A Gay Ol’ Time at Palm Springs Pride

From November 4-6, Palm Springs held its annual pride festival and parade, celebrating the LGBTQIA+ community.

The event was hard to miss as colorful flags and unique individuals were sure to catch anyone’s attention. There were also many inflatables such as a large rainbow duck, a black cat, and a gay sailor couple that was posed kissing each other.

Amongst the large inflatables and pride flags, there were over 100 booths and small shops to teach attendees more about certain aspects and perspectives of the community or to buy pride merchandise, ranging from quirky pansexual puns on shirts to stickers supporting non-binary folk.

Alexander Guaydacan ‘19 said, “It was my first pride, and I definitely wasn’t disappointed. It was great to see local people in the LGBTQ+ community come together to celebrate being proud and being true to ourselves. There was an amazing Youth Center that was restricted to everyone except minors, making it a great place for teens to come together and make new friends.” The Youth Center also provided free HIV tests.

From drag queens that had the crowd screaming to a 100-foot-long transgender pride flag that was carried out through the parade, the parade itself really was full of unique performances and people that really created a memorable final day of Pride.

Palm Springs Pride was an event that inspired and brought the LGBTQIA+ community together in a safe environment where anyone could be their authentic selves.