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Thousands of Bay Area residents gathered for the 8th Annual Oakland Pride Parade and Festival event on Sept. 10.

Celebrating unity, diversity and appreciation of LGBTQ people, numerous organizations and communities—including a strong presence from the Latino community—came together for the second Bay Area Pride event of the year

“Latino community and culture are really important to me. My mother immigrated here from Nicaragua 30 years ago,” said Stephanie Logia, a Women’s March Bay Area Contingent member, who walked in the parade holding a sign that read: “We Still Have a Dream.” “So I’m here today to represent. With the recent news of [the] DACA program ending, it’s really heartbreaking, students and workers having this additional stress to add on.”

During the festivities, people ate, danced, shopped and visited different booths set up by the many participating organizations.

Andrew Navarro, Health Education specialist at the Tri-City Health Center, was a proud representative of both the Latino and LGBT community, and was happy to keep members aware of his organization.

“We’re here representing the Latino community with our HIV prevention program,” said Navarro. “Our program is all about serving the Latino and underserved population. It’s been around for over 20 years. We come out to Pride events a lot.”

Andrew Arias of Equality California, a Latino who is LGBT, was at Pride to help people register to vote. “I feel empowered to represent a group that is mobilizing and making a big difference in communities of color,” he said.

Aside from members of organizations, regular festival goers were enjoying themselves with some beer and good company.

“My family and I are here today because we support equal rights. A lot of people don’t understand they have the right to be whoever they want to be,” said Jonathon Hernandez, general manager of Amici’s Pizzeria in Dublin. “I myself am not gay, but I have a lot of friends and family members that are, and I’m here because I support equality.”