New Orleans suburb takes the streets to “Protest with Pride”

Mandeville, LA – On Saturday, June 7, over 1000 protestors gathered in Mandeville to celebrate the second annual Northshore Pride. The streets were closed along the Mandeville Lakefront for the determined protesters to march carrying signs and flags in 100-degree temperatures. Supportive crowds from diverse Northshore communities lined the route, creating a buffer between the marchers and small groups of Christian-fundamentalist counter-protesters.

Large signs towards the front of the parade carried messages such as “We march not just for joy, but for justice” and “We will not be silent. Will you raise your voice with us?” Behind the main banner for the parade, flag holders carried the flags representing different communities in the LGBTQ+ umbrella. In the center, a Palestinian woman flew the flag of Palestine to show solidarity amidst the genocide being carried out by Israel with the support of the U.S. government.

The Northshore is a string of small suburban towns 40 minutes north of New Orleans across Lake Pontchartrain, and the area is politically dominated by wealthy conservative Republicans. After facing longtime barriers from local politicians and reactionaries, organizers were able to successfully host the first Northshore Pride in 2024.

This defiant step was significant because it was taken during the first year of MAGA Governor Jeff Landry’s repressive administration. Landry has been a reactionary leader of anti-LGBTQ and anti-choice attacks in Louisiana, even before becoming governor, when he served as attorney general. In his first year in office, he has taken every opportunity to pass anti-LGBTQ legislation such as a “Don’t Say Gay” bill and attacks the inclusion of LGBTQ people in public life.

March attendance doubled from last year for the second annual Northshore Pride in 2025. The event also received growing support from the local community, with many rallying in opposition to attacks from the Trump administration. This year, organizers chose the theme “Protesting with Pride” to capture the broad anti-Trump movement’s spirit of solidarity and resistance.

The march featured solidarity with Palestine prominently despite pushback from local Zionist groups. The organization Northshore for Palestine led a contingent with members of New Orleans groups Queer and Trans Community Action Project and New Orleans Stop Helping Israel’s Ports. The contingent carried on the militant legacy of Stonewall as it led the crowd in radical chants while most other contingents danced to music on stereos. The crowd was fired up by a chant quoting the Stonewall hero Marsha P. Johnson, “Not one of us is free, until all of us are free!”

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