Organizers said the San Antonio Pride Parade was the biggest in its 10-year history. More than 400,000 turned out for Houston Pride.
The Pride Bigger than Texas festival in San Antonio attracted about 5,000 people. That was followed by the parade on Main Avenue with more than 15,000 lining the street.
The large crowds for Pride parades around the country celebrated the Prop 8 and Defense of Marriage Act victories in the Supreme Court last week.
In New York, home of the first Pride parade 44 years ago, 2 million people typically turn out for the event. This year, the city estimated 3 million celebrated in the wake of the victories. Edie Windsor, plaintiff in the case that struck down DOMA, was grand marshal.
“I love it obviously,” she said. “If someone had told me 50 years ago that I would be the marshal of New York City gay Pride parade in 2013 at the age of 84, I never would have believed it.”
In California, same-sex marriage resumed on Friday. Later, Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the DOMA opinion, turned down a request by the plaintiffs in the Prop 8 case to delay the beginning of marriage equality while they file a petition for rehearing by the high court.
San Francisco’s Pride parade, which usually draws 1 million, attracted a few hundred thousand more participants this year.
Among those participating in the parade were House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Marriage equality passed in Delaware earlier this year and the state began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples today.
