“Choose how you love:” Nashville Pride 2025

Drag queens from The Big Drag Bus march on Broadway and greet parade watchers during Nashville’s Pride parade on Saturday. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

A two-day celebration of LGBTQ+ pride and culture drew thousands of attendees to downtown Nashville on Saturday despite heat and an afternoon storm delay.

Area officials marched in the parade down Broadway including Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell, State Rep. Aftyn Behn, a Nashville Democrat, and a contingent of Metro Nashville Councilmembers. O’Connell and supporters wore shirts with the words, “Choose How You Love” — a play on the name of O’Connell’s transit program, “Choose How You Move.”

The festival portion of the event, held at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, took a several-hour hiatus mid-afternoon as a thunderstorm spurred a “shelter in place” order.

This year’s event comes amid increased targeting of the LGBTQ+ community  by President Donald Trump. On Thursday, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth confirmed the U.S.S. Harvey Milk — named for assassinated political leader, LGBTQ+ rights champion and Korean War Veteran — would be named the U.S.S. Oscar Peterson, a Medal of Honor winner who died in World War II. Among other anti-LGBTQ+ actions, Trump has also prohibited transgender people from serving in the military.

Pride was first celebrated in the aftermath of the 1969 Stonewall Riots, in which patrons of a New York bar and drag queens fought against police who had raided the Stonewall Inn because of its same-sex clientele. Nashville held its first Pride celebration in 1989.

The festival will also be held Sunday.