The Top 5 Pride Parades in North America
June is Pride Month! It’s a time to celebrate the LGBTQ community, their history, culture, and ongoing quest for acceptance and equality. Lots of cities around the world celebrate Pride, but here are our top picks for the best celebrations and parades in the US and Mexico.
5. Provincetown, Massachusetts
Perhaps the biggest event on all of Cape Cod, Provincetown Pride happens the first week of June. It’s a wonderful, welcoming, high-energy festival with a parade, events, food, musical numbers, drag shows, and more that draws people LGBTQ+ and straight from all over New England. There’s even a Pride whale watch you can sign up for.
4. Key West, Florida
In mid-June, Key West hosts the five-day Key West Pridefest. In a town that possesses a healthy share of gay-friendly bars and hotels—and whose motto is “one human family”—it’s no wonder that Pridefest is a much-anticipated event, filled with contests, shows, tours, dance and cocktail parties, a street fair, and a pride parade along Duval Street.
3. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Puerto Vallarta has a well-deserved reputation as one of the friendliest destinations in the country for LGBTQ visitors, and the annual Vallarta Pride has become one of the biggest events on the city calendar. Pride is a joyful celebration of the community, and Puerto Vallarta’s is among the liveliest in the world and one of the largest LGBTQ events in Latin America, drawing over 10,000 visitors to the weeklong festivities, packed with activities,
themed parties at restaurants and bars throughout the Zona Romántica, and presentations spotlighting advancements made by the community, all capped by the big parade.
2. Palm Springs, California
The LGBTQ+ community is well represented in Palm Springs’s year-round residents, with many gay-owned hotels and retail shops. Palm Springs is also an international LGBTQ+ destination. Visitors come for resorts that cater specifically to men (there are no hotels that cater to an all-women clientele), as well as destination parties like the all-male White Party and the all-female The Dinah, the largest gay and lesbian music festival parties in the world. Pride Weekend happens annually on one weekend in November to celebrate lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender diversity. There are host hotels for centralized gathering and party zones, but the entire town of Palm Springs fills up for a celebratory weekend. Festivities include a block party and a parade.
1. New York, NY
The West Village hosts New York City’s Pride Parade every June, and the nearby Stonewall Inn is the birthplace of the fight for gay and lesbian rights. From there, you can walk to Soho and visit the Leslie Lohman Museum, which specifically focuses on LGBTQ+ art. During the years surrounding the AIDS epidemic, much art by gay artists had to be saved from destruction because families were ashamed of it. After years of seeking financial support and establishing a non-profit organization, this museum opened in 2016.
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