Gay Pride Parade Celebrates Activism : Festival: Celebration also focuses on future battles. Record crowd watches usual assortment of zany floats.

A record crowd estimated at about 300,000 cheered the 21st annual Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade in West Hollywood on Sunday, to celebrate past activism and achievement as well as look forward to a brighter future for people with AIDS.

Parade watchers stood 15 deep on Santa Monica Boulevard, basking in brilliant sunshine, and cheering, dancing and straining for a glimpse of some of the more zany floats, marching bands, motorcycle clubs, rodeo riders on horseback and baton twirlers that passed by.

The theme of the parade, part of a two-day celebration and street festival, was “Look to the Future.” While last year’s parade marked the 20th anniversary of a Greenwich Village uprising that is considered a turning point in the gay rights movement, this parade commemorated years of efforts to win recognition and civil rights protections for gays and lesbians.

“It also signifies a sense of hope that we have, looking to better times when our life will be equal (to that of others) and AIDS will be gone,” said David Smith, a spokesman for Christopher Street West/Los Angeles, a nonprofit group that sponsored the parade.

The parade was beamed to cable viewers nationwide.

The Rev. Troy Perry, one of the founders of Christopher Street West, was beaming with pride as he watched the celebration. “I was arrested right here on the boulevard” during a protest after the first gay rights parade, he said. “Things are so different now. I stand here today and I’m just amazed, and wonderfully proud that 20 years ago, some of us took that first step.”

More than 300 groups took part, including “Dykes on Bikes,” female impersonators in a group called the West Hollywood High School Cheerleaders, and the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Scientists, whose float carried a sign that read, “Nothing But Lab Coats In Our Closet.”

A smattering of politicians and dozens of AIDS activist groups also participated, as did parents of gays and lesbians, and people with AIDS. “By us walking, people ask questions, which is what we need,” said Robert Peterson, carrying a sign saying he had AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

A thunderous roar rose when the parade’s grand marshal, camp television star Elvira, “Mistress of the Dark,” passed by in a horse-drawn carriage.

Parties, impromptu as well as planned, flourished along the parade route. Many people just came for the sights and sounds.

“We watch it every year,” said Lois Murphy, a manager at a nearby hotel who came with her boyfriend and her 1-year-old daughter Michelle. “We come because it’s here, it’s fun, it’s interesting and it’s different.”

The parade was held against the backdrop of the annual gathering of AIDS researchers at the Sixth International Conference on AIDS, which closed in San Francisco on Sunday.

Many in the crowd, like Mike McGinley of Studio City, said they were more in the mood to celebrate than ever before because of what has happened at the conference.

“The (gay) community down here for the most part feels we’re going to see something good happen soon,” he said.