TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Thousands of people packed the streets of Ybor City Saturday for Tampa Pride events.

“Pride means being able to express yourself without any type of judgment from anybody,” Laura Ruiz said. “Like, you see everybody, they have their own sense of creativity, being able to express themselves, and I just love it.”

To Prachi Misra, “pride” means to be seen.

“When you’re at pride, there’s a part of you that gets seen that is usually hidden away,” Misra said. “Usually, when it comes to sexuality, especially in the state of Florida, you have to hide it at work, you have to hide it in your day-to-day activities.”

“It’s a part of you that you have to hide from other people that never gets shown, but at pride, when you see a stranger walking down the street, it’s like, I recognize that we have this shared community and I recognize you for who you are,” she continued.

Abby Schnittker said this year’s pride event was extra special to her because of the current political climate.

“I think it means something different to every person,” she said. “Everyone has their own definition of what pride means to them and what it means to find their own identity, and I think that’s amazing.”

“I think that’s something that shouldn’t be taken away by any government or politicians that we have in power right now,” Schnittker continued.

Tampa Pride President Carrie W. also spoke on this year’s political climate, saying it brought its challenges.

“This year, with all the political climate and a lot of the things they’re saying, no DEI, we’ve lost a lot of the sponsors this year,” he said. “Probably over or around a dozen, dozen and a half.”

“So, it’s been kind of a challenging year, but I’ll tell you what, the community has become strong, and that’s what we like,” he concluded.