It’s not every day that we get to march freely down the middle of Market Street with our canes wrapped in multi-colored ribbon. But on Sunday, we took to the streets for the 2018 SF Pride parade with a rainbow-clad pan-disability contingent of more than 150 people with disabilities and our allies. To our knowledge this is the largest-ever group of disability supporters to march in San Francisco Pride.
This year’s contingent was a true testament to the shared experience of having a disability, whatever it may be, and the subsequent empowerment that comes with being seen and celebrating that identity. We’d like to extend a warm thank you to the staff, volunteers, community supporters and our sponsors, Mental Health Association San Francisco and The Arc San Francisco, who marched with us and made this a truly celebratory day.
We’re still selling our beloved SF Pride T-shirts in the Adaptations Store! Support LightHouse and pick one up for next year’s parade for only $20.
Three volunteers in rainbow spandex hold the LightHouse banner while marching at the front of the contingent.A woman applies eyeshadow to a fellow LightHouse contingent member with rainbow balloons in the background.Two pride participants, one standing wearing the LightHouse shirt and the other wearing a ‘Ms. Wheelchair California’ sash, prepare to march in the parade.A pride participant from Senior & Disability Action marches with our contingent, holding a ‘Blind, Queer & Proud’ sign.Contingent members from The Arc San Francisco smile and pose before the parade begins.A little girl wearing a tutu and fairy wings smiles and jumps into the air.A LightHouse student stands with his guide dog and a volunteer holding a sign that reads, “Shared history, shared struggles, shared liberation”.A contingent member from the Mental Health Association of San Francisco smiles and holds a sign that reads, “Disabled & Proud. I can have both.”A pride participant with a cane walk side by side in the midst of our large Pride contingent.A contingent member marches with a sign attached to their wheelchair that reads “Free our people.”Two Pride participants in wheelchairs laugh while marching down market street with the contingent. One holds a sign that reads “Proud to be here.”LightHouse Pride organizer Laura Millar smiles while marching, with her white cane wrapped in rainbow ribbon.Two rainbow-bedecked pride participants march side by side, one holding a sign that says “Proud of everything that we are.”A french bulldog smiles while his owner, a LightHouse volunteer, holds him before the parade starts.
