One of San Francisco's biggest parties -- the annual Pride Parade and Celebration -- will not take place in June as scheduled due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, organizers announced Tuesday.
The event, originally set for June 27 and 28, normally draws in hundreds of thousands of people who pour into the city's Civic Center area.
But according to the organizers, putting on the parade amid a growing number of COVID-19 cases worldwide was just too much of a risk.
This year, the event would have celebrated its 50th anniversary.
"This was not a decision we arrived at lightly," SF Pride executive director Fred Lopez said in a statement.
"Since the coronavirus first emerged, we have held out hope that the situation would shift and we would be able to gather later this year," he said. "Well before the first shelter-in-place order, our team began to balance our excitement for Pride 50 and evaluate possible alternatives. With heavy hearts, we have decided not to go forward with the parade and celebration in 2020."
"Pride is one of my favorite times of the year in San Francisco, and no one wants to celebrate with the entire community more than I do," Mayor London Breed said. "However, we are in an unprecedented public health emergency with an uncertain future, and we must do everything we can to protect our entire community and put public health first," she said.
According to organizers, because of the historic 50th anniversary happening this year, up to a million attendees were expected to show up.
Pride organizers said they're now looking to take part in a "virtual global pride" celebration with other pride organizations worldwide and will announce more details in the coming weeks and months.
