Bluegrass Nonprofit Split Over Float in San Francisco Gay Pride Parade

It was a simple idea: A live bluegrass band would “pick” music from the back of a flatbed truck. But the choice of venue—San Francisco’s annual Gay Pride Parade—wasn’t.

The California Bluegrass Association, a nonprofit founded in 1975, is supported by nearly 3,000 banjo-playing members. And as the twangy music has gained popularity on California’s coast, deep chasms over how and where the tunes should be strummed have formed.

In a state segregated by a patchwork of blue and red county lines, the tension between liberals and conservatives is no more emblematic than this: A fight over whether a bluegrass band sponsored by a statewide nonprofit should participate in a gay pride celebration. About a half-dozen people have dropped their $25 annual memberships over the issue—but there are more than 100 new members.