallying cry for the SF Pride Parade & Celebration, with Dee Snider performing the song on center stage, Snider’s tweet endorsing Kiss’s Paul Stanley’s transphobic statement that trans youth can’t self-identify their gender led to a mutual parting of ways. The statement continues, “To all our allies—we want to call you in— not call you out.” The Trans March will be held on June 23.

The Emerald City is not one to be left out. Seattle Pride Month is June with its 49th annual Parade held on Stonewall Sunday (June 25), which is expected to draw 300, 000 attendees. Also check out Pride in the Park, the Lavender’s Rights Project’s Black Trans Comedy Showcase, Plateau Pride, and more. Return in July for the “Gayla” Queer Prom, and come back in October for the Gay Bowl XXIII, a free flag football tournament. So cool!

While Texans enjoy Dirty Dynasty Bingo in June, Austin’s true Pride celebrations take place in August. The big parade is on Aug. 12; last year, more than 400,000 attended, so this year should be another big shindig. Performances have not yet been announced, but the parade last year started at the capitol, and the pride festivities included ample food and beverage options from more than 140 vendors.

June sees a host of Pride-related events throughout the steamy southern city, including the Out in the Park Party on June 24 at Six Flags over Georgia, but the real action takes place in October. This year’s events are scheduled for the weekend of October 14-15. Atlanta Pride is the largest Pride event in the Southeast and one of the oldest in the country—the first march occurred in 1971. The huge public party is anchored in Piedmont Park just northeast of the downtown area.

Another October celebrant, Orlando hosts the Come Out with Pride festival (October 11 is National Coming Out Day), to be held this year on October 21. Just as in previous years, the celebrations will include a big parade and lots of live entertainment throughout the day. If you want to plan for next year, the Gay Prom is typically held in April, “an accepting space where each of us can be our authentic selves and bring the date, or dates, we perhaps couldn’t for our high school prom,” reads the website.

What’s better than Pride in June? Pride in June and October! River City Pride organizes multiple events in June, including a “paint and sip” night of painting rainbow-colored beach chairs on the sand, art tours, dance parties, drag brunch, and a pride night at a Jumbo Shrimp (AAA baseball) game. In October, the date of the official pride fest hasn't been announced yet, but Oct. 1 kicks off Jacksonville River City Pride month which features numerous events, including the Pride Festival & Cabaret and a 1.5-mile parade starting at Willow Branch Park, where the city’s LGBT Pride Picnic took place in 1978.

June is great for LGBTQ+ folks in this beautiful Puerto Rican town: first, there’s Pride Puerto Rico (also called San Juan Pride) with festivities taking place June 1-4 and the Pride March on June 4, and then there’s Boquerón Pride (in Spanish, Orgullo Boquerón) which takes place June 8-11 in the beach town of Boquerón in Cabo Rojo. At this event, join in the pride parade and street party for four beautiful, happy days!

With the Pride Bigger Than Texas Festival & Parade to be held on June 24, this city’s celebration includes an early Night Out at the Zoo on June 16. On June 24, enjoy food, live entertainment, a health fair, and best of all: a mass Pride wedding where same-sex couples can be married in one large ceremony (you can get your marriage certificate up to 72 hours in advance—spontaneity rules!). Pets are welcome but it will be hot; make sure to protect their paws and bring plenty of water. And summer vibes are in full force at the second annual Bud Light Pride River Parade (a huge Pride parade on the water) on June 10. Return October 6-8 for the 10th annual San Antonio LGBT International Film Festival.

Join Central Coast Pride with festivities held June 2-4 in SLO. On Friday, there’s an inaugural drag and burlesque show called BurlyDrag at the Fremont Theater with a DJ spinning as you enter, and snacks and four signature cocktails for sale. On Saturday, Pride in the Park takes place at Laguna Lake Park, and on Sunday things move to Pride at the Plaza at the Mission Plaza. Mark your calendar for next year: May’s also a big month for Pride events in SLO.