Roughly 8,000 people are said to walk in the parade each year, with up to 45,000 spectactors cheering the procession on from the sidelines. The parade will set off at 1pm from Monument Square, then travel through the city streets before wrapping up at Deering Oaks Park. The highlight of the celebrations is arguably the Portland Gay Pride Parade, which will this year kick off on Saturday, June 15 at 11:30am. Portland Pride encourages everyone to celebrate the achievements of the LGBTQ+ movement, raise awareness of the community's ongoing struggles, and continue to foster an environment of solidarity, inclusivity, and accessibility. Keeping this at the forefront, the specific theme for Portland Pride 2019 is Resist. Stay tuned for details on Portland Pride 2022.Ģ019 will mark 50 years since the Stonewall Uprising, meaning this year's installment of Portland Pride will be extra special. In addition, the festival attracts thousands of visitors from all over the Pacific Northwest to Portland each year.īear in mind this is the program for a previous Porland Pride. It is the single, largest visibility avenue for Oregon’s LGBTQ community organizations and businesses. The annual Portland Pride Waterfront Festival (a two-day festival at Waterfront Park) and Parade (through downtown Portland) is the largest LGBTQ cultural celebration between San Francisco and Seattle. It was also the longest parade to date, with 150 entries featuring about 8,000 marchers. The crowds of supporters lining the parade route were among the biggest in history. The 2016 Portland Pride Parade came just one week after the Pulse shooting in Orlando, (49 killed, 53 injured). The 2015 Pride parade not only marked the 40th anniversary of Portland’s first Pride festival but it came less than two weeks before the United States Supreme Court’s landmark ruling that guaranteed the right to same-sex marriage in every American state. The Pride Festival hosted its first official Portland Trans March in 2014. One of the largest groups marching was Nike employees. In 2011, there were 110 entries in the parade, and the police estimated the crowd size at more than 25,000. In 2003, an estimated 1,000 people marched in the parade while more than 50,000 people dropped in on the two-day festival at Waterfront Park. An estimated 20,000 people turned out for the 1998 Pride parade. Since 1994, the Portland Pride Festival is organized by Pride Northwest, Inc. The Lesbian and Gay Pride Parade changed in 1997 to the Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Trans Pride Parade. In 19, 10,000 participated and/or attended. The 1991 parade was the largest in history at that point, with more than 6,000 marchers, including supporters from small Oregon towns. It was renamed in 1982 Lesbian and Gay Pride Week, with more than 2,000 men and women taking to the streets of downtown Portland. Portland’s first Gay Pride parade took place 2 years after in 1977. By the early 1980s, Portland’s Pride celebration had become an annual tradition, becoming summer’s unofficial kickoff. “Each step we take brings us closer to universal tolerance and equality.”īoth Nike and Converse products will be available online as well as at various Pride festivals and Nike stores across America.Pride has been celebrated in Portland since 1975. A small group of 200 people marked the Rose City’s first public and outdoor Gay Pride celebration, in the South Park Blocks near Portland State University. “Any crusade that hits the streets as loud and passionate as this one definitely needs sneakers to fit the occasion. The line also includes two T-shirts with LGBT-friendly slogansĬhristine Su, Director of Communications for Converse, told The Huffington Post in an email that the company was “honored to join the LGBT movement.” Two designs pay homage to New York and San Francisco, both of which are cities with historic ties to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights movement.
The Nike-owned brand Converse, released its “Proud To Be” line, which features three new rainbow-themed designs for their signature Chuck Taylor All-Stars. “We’re rallying the world to embrace #BETRUE as a call-to-action for all athletes to be their most authentic selves in June and all year long.”
“Nike is deeply committed to diversity, inclusion and unleashing the potential of all athletes,” said Tim Hershey, Vice President of Global Merchandising for Nike and Executive Advisor to Nike’s LGBT Employee Network. Nike and the Coalition will host the fourth annual LGBT Sports Summit in Portland next week. Part of the proceeds of the #BeTrue line will go to fund the LGBT Sports Coalition.