Bradley Manning Contingent in Pride Parade

While it appeared to me there were 1,000 people in our contingent, if 300 is correct, so be it. We had a diverse crowd of all ages in a wide variety of rainbow regalia from rainbow hats to rainbow beads, to rainbow skirts and shirts, a sizzling hot marching band decked out in pink, among other colors, large and small banners and posters, as well as the ubiquitous Bradley Manning stickers, this time not just in orange and black, but also in pink and with a rainbow background (3 different stickers) which many of us wore. Posters and stickers were given to the thousands of people watching as we marched in front of our 2 vehicles, a diesel cable car and an old 1950s pickup truck, all decked out in Bradley Manning posters, carrying people who could not walk. We had to wait 4 hours, which hopefully will change next year when a better SF Pride Board is installed, but it was worth the wait. We chanted Free Bradley Manning, Abolish the Military, Grand Marshall not Court Martial! Most importantly, the audience responded ENTHUSIASTICALLY to our contingent, and gladly took posters and stickers, joining in the chant FREE BRADLEY MANNING!

First off, the Facebook contingent was larger.

I'm all for people standing up for what they believe in, HOWEVER...to put Bradley Manning and Harvey Milk together...in my opinion...was wrong. They should stand alone, each standing on what they did individually and on their own merit...

I was very turned off by that...

My photo album of the Bradley Manning contingent at SF Pride on June 30, 2013. (URL link above) I would estimate about 500+ in the Bradley Manning contingent

Whatever the number of marchers in our Bradley Manning contingent, we were far outnumbered by the many, many onlookers who were wearing the orange or pink "Free Bradley Manning" stickers.

See link:
People have difficulty estimating crowd numbers, but now we have official report from organizers: press release from Bradley Manning Support Network says 2000 supporters marched in the SF Pride Parade. Also: The anchors of KOFY TV’s live coverage said it was the largest non-corporate contingent in the Parade (in case you are interested Google was reportedly the largest corporate contingent).