San Francisco Pride announces some security plans

by John Ferrannini

The organization that puts on the San Francisco Pride parade and celebration announced it’s taking measures to keep the event safe. It comes as Pride committees and LGBTQ organizations are taking greater security precautions amid an intensifying national backlash to LGBTQ rights with Pride Month kicking off Thursday.

In San Francisco, several LGBTQ nonprofits have banded together to seek $350,000 in the city’s new fiscal year budget to pay for security upgrades and safety assessments of their locations. It is in reaction to several receiving threats of violence, such as the bomb threats the LGBTQ youth focused agency LYRIC received last year.

Various LGBTQ groups in the U.S. have hired security consultants ahead of Pride month, the Associated Press reported May 30. Spokespeople for the San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Celebration Committee stated to the Bay Area Reporter Tuesday that there will be law enforcement, a private security team, and “a comprehensive bag check and screening process at the entry points of the event.”

The committee stated it’s working with LIVE Management Consulting “to implement a robust security plan that was created in collaboration with the [San Francisco Police Department] and other appropriate law enforcement agencies.”

LIVE Management Consulting didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The two-day celebration will be held June 24-25 at the Civic Center Plaza, and the parade will begin at 10:30 a.m. June 25 at Market and Beale streets.

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