LGBTQ Agenda: Pride Bands Alliance won't march in Inauguration Day parade

  • by John Ferrannini, Assistant Editor
  • Tuesday January 14, 2025
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Members of the San Francisco Pride Band, then known as the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band, participated in President Barack Obama's second Inauguration Day Parade in January 2013. They were part of the Lesbian and Gay Band Association, now known as the Pride Bands Alliance. Photo: Courtesy Pride Bands Alliance
Members of the San Francisco Pride Band, then known as the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band, participated in President Barack Obama's second Inauguration Day Parade in January 2013. They were part of the Lesbian and Gay Band Association, now known as the Pride Bands Alliance. Photo: Courtesy Pride Bands Alliance

The Pride Bands Alliance, a national group of LGBTQ marching bands, has opted not to participate in the inaugural parade for President-elect Donald Trump next week. Previously, the alliance and its members, including the San Francisco Pride Band, have taken part in inauguration festivities.

This time, the alliance decided to withdraw its application for an opportunity to participate.

David Doan, a gay man who is president of the alliance, told the Bay Area Reporter that "the divisive language that was targeting the transgender and nonbinary community, particularly by Trump" was the reason.

While the alliance also did not participate in the most recent three inaugural parades for Republican presidents (they did participate in both of Barack Obama's and Bill Clinton's inaugural parades), Doan said this time is different because of the "intensity and degree of hatred."

"This particular incoming president is overt about it," Doan said. "The others — their agenda was not solely that. It was more regular Republican policies rather than being specific about a population not being supported."

Trump had for years stubbornly refused to accept the election of Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential race. On January 6, 2021, he "lit the fire" of the insurrection in the U.S. Capitol, in the words of the January 6 Committee that investigated the incident, as NPR reported. Trump gave a speech on the Ellipse that day whereby he summoned his supporters to the Capitol as part of his wider efforts to thwart the certification of the results of the 2020 election.

Trump was impeached in the House (his second time) for his role in the insurrection, but the Senate voted to acquit Trump on the single article of impeachment, incitement of insurrection.

His campaign to return to the White House officially kicked off just after the midterm elections in November 2022 on the heels of a resurgent anti-LGBTQ backlash nationwide, particularly with regard to issues affecting the trans community. Hundreds of anti-LGBTQ bills — on issues ranging from bathroom and sports access to identity documents and access to gender-affirming care — have been introduced in recent years, largely passing in conservative states.

In articulating the band alliance's reasoning, Doan referenced a commercial from the closing stretch of the 2024 campaign with the tagline "Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you" (referring to Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris) that aired over 30,000 times and in every swing state. A Future Forward PAC analysis found it among the most effective of the campaign, swinging viewers 2.7% toward Trump after viewing it.

The San Francisco Pride Band, formerly the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band, is the oldest of 36 members of the alliance, which was formed 47 years ago, Doan said, and also has member bands outside the U.S. in Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada.

Trump has repeatedly suggested Canada become the 51st American state since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asked him to reconsider threatened tariffs on Canadian goods when the Canadian leader visited the president-elect shortly after the November election. Trudeau recently announced he would resign as prime minister and as head of the Labour Party.

Canadian leaders have rebuffed the talk of annexation, which Trump said he'd procure by economic means. He did not rule out the use of military force to acquire Greenland or the Panama Canal Zone.

Chris Hewes, the president of the San Francisco Pride Band's board of directors, said that the organization is in support of not taking part in the inaugural parade this year.

"The San Francisco Pride Band stands in complete solidarity with the decision by Pride Bands Alliance to withdraw its application to march in the 2025 Presidential Inauguration Parade," Hewes said.

Hewes added that "a number of San Francisco Pride Band members were among the 500 musicians who had originally signed up to perform at this event, but the reasons to change direction are numerous."

"As the official band of San Francisco, we feel a strong tie to the values that all San Franciscans hold dear," Hewes continued. "We hope the Pride Bands Alliance decision to withdraw the inauguration parade application sends a strong message of the reaffirmation of our commitment to our values and our community."

Doan said that to perform at the inaugural parade, a band sends an application and is later informed whether or not it has been selected. The alliance's voting members came to the decision to withdraw its application unanimously.

The bands remain committed to "using music as a vehicle, as a vessel to express love," Doan said.

The Inauguration Day Parade will kick off at 11:30 a.m. Pacific Time in Washington, D.C. on Monday, January 20, just a few hours after Trump becomes the second U.S. president to return to power after having been voted out of office.

LGBTQ Agenda is an online column that appears weekly. Got a tip on queer news? Contact John Ferrannini at [email protected]

Due to Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the LGBTQ Agenda column will return Tuesday, January 28.

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