LGBTQs missing from SF's Rose Parade float

San Francisco is being represented in the 137th Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year’s Day for the first time in nearly 50 years, but don’t expect a nod to the LGBTQ community on the float. SF Travel, the city’s visitors bureau, has undertaken the project, and its CEO told the Bay Area Reporter that it was due to what the organization could fit on the 55 foot float, “Believe in San Francisco.”

“It is the first time in a very long time, and we leaned into sports and we touched the big assets. It was a matter of what we could get on the float,” SF Travel President and CEO Anna Marie Presutti told the B.A.R. in a phone interview December 15.

Presutti, a straight ally, said that she spoke recently to a group and ended her comments with “Happy Pride” even though it was not during Pride Month in June.

“Because every day is Pride,” she said.

Presutti said that SF Travel is already in the process for a Rose Parade float in 2027. “We’re thinking of leaning into arts and culture,” she said, adding that some sort of recognition of the LGBTQ community would fit into that.

But for 2026, the float will be without a rainbow flag or some other symbol of the queer community.

The float features familiar city landmarks – the Golden Gate Bridge, the Victorian Painted Ladies, Chinatown’s Dragon Gate, a cable car, and the Pier 39 sea lions at Fisherman’s Wharf. While there is not a depiction of a rainbow flag, officials noted the float reflects San Francisco.

“It’s all-encompassing of the city,” Lori Lincoln, SF Travel vice president global PR and media relations, stated in an email to the B.A.R. “The color palette reflects the diversity and beauty of the city.”

The Rose Parade will be televised nationally January 1, beginning at 8 a.m. on NBC, drawing millions of viewers, as well as the thousands of people who line the parade route in the Southern California city. The uniqueness of the parade is that floats have to use 100% all-natural materials, such as flowers, seeds, bark, leaves, spices, and moss to cover every visible surface.

Presutti said the parade is an opportunity for the 50 million people from around the globe who watch the televised broadcasts of it to discover the City-by-the-Bay as it continues to bounce back from the drop off in tourism seen during the height of the COVID pandemic. According to the travel bureau’s most recent annual visitor count, visitation in 2024 climbed 1.1% from 2023 to roughly 23.3 million visitors, but it was still down 10.4% compared to 2019.

“We have to get it right,” she said. “When that float makes the ‘Big Turn,’ there’s no question who that float belongs to.” She was referring to the sharp corner at Orange Grove and Colorado boulevards that floats have to carefully maneuver and is where the broadcasters’ booths are located.

“That’s the TV moment, when people will say, ‘Oh, San Francisco is here,’” Presutti said. “And I think that’s exactly what the float will do – show everything the city has to offer.”

In addition to the city’s well-known landmarks on the float, the city’s sports teams will be represented by marchers alongside it, Presutti explained, including the San Francisco Giants, Golden State Warriors, and Golden State Valkyries. Additionally, there will be members of the LGBTQ community in the contingent, which will consist of 14 people.

One of them is Taylor Cohn, a gay man who is senior manager of global content and communications at SF Travel. He told the B.A.R. that he is excited to be part of the festivities.

“When Anna Marie started, her goal was for the company and the brand to show up in unexpected places,” he said in a phone interview, adding the Rose Parade is part of that.

Presutti was named president and CEO of SF Travel in September 2024. She had been serving in an interim capacity since May of that year. She succeeded Joe D’Alessandro, a gay man who led the organization from 2006 to the end of 2023.

Cohn said he’s lived in San Francisco for 10 years and has worked for SF Travel for that time.

“Coming out of the COVID hole, we’re trying some new things,” he added.

Cohn said that the float is special for all San Franciscans.

“The float incorporates a number of recognizable San Francisco icons that represent some of the city’s most famous neighborhoods – and as a gay man who has lived in San Francisco for a decade, I can say that I’ve never felt unwelcome in any of them,” he added. “When visitors would ask which was the gay neighborhood of San Francisco, we at SF Travel would always answer, ‘all of them.’

“For the time, space, and materials we’ve been allotted, I think the float design is one that everyone in the city can be excited about and have pride in,” noted Cohn.

Help decorate the float
Presutti is also promoting that people can help decorate the float, starting Friday, December 19, through Sunday, December 21. There will be a special Winter Walk activation and ribbon-cutting in Union Square Friday at 11 a.m. on Stockton Street between Geary Boulevard and O’Farrell Street. At the ribbon-cutting, kids will decorate three of the signature float pieces. That kicks off a weekend of hand-on fun as members of the public can help out from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. through December 21, a news release noted.

Presutti noted the float will be under a tent so, in the event of rain, people won’t get wet.

This year’s Rose Parade theme is “The Magic in Teamwork.” The grand marshal is NBA legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson, who disclosed in 1991 that he’s living with HIV. That served as a public health catalyst and changed the public’s understanding of who’s at risk for the disease. Today, Johnson is an investor in several sports franchises and is the proud father of EJ, his son who enjoys gender-fluid dress and came out as gay in 2013.

Back in 2014, with same-sex marriage legal in California due to a federal court ruling, a Los Angeles male couple had made history by becoming the first same-sex couple to wed on a float in the Rose Parade, as CBS News reported at the time. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation had sponsored the float two years after entering its first in the beloved Southern California New Year’s tradition. 

As the Los Angeles-based nonprofit recalled in a Facebook post in January, that float was the first “in the 123 years of the Rose Parade that addressed a social issue, and the first to address HIV/AIDS." Except for 2021 and 2024, AHF has had floats in the parade ever since.

SF Travel officials said they are excited about representing the city in the 2026 parade.

“It’s an honor to showcase San Francisco on such a celebrated global stage,” Presutti stated. “Our float will capture the culture, diversity, and collaborative spirit that define our city, and we hope it sparks joy and inspiration for parade viewers everywhere.”

The 55 foot float is designed by Fiesta Productions Inc. The release stated that more than 100,000 blooms will bring the city’s icons to life in an organic explosion of color.

“We set out to capture the spirit, color, and creativity that make San Francisco one of the world’s most beloved cities,” stated lead designer Mike Abboud. “This design celebrates its iconic beauty, diverse culture, and enduring welcome to travelers everywhere.”

Lincoln stated that SF Travel, which is paying for and sponsoring the float, submitted an application to the Rose Parade and it was accepted. She did not have an estimated cost to share.

Presutti also declined to share cost figures, though she said it was “incredibly reasonable.” Most of the cost is in materials and paying the float builders, she noted.

“We were able to do it even being a not-for-profit,” she said.

Presutti said she will head down to Pasadena December 28. The float will undergo its final decorations in time for judging December 30.

The last year there was a San Francisco float in the parade was 1978, Lincoln stated, adding the first year the city had a float was 1917.