Pride Houston 2023: Celebrating our LGBTQ+ community in Houston
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Hundreds of thousands of friends, families and even pets joined the excitement and fun downtown Saturday for the 45th Pride Houston Parade.
Pride Houston 365 hosted this year's celebration under the theme "All We Need is Love."
Nearly 200 entries from organizations and companies were featured in this year's parade, reflecting the color, pageantry and culture of America's most diverse city.
Revelers braved the heat Saturday night to celebrate Pride, with dense crowds swelling across the 14-block parade route outside Houston City Hall.
What began as a police raid and protest has turned into an incredible celebration of inclusion in the Houston area.
WATCH: FIVE-TIME NBA CHAMP DENNIS RODMAN TALKS TO ABC13'S POOJA LODHIA ON THE PARADE ROUTE
Colorful floats, dazzling lights and parade walkers adorn in costumes and messages of hope, love and inclusion were on display.
Parade spectators cheered as the two-hour parade stretched through downtown, collecting Pride-themed swag, rainbow beads and other giveaways.
ABC13 is proud to be the official media sponsor of Pride Houston 365.
The parade also featured this year's seven grand marshals, including:
- Margarita Perez Frinsco, 2023 Grand Marshal Female Identifying
- Jeffrey Campbell, 2023 Grand Marshal Male Identifying
- Ethan Michelle Ganz, 2023 Gender Nonbinary/Nonconforming Grand Marshal
- Harris Co. Attorney Christian Menefee, 2023 Grand Marshal LGBTQIA+ Ally
- Cameron Samuels, 2023 Honorary Grand Marshal - Trendsetter
- David Andrew Edmonson, 2023 Honorary Grand Marshal
- The Normal Anomaly Initiative Inc., 2023 Honorary Grand Marshal
PHOTOS: Meet Your 2023 Pride Houston Grand Marshals
While organizers announced in January it would skip the festival this year, Pride Houston 365 president Kendra Walker said the festival is expected to return in 2024.
Pride Houston is the largest and most-attended gay Pride event in Texas and the southwest region of the United States.
Records show the parade is also second only to RodeoHouston as the city's largest event.
The first Pride Houston took place in 1979, as the city's LGBTQ+ community commemorated the 1969 police raid on the Stonewall Inn in New York City.
Houston's first formal Gay Pride Week celebration happened back in 1978.
Known as Town Meeting One, the gathering brought the community together to find a common goal, leading to the creation of the Montrose Counseling and Activity centers, Houston's Gay and Lesbian Switchboard, the Hispanic Caucus and the Montrose Sports Association.
Volunteer with Pride Houston 365
With opportunities year around to celebrate and serve, Pride Houston 365 is looking for volunteers to help plan the 2024 parade, in addition to education programs, community outreach and advocacy.
"We have two types of volunteers," Walker said. "We have those on planning committees. Those are the ones who work tirelessly all year round to kind of take care of the nuts and bolts of each event, or you can be a day-of volunteer."
Day-of volunteers assist with parade staging, distributing merchandise, cashiering and more.
For more information, visit the Pride Houston 365 website.
