The Latest: San Francisco parade halted by protest of police
NEW YORK (AP) - The Latest on parades and marches throughout the country celebrating Pride (all times local):
6:55 p.m.
The San Francisco parade was stopped for nearly an hour when demonstrators linked arms in the street to protest police presence at the march.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported Sunday that about 40 people halted the parade for about 50 minutes.
The newspaper says two people were arrested and taken away in a police van as the crowd called for them to be released.
Police said they could not immediately confirm details of the incident.
Demonstrators handed out a letter calling for the march to exclude police, saying they didn't agree with inviting officers to mark the anniversary of a clash with authorities.
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5:25 p.m.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed legislation that would bar people who attack or kill a gay person in the state from arguing they panicked over their victim's sexuality.
The Democrat signed the bill on Sunday in Manhattan, where he was taking part in the city's LGBTQ pride march.
The state Legislature passed the measure earlier in June.
Previously, those accused of violent attacks could argue that they were under extreme distress, that they panicked after the victim made a sexual advance or otherwise revealed their sexuality.
The legislation made it that such an excuse could not be considered a "reasonable explanation" for a violent crime.
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4:20 p.m.
Chicago police say the remainder of the city's Pride Parade has been canceled as thunderstorms roll through the area.
The department tweeted the message about three hours after Sunday's parade started, citing inclement weather.
As the storms hit, parade officials said they'd hold floats that hadn't left the start of the four-mile route. Emergency management officials advised attendees to seek shelter.
It was unclear how many floats remained when the parade was called off. Police and parade organizers didn't immediately return messages.
Much of the parade took place before the storms. Mayor Lori Lightfoot led the festivities as a grand marshal. She's Chicago's first openly gay mayor and walked alongside her wife, Amy Eshleman.
Sunday's parade marks the 50th anniversary of the police raid that sparked the modern-day gay rights movement.
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3:30 p.m.
Thousands marched in the streets of San Francisco waving rainbow flags and dancing to upbeat music in the city's Pride parade.
Elected officials and members of gay rights organizations joined Sunday's march while community members wearing "Pride" T-shirts waved them on.
Democratic California Assemblyman Phil Ting told KPIX-TV the message they were hoping to send was "we build bridges, not walls."
Larraine and Peter Browne, who were visiting from Australia, told the San Francisco Chronicle they had never seen anything like Pride parade, and were especially fascinated with the costumes.
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3:15 p.m.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is leading the city's Pride Parade as a grand marshal, walking alongside her wife and wearing a T-shirt reading "Chicago Proud" with rainbow-colored lettering.
Lightfoot is the city's first openly gay mayor and one of several grand marshals in a parade that's packed rainbow-clad crowds along a 4-mile (6-kilometer) route.
Sunday's parade caps a month of festivities in Chicago.
Lightfoot, who took office in May, occasionally held hands with her wife, Amy Eshleman, as onlookers cheered.
Ahead of the parade, Lightfoot said she was humbled to take part in the festivities and felt as though she's come a long way.
Similar parades took place nationwide on Sunday.
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12:55 p.m.
Thousands of people packed onto Fifth Avenue in Manhattan as the Pride march started.
Revelers dressed in rainbow-colored clothing waved flags and signs as the parade got underway. Some people climbed up on street lamp posts or were on people's shoulders to get a better view of the parade.
Twenty-nine-year-old Alyssa Christianson, who lives in New York, says she's been to the Pride parade before, but this is the first year she dressed up. She turned a Pride flag into a cape.
Christianson loves coming to the parade because she says "everybody's happy and everybody's excited."
Security was tight with police officers stationed throughout the route.
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12:15 p.m.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has created a task force to study the rights of transgender students.
The Democrat signed an executive order Sunday, the day of Pride parades nationwide including in Chicago. The order also directs the State Board of Education on related issues, including publishing resources on the legal rights of transgender and gender-nonconforming students.
The task force will be made up of 25 people appointed by Pritzker. They'll study what schools are doing to promote LGBTQ rights to make sure students have "welcoming" and "inclusive" environments. Their report is due in January 2020.
Advocacy group Equality Illinois calls it a positive step, but says stronger statewide protections are needed.
Chicago's Pride Parade starts at noon. Lori Lightfoot, the city's first openly gay mayor, is one of several grand marshals.
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10:45 a.m.
Protesters are marching outside the historic Stonewall Inn to mark the 50th anniversary of the police raid that sparked the modern day gay rights movement.
The Queer Liberation March started Sunday morning at the bar where patrons resisted a police raid in 1969. The march is planned to coincide with the larger Pride parade set to begin Sunday afternoon.
The organizers of the queer march say the larger Pride event is too commercialized and heavily policed.
Twenty-four-year-old Jake Seller, an Indiana native now living in Brooklyn, is one of the march's volunteers and says it "will always remain a protest, not an advertisement."
Other attendees wanted to celebrate how far the LGBTQ community has come.
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3:10 a.m.
New York is throwing a massive LGBTQ Pride march as other cities including San Francisco, Chicago and Seattle also host parades commemorating the 50th anniversary of the clash between police and gay bar patrons that sparked the modern gay rights movement.
New York's Pride march kicks off at noon Sunday with 677 contingents including community groups, major corporations and cast members from FX's "Pose." Organizers say they expect 150,000 people to march as hundreds of thousands more line the streets.
A smaller Queer Liberation March is scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. at the Stonewall Inn, proceeding to Central Park for a rally. The organizers of the queer march say the larger Pride event is too commercialized and heavily policed.