Raleigh held its first Pride parade in 1988. Take a look back at photos from that day.

June marks Pride Month, a time to celebrate and commemorate Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer people and their history.

Raleigh’s first Gay Pride march was held Saturday, June 25, 1988, according to photos from The News & Observer archives.

“People need to know we are their neighbors,” said P. Susan Mitchell, who helped organize the event, at the time. “Some of us are their best friends. Some of us are their lawyers. Some of us — like me — are their nurses. We’re all out there, and we’ve always been out there.”

The participants, numbering over 2,000, gathered at NC State’s Memorial Bell Tower and marched down Hillsborough Street to Capitol Square.

Then-Raleigh City Council Member Mary Watson Nooe attended the march, saying, “I wanted to show that I am an ally.

“I felt like that was a good way to do that,” Nooe said. “We’re all diminished by discrimination, and if we recognize the things we do together and do together well, then we can build a better society.”

Here are photos from The N&O archives of the event.

This story was originally published June 25, 2026 at 2:44 PM with the headline "Raleigh held its first Pride parade in 1988. Take a look back at photos from that day.."