Omaha Exploration

If you missed it, Omaha’s Pride Parade was held downtown yesterday. While it marked the 40th anniversary of Pride in Omaha, the first Pride Parades in the United States were held in New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago in 1970 – one year after the Stonewall Uprising. These were a series of spontaneous riots and demonstrations in response to a police raid that took place at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in NYC, in 1969. That event is widely considered a turning point in the modern gay civil rights movement.

In 1985 Omaha it started as a small candlelight walk to remember the community’s dead and dying, to present celebrations of freedoms gained and those yet to be won. The parade and festival made its Omaha debut three years later in 1988 at Turner Park. In 2010 it was led by Heartland Pride, a non-profit tasked with organizing community events and supporting the LGBTQIA+ community. The mission of the parade is to “celebrate and promote the history, diversity, and future prosperity of the LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) community in the Omaha/Council Bluffs Metro Areas.”

Over the years, the event in Omaha has evolved and grown in attention, respect, and achievements. The anticipated turnout for yesterday’s parade was 40,000 attendees. In Omaha the parade is held in July as much of downtown Omaha is occupied with the College World Series in June. The parade route this year started at 16th and Capitol Ave heading east to 10th and north to CHI Health Center.

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