The Latest: Parade revelers feel need to stand up for rights
By Associated Press
Jun 25, 2017 5:16 PM CDT
A marcher walks during the Pride parade in San Francisco, Sunday, June 25, 2017. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)   (Associated Press)

NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on pride marches (all times local):

4:05 p.m.

Thousands of revelers wrapped in rainbow flags and wearing rainbow tutus and boas are marching in San Francisco to celebrate diversity but also to protest prejudice and exclusion.

Some partygoers celebrating gay pride held signs Sunday that read "No Ban, No Wall, Welcome Sisters and Brothers" while they danced to electronic music at a stage near San Francisco's City Hall.

Frank Reyes and his husband Paul Brady said they decided to march for the first time in many years because they feel the need to stand up for their rights.

Brady says things are changing quickly and "we need to be as visible as possible."

Pride parades in New York, San Francisco, Minneapolis and other cities are spotlighting resistance to what participants see as new pressure on gay rights.

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1:25 p.m.

New York City revelers waved rainbow flags and carried colorful balloons at the annual pride. But some of them also got political.

A group against changes to the federal health care law pulled a gurney and carried IV bags. A group called Gays Against Guns chanted "What do we want? Gun control!"

Pride parades in San Francisco, Minneapolis and other cities are spotlighting resistance to what participants see as new pressure on gay rights.

In New York, tens of thousands lined the streets Sunday. Many said the political climate was prompting them to turn out.

Twenty-year-old Lee Sorge, a transgender man from New York, said he came for the first time in part to show support for the gay community in light of the political climate.

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9:20 a.m.

Gay pride parades in New York, San Francisco and other cities are spotlighting resistance to what participants see as new pressure on gay rights. But the events are also contending with the prospect of protests over their own diversity and direction.

Both the New York and San Francisco parades Sunday will be headed by groups more focused on protest than celebration at a time when leaders are anxious about new President Donald Trump's agenda.

But the pride celebrations also face some resistance from within the LGBT world itself. Some activists feel the events are centered on gay white men and unconcerned with issues that matter particularly to minorities in the movement, such as economic inequality and policing.

March organizers have taken some steps to address the criticisms about diversity.

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