Pride celebrations have come a long way since June 1970. What began as small, vocal demonstrations in a handful of large US cities has since grown to hundreds of major parades in most metropolitan areas around the globe, as well as countless smaller celebrations, film festivals and cultural events that attract people in cities and towns all over. To find events near you and to explore the most comprehensive online map of LGBT pride anywhere, head on over to the Pride Event Finder at pride.yahoo.com.

Yahoo! is celebrating Pride again this year with messages on our corporate billboards in Times Square, New York City and San Francisco. We’re also thrilled to be a Premier Sponsor of Frameline, the 34^th Annual San Francisco LGBT Film Festival. The Yahoo! logo has been up on the marquee of the historic Castro Theatre throughout the 10-day festival and we couldn’t be happier!

The past year has seen some important developments for Yahoo!’s tens of millions of LGBT users. In the United States, the nearly decade-old proposed legislation commonly referred to as the “Matthew Shepard Act” was enacted this past October, extending federal hate crime protection to victims based upon sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. It was the first federal law of any kind to extend to recognition of transgendered individuals in the country.

Outside of the US, pride celebrations have continued to flourish, growing in number particularly throughout Asia and South America. Sao Paulo, Brazil continues its record of having the world’s largest LGBT Pride Parade, with an estimated 3.2 million attendees last month. It is second in popularity only behind the annual Formula One races in that city.

The LGBT community has also recently seen same sex marriage legalized in the state of New Hampshire, in Mexico City, and in Portugal and Iceland. India decriminalized homosexuality for the first time since British Colonial rule imposed the law in the mid-nineteenth century. Bans on gays in the military were ended in Argentina, Philippines and Uruguay. Iceland elected the first openly gay head of state in the world when Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir became Prime Minister. And Annise Parker was elected mayor of Houston, Texas, which made that city the largest in the United States to have an openly gay leader.

Congratulations on all the advancements for the LGBT community in the past year and we look forward to celebrating further improvements with you in the future.

Yahoo! wishes you and your loved ones a happy LGBT Pride season 2010!

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• Proud to have Pride: It’s LGBT Pride month and we’re doing it up big with this year’s Yahoo! Pride site. We’ve got news from the Advocate, a killer timeline that summarizes the last century in gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender history, and an event finder for more than 1,000 Pride events around the world. But best of all, we might be sending you and a friend to Sydney for the LGBT Mardi Gras in February. But hurry, you have to enter by July 1st (or come meet us in San Francisco this weekend to enter in person). More here.
• Dog days of summer: The race is on and you’ve got about 11 weeks to make the most of it. It’s summertime and we’ve pulled together a little helpful microsite to keep you from squandering it. Need help with travel plans? Check out articles on getaways that involve beachs, golf, family, national park, or weekend furloughs. Want great recipes? We’ve got ideas for grilling, oven-free cooking, drinks, and chill-out treats. There’s also shopping ideas, tips on keeping that lawn green, kids activities, and giving your Avatar a more sunswept look. Check it out here.

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Nicki Dugan
Blog Editor

In the last year, we’ve seen civil marriage rights for gays and lesbians both granted and subsequently taken away from Californians, while also witnessing marriage legalized in 10% of U.S. states and even more countries in Europe. We’ve also seen a further explosion in LGBT pride celebrations across the globe. This year marks the first pride celebrations in China, several countries throughout Central America, and even Tahiti. There were multiple organized events for LGBT rights in cities across India, Russia, Cuba, and nearly 100 new pride celebrations throughout Brazil. Check out the map of over 1,000 LGBT pride events across the globe at pride.yahoo.com for more info.

On the home front, we had a great time again sponsoring San Francisco’s International LGBT Film Festival this past week. In commemoration of Stonewall’s 40th birthday, we hid free Yahoo! Mail Plus and Flickr Pro packages under the seats of 40 lucky audience members at two sold-out screenings at the historic Castro Theatre. It was an amazing experience to see a packed-house of 1,400 people simultaneously shout out the classic Yahoo! yodel when the prize packages were announced. Congrats to all the winners!

However, that was just the run-up to our big giveaway this pride season. We’re excited to announce that Yahoo! is going to send two winners on a week-long trip to the 2010 Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras in beautiful Sydney, Australia, next summer (that’s February, a nice treat for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere). Mardi Gras is a spectacular citywide pride event in Sydney, and the prize-winners will arrive in time for the big parade and extravaganza. You can enter to win either online at http://pride.yahoo.com through July 1, 2009, or in person at the Yahoo! booth at the San Francisco LGBT Pride Festival this Sunday, June 28. Please come visit us near the corner of Grove and Larkin Streets on City Hall Plaza, say hi to Yahoo!, and enter for a chance to win.

Again, Yahoo! wishes you and your loved ones happy LGBT Pride 2009!

Drew Geishecker
Co-chair, Yahoo! Pride