San Francisco spectators faced metal detectors for the first time, and more police than usual were keeping watch.
Thousands of uniformed officers lined the route, supplemented by plainclothes officers in the crowd. New York police deployed roving counterterrorism units and used bomb-sniffing dogs, rooftop observation posts, police helicopters and thousands of officers to provide extra layers of security at Sunday's parade. Many participants said the tributes to the dead in Orlando didn't dampen the energy and fun associated with the pride parade. Above each photo were the words, 'Never forget.'ĭespite the somber start, parade-goers seemed as enthusiastic as ever once marchers and floats began moving, cheering and dancing along the route. In Chicago, 49 marchers at the head of the parade each held aloft a poster-sized photograph of a different Orlando victim as the procession wound through the city. They came two weeks after the nation's deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. New York's parade was one of several being held Sunday across the country, along with San Francisco, Chicago, Minneapolis and St. But then Orlando happened, and seeing so many of my friends shrink in fear made me realize that coming here was more important,' said Hillman, wearing an anti-assault guns T-shirt. 'For me, I wasn't going to ride because I have 17-month-old twins at home. The transgender New Yorker said he hadn't planned to come to the march.
