FREMONT -- For the first time, Fremont will have an official presence at Sunday's San Francisco Pride Celebration and Parade.
Several dozen city residents will march in the parade under Fremont's banner after the City Council earlier this month approved the city's participation. "It's very exciting that Fremont will be represented, and we should be," Human Relations Commissioner Beth Hoffman said. "We're the fourth-largest city in the Bay Area."
Fremont council members Suzanne Chan and Anu Natarajan are scheduled to march in the parade, as is Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski, who is bringing a 1976 Cadillac.
Last year, about 40 Fremont residents, including Natarajan, walked together in the parade under a homemade Fremont banner. "It was very encouraging and fun. That's why we wanted to make it official this year," Hoffman said.
The city's application fee for the parade was $555.
Fremont has not always been in the vanguard of the gay rights movement.
The school district last year voted against recognizing Harvey Milk Day, and the city was nearly split on the 2008 proposition that outlawed gay marriage.
But Hoffman said that didn't factor into plans to march Sunday.
"It doesn't seem very political to me," she said. "Some people just want to march in the parade because they think it will be fun."