Hatley Clifford watched from the sidewalk as their partner prepared a library-inspired float with banned books for Baltimore’s 50th annual Pride Parade.

As a high school English teacher, Clifford is teaching a class about LGBTQA+ literature in the spring with the goal to center queer stories, many of which have been banned by President Donald Trump’s administration.

“I think it’s really important that Pride started as a riot and that we also get to celebrate, but we also need to be here to show that we’re not going to go away because [Trump] wants to make us extinct,” Clifford said. “He can’t just take our rights and make us invisible.”

Having attended last year’s parade after moving from Indiana, Clifford said Baltimore’s Pride celebration was far “bigger, brighter and gayer” than they were used to.

They were among thousands who packed the streets of Charles Village on Saturday afternoon for the annual Pride tradition as signs of protest of Trump and his administration were on display.

“We’re celebrating our 50 years at a time when most folks are actually afraid to say that they support something,” Tramour Wilson, chief director of special projects at The Pride Center, said. “I think that is what makes this year even more special, that other people come out bigger and bolder and more proud and happy for what we have to offer.”

Cheerleaders glided through the air on one leg while tubas followed closely behind. An Oriole mascot walked by waving a Pride flag. The Baltimore Children & Youth Fund featured a troupe of drummers that left a wake of movement in the crowd as it passed by.

Almost six decades ago and a few blocks over, Mark Harris was a teenager working at the community pool when the Stonewall riots unfolded in New York City and the gay rights movement sparked a new beginning.

Harris, who is now 73, stood next to the parade’s path wearing a feathered hat and an outfit that was exclusively rainbow colored.

“I really wish it could have been like this back then,” Harris said, wiping his eye and looking at the parade as it swept by. “My life would have been a whole lot smoother. I don’t know how else to put it.”

Harris said he teared up watching the parade as it started, mostly because he felt so happy for everybody.

In a political climate where LGBTQA+ members, particularly transgender people, face repeated attacks by the Trump administration, many community members said it was more important than ever to attend this year.

Carmen Banks, a Baltimore local who is transgender, walked quickly along the sideline of the parade with her friend. Banks, who wore a star-shaped glitter by her eyes and a pink fishnet dress, came to the parade for the community and celebration of trans pride.

“I also came because Trump told us we have to use the men’s bathrooms,” Banks, who is an actress and social media influencer, said. “We are standing for what’s right, and I believe wholeheartedly that we should be allowed to be who we are.”

Nineteen-year-old Maddie Brown watched the parade from the steps of a nearby building, where she lounged with three of her friends from high school.

Brown, who is bisexual, said she comes to the parade for all the colors and “to celebrate being me.”

Vermelha Noir stood on the surface of a Latinx-themed float that drifted along the parade route, wearing a red-and-black handmade dress from Peru.

Noir, who is originally from Mexico, has been in Baltimore for only a few days.

“What I have seen is that Baltimore embraces queerness,” Noir said. “Even though right now I’m in a traditional dress, I like how [the city] embraces different ways of expression.”

Many community members attended the day’s celebrations but not everyone.

Rik Newton-Treadway, 62, has been attending Baltimore’s Pride celebrations since 1978 — only three years after its first parade in 1975.

“I discovered the gay community at 15, and I contribute that to saving my life,” Newton-Treadway said. “I know how important it was the first time I found people like me. You actually realize you’re not alone and you’re not the only one.”

Newton-Treadway has participated in Pride parades for decades and starred in a variety of Pride events this week. Today, while music thumped at the parade outside, he and his friends took the day for themselves.

“Some people are standing away from certain situations during Pride because of the political climate in the United States,” Newton-Treadway said. “Our communities are under attack, and not just from the government.”

At home, he and his friends spent the day together, celebrating Pride and talking about LGBTQA+ history.

“We were hanging out and celebrating, just in a different way,” Newton-Treadway said.

For Pennsylvania native Allison Cherry, who now lives in Baltimore, the community at Baltimore’s Pride celebrations has kept her coming back for three years in a row.

“It gives me so much emotion to just be here amongst other people who are like us, like me, and just want to live their lives however they want to,” Cherry said.

She attended the parade with her 4-year-old stepson, who was wearing a yellow dress.

“Regardless of what he wants to do and be when he grows up, he’s going to be accepted.”