Washington celebrates WorldPride with annual parade Saturday

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - Tens of thousands descended on the Washington Saturday for the city’s annual pride parade as WorldPride continued its celebration of love and LGBTQ+ equality in the nation’s capital.

“Today is a day, and every single day really is about love. And it’s ,” said Lenny Murillo.

She came to Washington from New York City to celebrate WorldPride Saturday.

This year’s pride celebration is bigger than years past. It’s WorldPride, a celebration bringing in people from across the globe. Those celebrating said it’s important to focus on what’s important – each other - given the hostile climate those in the LGBTQ+ community endure on a regular basis.

“Everybody from across the world is out here. We got people from Brazil, people from that we know of, Australia. So, yeah, it’s just a lot of different queer people out here celebrating from all across the world,” Murillo said.

In addition to the parade, official events throughout the weekend include several concerts, starring Jennifer Lopez and Cynthia Erivo, a dance party and plenty of food, drinks and fun.

“We love DC, we love our community. We want to show up. We want to be represented, and we want to see other love. Other love that looks like us. So yeah, we just want to be around our community, wherever that’s at,” Murillo said.

“It’s always meaningful, right. And we’re always fighting, even if it’s not just outright in our face. There’s always people who are working against us and trying to take our rights, trying to take us back 50 years. Right now, it’s just a little more obvious, but I think it does make it. It’s still meaningful, right? It’s always been meaningful,” said Gennia Johnson.

She traveled with Murillo from New York City to Washington to attend WorldPride.

WorldPride began May 17 and concludes Sunday.