Anyone getting off BART at its 19th Street station late Sunday morning could hear pulsing club beats as they made their way up the stairs and onto Broadway. And it was a full-on street party happening right outside the station, with songs like Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul” playing loudly, and both children and adults out in force to proudly champion LGBTQIA+ rights and visibility. The 12th annual Oakland Pride — a celebration of Oakland’s LGBTQIA+ community, its diversity and subcultures — got underway with its parade at 10:30 a.m. Sunday. It was a particularly momentous event in that it marked the in-person return of the parade and festival after a couple of years off because of COVID-19.
