Hundreds of thousands of people, some rainbow-clad celebrants and some slack-jawed tourists, took up their positions on Market Street as the Pride Parade set off on its annual westward trek.

Along with the joyous celebrants, married couples of all gender combinations, and folks clad in leather, spandex, high heels and balloons were more cops than in past years. Security was increased all along the route, in light of the Orlando tragedy.

“Make America Gay Again,” read the words on more than one T-shirt, along with others that read, “I Can’t Even Think Straight.”

Hundreds of women on motorcycles, the celebrated Dykes on Bikes who traditionally lead the parade, revved up their noisy contraptions near the Ferry Building and got things started.

One rider had a large “Orlando” flag waving behind her. Others affixed “We are Orlando” stickers to the front of their bikes.

After them came the floats. They were decked out in ribbons, balloons, flags and any other permutation of rainbow decor.

Among the nonmotorized parade vehicles were a half-dozen rickshaws pulled by people dressed up as ponies. Aboard the rickshaws were the “leather marshals” for the parade. The ponies were members of Stampede, which calls itself a “San Francisco animal play group.”

‘In the pony space’

One of the ponies, who identified herself as Spring Pony and was wearing a leather pony mask, leather ears, leather blinders and a pair of wings, said she was excited to be pulling a rickshaw for nearly a mile through San Francisco, but would have to decline saying anything more.

“I’m in the pony space at the moment,” Spring Pony explained through her mask.

One of the leather marshals, Ray Tilton, said he had a “heavy heart and a lot of emotion mixed with a little bit of fear” after the Orlando shootings.

“But we’re not going to let that stop us from marching,” Tilton said.

Also rolling down Market Street were Donald Bird, 71, and his husband, David Young, 78. They were wearing gold blazers and riding in a gold Cadillac convertible to mark their golden anniversary as a couple. A sign on the Caddie read: “Together 50 years and still counting.”

Young said it “feels like it was just yesterday that we met” and pledged to return for their 75th anniversary at the Pride Parade in the year 2041.

“We’ll do this again,” Young said.

Kimberly Hogg and her wife, Lynette Kelly, of Berkeley marched to celebrate three years of marriage.

“I remember when I was younger and it wasn’t OK to be gay,” Hogg said. “You had to be careful about who you talked to, what you said. But to see hundreds of thousands of people waiting for us for hours — it sounds hokey, but you just feel proud to be gay.”

Another contingent was the Soul of Pride, a group focused on racial and economic justice. Javarre Wilson, who is black, said black gays are “still trying to find their place in the mainstream LGBT community.”

“We have a shared experience, but we also have a lot of division,” Wilson said. “White privilege is real in American society, but it’s also present in the LGBT community.”

Politicos on parade

Rolling down the street and waving at the overstuffed sidewalks on either side were any number of officeholders and those seeking to be. Among them were dueling U.S. Senate candidates Kamala Harris and Loretta Sanchez and dueling state Senate candidates Scott Wiener and Jane Kim. Also smiling at 5 mph were U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón, San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera and San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi, who was wearing an orange cape and urged paradegoers to throw their hands in the air “if you care about justice.”

Harris, the state attorney general, said Pride “isn’t just a day, it’s a way of life (and) the best antidote to fear.”

“In the wake of the Orlando massacre, it’s important to keep fighting for reasonable gun safety laws,” Harris said. “We have to reject the faulty premise that reasonable gun safety is against the Second Amendment.”

At Civic Center Plaza, state Sen. Mark Leno took the stage sporting a pair of leather pants and told the crowd that the Orlando massacre “didn’t happen in a vacuum. It happened in a social and political context.”

He blamed presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump for “wanting to take us backward and create a context for violence,” and urged the crowd to support Hillary Clinton who, he said, “fully embraces marriage equality, equity, respect, dignity and validation of every human life.”

The San Francisco celebration was similar in size and exuberance to other parades Sunday in New York and Chicago. Among those parading in New York was presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who walked for four blocks of the route while surrounded by Secret Service agents and police. It was reported to be the first appearance in a Pride Parade of a presumptive major party presidential candidate.

Crowds lighter on route

Along San Francisco’s parade route, crowds seemed lighter than in previous years. Blaine Andrews, 52, and husband Mark Gehrke, 59, came from their home in Hayward with their two dogs but were surprised to find they didn’t need to arrive as early as they did.

“Usually this area is 15 people deep,” Andrews said, standing at the front of parade barricades near Turk and Market streets with no one behind him.

Friends of his who heard about the added security decided it wasn’t worth it, he said. But Andrews said this year’s parade was better than ever.

“In the 30-plus years I’ve been coming here, I’ve never seen stuff like this,” Andrews said. “Just absolutely crazy things. Straight families with their kids waving flags. It’s a new world! It’s never been more inclusive.”

Patrick Brown, 41, from Oakland, who was marching in a contingent of meditation practitioners, said it was a “tough decision” to show up amid all the extra security.

“I understand they’re here for our safety, but for my community they make me feel less secure,” Brown said. “The increased police presence makes you feel you’re in a police state.”

Ads, ads and more ads

Nearby, veteran Pride Parade watcher Carol Jean Wisnieski said the parade was inspiring despite its increased commercialization. In this year’s parade were contingents representing banks, airlines, social media companies, ride-hailing companies, restaurants, health care providers, a utility and an Indian casino.

Wisnieski, who has been attending the parade for decades, said in the past “it wasn’t all about the advertising.”

Around Civic Center Plaza, where the parade disbanded, metal detectors screened arriving celebrants and security guards peeked into backpacks and bags.

San Francisco resident Todd Porter, 48, who has been to every Pride event since coming out 25 years ago, said he was grateful for the extra security.

“The amount of police is a deterrent for anyone that wants to do anything bad,” he said. “I think it was a great idea.”

On streets leading to the parade route, traffic was tied up tighter than a thong. Muni rerouted no fewer than 22 of its transit lines, including the F-Market streetcar, which, if it had attempted to negotiate Market Street, would quickly have found itself in bondage.

Steve Rubenstein, Evan Sernoffsky, Joaquin Palomino and Kimberly Veklerov are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com, esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com, jpalomino@sfchronicle.com, kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SteveRubeSF, @EvanSernoffsky, @JoaquinPalomino, @KVeklerov