Parades in NYC and San Francisco wrap up LGBTQ+ Pride Month

NEW YORK (AP) — Pride Month celebrations peaked Sunday with big parades in New York, San Francisco and some other cities on the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall uprising, which accelerated and transformed the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.

Pride events often mix celebration and calls to action, reflecting the political winds, cultural climate and news around LGBTQ+ rights.

This month's parades and festivals around the U.S. have unfolded as President Donald Trump works to roll back transgender rights and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Among other moves, the Republican's administration removed a rainbow Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument earlier this year, then ultimately relented amid a lawsuit.

“As LGBTQIA+ events and symbols are being erased, it’s vital that our community have safe spaces to show up and march to make clear: We are here,” Chris Piedmont, a spokesperson for New York parade organizers Heritage of Pride, said in a statement Friday. “We will not be erased.”

Carlos Duarte came in from Long Island to attend New York's parade.

“It’s very important for us to be here … to be all together for love, peace and to show the world who we are,” Duarte said.

Meanwhile, multiple Republican governors have promulgated conservative-friendly designations for June, such as “Nuclear Family Month,” sometimes openly describing them as a counter to Pride. Other prominent Republican politicians, including Vice President JD Vance, criticized Major League Baseball 's response to some San Francisco Giants players who added Bible verses to the rainbow-themed Pride Night caps they were issued.

Against that backdrop, the NYC Pride March and the San Francisco Pride Parade set out to further their legacies as some of the world's largest and oldest such celebrations.

Both trace their roots to events held in 1970 to commemorate the Stonewall rebellion on June 28, 1969, when patrons of a New York gay bar called the Stonewall Inn resisted a police raid and ended up kindling a wave of activism.

The Stonewall Inn still is a bar; the Stonewall monument centers on a small park across the street, about half a mile (about 0.8 km) from the Pride March route at its closest point.

The newer Queer Liberation March, founded by activists who saw the Pride March as too corporate and official, also was held in Manhattan on Sunday.

This year, some transgender rights activists pressured Pride organizers to bar some New York City hospitals' contingents from marching because the institutions announced in recent months that they would stop providing transgender youth treatments.

Christen Clifford, a mother of two trans children, said during a news conference before the parade that New York City needs to enforce state laws that protect gender-affirming care.

“How can you let institutions that are actively harming queer kids march in Pride?” Clifford said. “I hope that New York City Pride will ban these hospitals from any future Pride parades until they restart care and so that families like mine know that you are listening to our concerns.”

The cutoff came amid funding threats from the Trump administration, and at least some of the hospitals also got federal Justice Department subpoenas for transgender patients' medical records. A judge has temporarily blocked the document demand.

Heritage of Pride said it has been talking with the hospitals about the issue. The group also noted the parade contingents are organized by LGBTQ+ employee groups, not by the top administrators responsible for decisions about care.

A message was sent to San Francisco Pride organizers about whether they faced similar questions.

Other cities with Pride parades Sunday include Seattle, where a World Cup soccer match Friday took on a Pride dimension after the countries whose teams involved — Iran and Egypt — triedunsuccessfully to get the celebrations canceled.

Fischer reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Revelers attend the annual Pride Parade in San Francisco, Monday, June 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)

Peppermint, one of the official Grand Marshals for the 2026 NYC Pride March, salutes to parade-goers, Sunday, June 28, 2026 in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Parade-goers attend the NYC Pride March near the Stonewall Inn, Sunday, June 28, 2026 in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Parade-goers attend the NYC Pride March, Sunday, June 28, 2026 in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Parade-goers attend the NYC Pride March near the Stonewall Inn, Sunday, June 28, 2026 in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Revelers attend the annual Pride Parade in San Francisco, Monday, June 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)

Parade-goers attend the NYC Pride March near the Stonewall Inn, Sunday, June 28, 2026 in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

FILE - New York politicians and activists raise a rainbow flag on a pole in Christopher Park across the street from the Stonewall Inn, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026, in New York, a few days after it was removed by the National Park Service to comply with guidance from the Trump administration. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — If the World Cup was the NCAA basketball tournament, then teams like Morocco and the Netherlands would have some serious anger toward the selection and seeding committee right now. England, Mexico, Portugal and Spain might not be all that happy, either.

Lionel Messi and Argentina, on the other hand, probably wouldn't complain much about their potential path to the World Cup final four.

The bracket is set for the knockout stage of the World Cup. There was no selection committee; slots were predetermined — Group A winner on this line, Group D runner-up on this line, etc. — so it wasn't exactly like how the NCAA tournaments go. And FIFA doesn't reseed like some sports, so a couple lower seeds are certain to get into at least the Round of 16.

So, when taking the 32 qualifiers for the knockout stage and ranking them like it's an NCAA tournament — essentially seeding the field 1 to 32 based on the FIFA live rankings entering Sunday — it's easy to see why some “regions” might be tougher to navigate than others.

A breakdown of the World Cup bracket:

— Quarterfinal: July 9 at Foxborough, Massachusetts.

