Human Rights Summit focuses on state of San Francisco Pride, LGBTQ+ rights

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- As San Francisco gets ready to roll out the rainbow carpet to the world, Pride organizers joined LGBTQ+ activists at Thursday's Human Rights Summit. There were celebrations as well and important conversations about real pivotal issues facing the community.

San Francisco is ready to party and show its "Pride" as only this city can.

WATCH SUNDAY: 2024 San Francisco Pride Parade exclusively on ABC7

"I think it's more important than ever," said San Francisco Pride Executive Director Suzanne Ford.

Ford says upwards of a million spectators will be at Sunday's Pride Parade. It's a time to celebrate and remember the fight for rights and equality is far from over.

"A lot of places in the world we are under fire right now, people are trying to keep what we gained, I think we're awake now," said Ford.

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The state of Pride was the topic of this second annual Human Rights Summit at the Commonwealth Club.

"The state of Pride is a complicated question, I think we need to recognize or roots and history, we can celebrate and part of the celebration is radical joy," said Michelle Meow, from the Commonwealth Club.

There were deep conversations about racial justice, and the fight against anti-Trans legislation.

"Everything is under attack now, our healthcare, our art forms our history," said Nguyen Pham.

"I can tell you everything I was going through when I was 18 are the same issues young people are going through today," said Bamby Salcedo.

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Salcedo says that includes violence.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, 17 transgender people died this year due to violence. In California, there were 76 hate crime events between 2022 and 2023, according to California Department of Justice.

"The theme this year is beacon of love, we see the hate that's being spewed across our nation and we're going to counter that with love," said Nguyen.

Suzanne Ford is looking forward to Pride Sunday, a chance to be out and visible.

"I will find families that have Trans flags, they often have Trans kids, I love to go over and say I see them, " said Ford.