(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune)
Morgen Yoakum at the Utah Pride Festival in Salt Lake City Saturday June 1, 2019.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune)
matt the rat of Fists in the Wind, performing at the Utah Pride Festival in Salt Lake City on Saturday June 1, 2019.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune)
prttyxprtty and matt the rat are Fists in the Wind, performing at the Utah Pride Festival in Salt Lake City on Saturday June 1, 2019.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune)
Heather Garden, as Orphans Cabaret performs at the Utah Pride Festival in Salt Lake City on Saturday June 1, 2019.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune)
The Utah Pride Festival in Salt Lake City on Saturday June 1, 2019.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune)
Scha Strasburg and Karrah Watson embracing after getting engaged at the Utah Pride Festival in Salt Lake City on Saturday June 1, 2019.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune)
Stop Karen performs at the Utah Pride Festival in Salt Lake City on Saturday June 1, 2019.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune)
Leisl Aetna Bonelli of Orphans Cabaret, performing at the Utah Pride Festival in Salt Lake City on Saturday June 1, 2019.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune)
Chandra Marie of Ginger and the Gents, performing at the Utah Pride Festival in Salt Lake City on Saturday June 1, 2019.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune)
Racheal Thomas and Grace Russell singing on the karaoke stage at the Utah Pride Festival in Salt Lake City on Saturday June 1, 2019.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune)
Jason Suker dancing at the Utah Pride Festival in Salt Lake City on Saturday June 1, 2019.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune)
DJ Flame Fatale works up a sweat at the Utah Pride Festival in Salt Lake City on Saturday June 1, 2019.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune)
Jason Suker dancing at the Utah Pride Festival in Salt Lake City on Saturday June 1, 2019.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune)
Casper Hess of Rebel Rebel performing at the Utah Pride Festival in Salt Lake City on Saturday June 1, 2019.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune)
Shecock & the Rock Princess performs at the Utah Pride Festival in Salt Lake City on Saturday June 1, 2019.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune)
Mason Comstock of Rebel Rebel performing at the Utah Pride Festival in Salt Lake City on Saturday June 1, 2019.
The Utah Pride Festival kicked off Saturday, with thousands of LGBTQ people and their allies celebrating 50 years since the start of America’s gay-rights movement.
The festival is expected to draw some 35,000 people to Washington Square, around City Hall in downtown Salt Lake City, on Saturday and Sunday. The event includes music, food, community groups, vendors and more.
The scheduled headliner on the festival stage Saturday is Aja, the nonbinary queer artist/performer featured on “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 3.”
The festival’s theme — “Exist. Resist. Persist.” — marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising in New York. On June 28, 1969, LGBTQ activists and patrons of the Stonewall Inn fought back after a police raid. It’s considered the start of the gay-pride movement, and protests marking the first anniversary of Stonewall became the first pride marches.
The Utah Pride Festival traces its origins to an informal gathering in a Salt Lake City park in 1974. Last year’s festival was highlighted in the new documentary “State of Pride,” which debuted on YouTube on March 29.
The highlight of Sunday’s Pride schedule is the Pride Parade, along 200 South from West Temple to 400 East, starting at 10 a.m. The festival runs Sunday at Washington Square from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tickets are available at utahpridecenter.org, or at the gate.
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