This past weekend I attended my first Pride parade. I went with my boyfriend, Brian, and his friends. On Saturday night we went out to the bars for the first night of celebrations. It was a little overwhelming, in a good way, because the whole scene was new to me. It was exciting to see everyone fully express themselves without the fear of judgment.

On Saturday night we stayed in an Airbnb close to the parade so we could easily walk to it in the morning. We walked over to Market Street early to find a good spot to watch and take some group pictures. You could not have asked for better weather, either.

I was able to let all my worries go away and enjoy every moment. I loved seeing everyone in the parade love everything they were doing. A lot of the groups were giving out beads, pins, tee shirts and more. Everyone there had the time of his or her life.

This was a whole new experience for me, so I was a bit nervous before the weekend. But the nerves quickly went away because the whole weekend was an amazing time, and I am glad I was able to be there. I had an amazing group of people with me to make the whole time even better.

— Andrew Melnick, intern