People dance on the decorated Plaza after Saturday’s Pride parade. The event drew thousands; organizers called it “the biggest Pride in Santa Fe’s history.”
Angie Chandler, left, director of learning and engagement at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, and Maureen Doherty lead the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum float Saturday at the Pride Parade.
Angie Chandler, left, director of learning and engagement at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, and Maureen Doherty lead the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum float Saturday at the Pride Parade.
Madison Kerr made bagels in anticipation of Santa Fe’s annual Pride celebration.
Kerr, Raven Gonzales, Dorian Block and Deja Thomas were among the first to claim a spot along Old Santa Fe Trail to watch Saturday’s parade.
Their plan for Pride was thorough. Well over an hour before the parade’s start, they set up camp chairs and a blanket in a shady section of the route. Then they smeared cream cheese on Kerr’s homemade bagels for a roadside brunch, eaten off paper plates stamped with the Progress Pride flag.
On the right from the back, Daja Thomas, Raven Gonzales, Dorian Block and Madison Kerr cheer on the Pride Parade as it passes by Saturday.
Santa Fe is a special place to experience Pride festivities, the paradegoers agreed. Block said the celebration feels uniquely “community-based.”
“We’ve been to Seattle Pride, L.A. Pride, but I’m from Santa Fe. … It’s the best vibe, I think, for Pride,” he said.
This year’s Pride brought thousands of people — locals and visitors, young and old — to the Plaza and surrounding streets Saturday.
People dance on the decorated Plaza after Saturday’s Pride parade. The event drew thousands; organizers called it “the biggest Pride in Santa Fe’s history.”
“We are experiencing the biggest Pride in Santa Fe’s history. It’s an important time for us and for our community to come together,” Kevin Bowen, executive director of event-organizer Santa Fe Human Rights Alliance, announced from the Plaza bandstand.
Julie Snow was among the most enthusiastic people to step onto the celebration’s dance floor.
Situated in front of the Plaza bandstand, the space was decorated with a Pride flag floor decal and shaded by multicolored tarps. Snow moved her feet to the thumping beat, one of dozens of costume- and flag-clad folks who joined in on the dance party.
Snow, who lived in Santa Fe for 25 years before relocating to Florida, planned her trip back to New Mexico so it lined up with the Pride festivities. Santa Fe’s annual Pride celebration creates a unique atmosphere, she said: “It’s love. It’s acceptance, open-mindedness.
“Living in Miami, I don’t feel that love,” she added.
John Knox of Santa Fe hangs a sign on Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center’s float before Saturday's Pride Parade.
For many, the event was tinged with anxieties about the state of LGBTQ+ rights nationwide, despite an overwhelmingly cheerful atmosphere.
In recent years, many Republican-run states have passed laws targeting LGBTQ+ people, ranging from imposing age and funding limits for gender-affirming care to restricting curriculum and gender expression in schools. The American Civil Liberties Union is currently tracking more than 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills proposed this year in state legislatures across the nation.
New Mexico, like many other Democratic-run states, has codified significant protections for LGBTQ+ people. In 2023, the state passed laws that prohibited local governments and public agencies from restricting access to gender-affirming health care and expanded protections from discrimination on the basis of gender.
During a speech addressing the crowd of Pride participants Saturday, Mayor Alan Webber reaffirmed the city’s commitment to serving as a safe place for LGBTQ+ people.
“Pride is not something that happens one day. Pride is something that happens every day in Santa Fe. … We stand for love. We stand for people being who they are,” the mayor said.
GinaMaria Opalescent with Disability Pride New Mexico rides her wheelchair in the Pride Parade.
But even in Santa Fe, there were counterprotesters: About four of them, at least one of whom was armed with a pistol, stood near the Capitol — on the other side of Old Santa Fe Trail from marchers preparing for the parade — with signs denouncing queer identities as sinful.
As the counterprotesters yelled at the gathering crowd, some Pride participants shouted back, drowning out the noise. Others waved Pride flags extra vigorously as they walked past.
Block summed up his experience in recent years this way: “It’s been a hard year as a trans person.”
Block referred to Santa Fe as one of a shrinking number of American cities that feel accepting to LGBTQ+ people.
It’s a special thing, he said, “to celebrate openly somewhere that I feel safe.”
