Remembering the San Francisco 

Gay Pride Parade with Shanti 2014

Michael has been with the Shanti L.I.F.E. Program for 3 years. He participated in Shanti's San Francisco Pride contingent this year, and here is he synopsis of the day:


It was a perfect day even at 10AM, the temperature was 65 – 75 degrees. Warm and sunny. Bright. I should tell you – I haven’t walked in a Gay Pride Parade for over 12 years. Though I usually enjoyed watching it on TV, I had spent a number of years as a young man enjoying the parade in the crowd.This year it was powerful for me. That Friday I had heard that a number of states had just reversed their ban on same sex marriages. So I was already excited about being in the parade.

The Grand Marshals spoke including the Jewlyes Gutierrez who was assaulted at school, and the support the community gave her and strengthened her was inspiring, as well as Miss Major Griffin-Gracy story.

We had a little party beforehand with food and music playing. We even ran out of tee shirts – I heard we had over 100 people which didn’t surprise me. We danced and the music was wonderful. We even had a little routine with the parasols as we marched down Market Street.

You know what was also great? The number of young people - the young volunteers that marched with Shanti, I felt like such an old man! And it was great to see young people taking up where we were before and doing their own thing. They really represented Shanti well. It was also wonderful to see the number of young people in the crowd, especially young people of color at the parade on Sunday.

The amazing part was when the announcers stated that Shanti had been around for over 40 years. When the crowd heard this, they really lit up! They roared! That made me really proud I was with Shanti.