Harper Steele takes center stage at SF Pride

Axios

2 days ago

Harper Steele isn't new to Pride parades, but this year's will feel a bit different when she takes on the role of celebrity grand marshal for what she calls "the mother of Pride parades."
The big picture: The Los Angeles-based trans comedy writer and producer will anchor San Francisco's celebration of LGBTQ+ resilience amid an uptick in anti-trans incidents across the country.
Steele's "visibility and vulnerability are a powerful reminder that queer people can and must be celebrated in every context," SF Pride executive director Suzanne Ford said in a statement on Steele's involvement.
State of play: Steele's connection to the Bay Area runs deep. Since first hitch hiking to San Francisco in her 20s, she has often returned to see friends and spend time with record collections at Amoeba and Rasputin.
Places like San Francisco are "beacons" for many LGBTQ+ people, she told Axios. "My own journey, much of that was true."
Flashback: Steele grew up in Iowa City with "a skewed understanding of what it meant to be trans," as if it was "something psychologically deviant," she said. "I stuck to that for a while."
After navigating gender dysphoria for decades, she transitioned at age 59 and started coming out to friends in 2021.
"With a lot of trans people, that all-in moment happens three or four times, and then you retreat, advance, retreat," she said. "But at age 59, I didn't like the idea of getting older and not being authentic to myself."
Between the lines: Steele became more widely known after " Will & Harper," a 2024 documentary that followed her and longtime friend Will Ferrell on a road trip across America.
The film was Ferrell's idea, and it took her a while to agree.
"I was thinking about anti-trans bills passing across the country, and then I thought, 'Well, there's some use I can get out of this very popular actor... maybe more people will see this.'"
What they're saying:"I do think there's an environment where trans children can grow up in today's world... with less shame and guilt or no shame or guilt, which is the way we should all be allowed to grow," said Steele, who is now working on a memoir.
Though she acknowledged it's "very idealistic thinking," she remains "hopeful we can change hearts and minds for those young people."