— Round of 32 matchups: No. 12 Germany vs. No. 27 Paraguay, No. 2 France vs. No. 26 Sweden, No. 29 South Africa vs. No. 25 Canada (won 1-0 by Canada on Sunday), No. 7 Netherlands vs. No. 6 Morocco.

— Outlook: Netherlands vs. Morocco in the Round of 32 means that at least one of the seven highest-ranked teams left in the tournament won't even get to the Round of 16. France and Germany — perennial European powers — could meet in the Round of 16. And Canada (the first team through to the Round of 16 after winning the knockout stage opener over South Africa on Sunday) might have to change time zones twice on its way to the quarterfinals, while Germany, Paraguay, France and Sweden will all be in either Massachusetts, New Jersey or Pennsylvania in the Rounds of 32 and 16.

— If the seeds hold: France would play Morocco in the quarterfinal.

— Quarterfinal: July 10 at Inglewood, California.

— Round of 32 matchups: No. 8 Portugal vs. No. 13 Croatia, No. 3 Spain vs. No. 18 Austria, No. 14 United States vs. No. 30 Bosnia and Herzegovina, No. 10 Belgium vs. No. 17 Senegal.

— Outlook: The U.S. gets one of the lowest-ranked teams left in the tournament to open the Round of 32 and would remain in the Pacific time zone until the semifinals. Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal did not get an easy draw at all, with Croatia right off the bat and then potentially Spain in the Round of 16. (Can't imagine Spain is too thrilled with this, either.) Belgium vs. Senegal is in Seattle, and the winner will stay there to play the U.S. match winner; that's a big break for weary legs.

— If the seeds hold: Spain would play Belgium in the quarterfinal.

— Quarterfinal: July 11 at Miami Gardens, Florida.

— Round of 32 matchups: No. 5 Brazil vs. No. 16 Japan, No. 24 Ivory Coast vs. No. 19 Norway, No. 9 Mexico vs. No. 20 Ecuador, No. 4 England vs. No. 28 Congo.

— Outlook: Mexico and England will be heavily favored in their Round of 32 matches, then would be in line to go head-to-head in the Round of 16 — in what would be a road game at Mexico City for England. And Mexico is one of only two teams not to surrender a goal in the group stage, with Spain being the other. Brazil gets a bit of an easier path to the quarterfinals, opening with Japan and then — if it wins — drawing the Ivory Coast-Norway winner.

— If the seeds hold: Brazil would play England in the quarterfinal.

— Quarterfinal: July 11 at Kansas City, Missouri.

— Round of 32 matchups: No. 1 Argentina vs. No. 31 Cape Verde, No. 22 Australia vs. No. 21 Egypt, No. 15 Switzerland vs. No. 23 Algeria, No. 11 Colombia vs. No. 32 Ghana.

— Outlook: Again, there is no “selection committee,” but if there was it would have gotten this one right by putting the best goalscorer in Argentina's Lionel Messi against the tournament's best story in Cape Verde in the Round of 32. And Messi gets to be at home in Miami Gardens, a few miles from Inter Miami's stadium for that matchup. Australia or Egypt awaits the Argentina match winner, Switzerland-Algeria has potential for a lot of goals, and Colombia faces a Ghana team with nothing to lose.

— If the seeds hold: Argentina would play Colombia in the quarterfinal.

News and notes about the Round of 32 matchups:

— France, Mexico and Argentina were the only teams to escape group play with 3-0-0 records.

— There are four Round of 32 matchups between unbeaten teams: Netherlands (2-0-1) vs. Morocco (2-0-1), Belgium (1-0-2) vs. Senegal (1-0-2), Brazil (2-0-1) vs. Japan (1-0-2) and Argentina (3-0-0) vs. Cape Verde (0-0-3).

— Expect some goals in France vs. Sweden (combined 17 goals in the group stage), Netherlands-Morocco (16), Belgium-Senegal (14), Brazil-Japan (14) and U.S.-Bosnia and Herzegovina (13).

— On the flip side, the first goal of Mexico-Ecuador might be that match's decider. Mexico wasn't scored on in group play and Ecuador surrendered only two goals in those three matches.

— The semifinal matchups are the winner of the Foxborough quarterfinal against the winner of the Inglewood quarterfinal (at Arlington, Texas on July 14) and the winner of the Miami Gardens quarterfinal against the winner of the Kansas City quarterfinal (at Atlanta on July 15). The final is at East Rutherford, New Jersey on July 19.

See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here.

Canada's Promise David (24) takes a shot on goal as Switzerland's Granit Xhaka (10) defends during the World Cup Group B soccer match between Switzerland and Canada in Vancouver, British Columbia, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

American singer Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons performs at the World Cup Fan Zone in Monterrey, Mexico, Sunday, June 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

United States' Alex Freeman (16), second left, celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the World Cup Group D soccer match between the United States and Australia in Seattle, Friday, June 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Fans hold their cell phones during the World Cup Group J soccer match between Algeria and Austria in Kansas City, Mo., Saturday, June 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Argentina's Lionel Messi (10) celebrates scoring his side's 3rd goal during the World Cup Group J soccer match between Jordan and Argentina in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, Saturday, June 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)