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!

The results surprised even us, as we discovered official Pride celebrations in all 50 U.S. states and in 64 other countries. From the world’s largest LGBT Pride Parade – that would be in Sao Paulo, Brazil, with an estimated five million attendees in 2008 – to the more understated Rainbow Kite Flying day in cities throughout China, celebrations of our community’s diversity occur in many different flavors.

With Pride events scattered around the globe and throughout the year, we thought our local festivities would be the perfect opportunity to re-launch Yahoo!’s annual Pride site with some fun new additions at its first permanent destination: pride.yahoo.com.

Features of this new site include:

• The World Map of Pride – A resource for locating and browsing the breadth of LGBT Pride celebrations around the globe. Search the world map for festivals, parades, film fests, and other major events near you … and invite your friends to join in.
• The Past Century in LGBT History and Civil Rights – An interactive timeline exploring many of the key milestones for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community over the last 100 years.
• Visions of Pride on Flickr – Photos from Yahoo! users of the various Pride celebrations around the world.
• And easy access to the latest LGBT-related news, sports, entertainment, and community resources.

If you’re in the area, please also plan to join the 500,000+ people at San Francisco’s 38th annual LGBT Pride Celebration and Parade this Sunday, June 29. We’ll be demo’ing our shiny new Pride site and handing out some fabulous gifts at Yahoo!’s booth on Grove Street between Larkin and Polk. We’re also a sponsor of the 32nd annual San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival which runs from June 19-29. We’d be thrilled to see you there.

Happy Pride!

Drew Geishecker
Yahoo! Network Services
Co-chair, Yahoo! Pride