San Diego Pride
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San Diego Pride, also known as San Diego LGBT Pride, is a
nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
which sponsors an annual three-day celebration in
San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
,
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
every July, focusing on the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (
LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...
) community. The event features the
Pride Parade A pride parade (also known as pride march, pride event, or pride festival) is an outdoor event celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer culture, queer (LGBTQ) social and self-acceptance, achievements, LGBT rights by country o ...
on a Saturday, preceded by a block party in the Hillcrest neighborhood the night before, and followed by a two-day Pride Festival on Saturday and Sunday in Balboa Park. Pride Weekend is believed to be the largest civic event in the city of San Diego. The parade has more than 200 floats and entries and is viewed by a crowd of nearly 200,000 people.


Mission and vision

The organization describes its mission as "fostering pride, equality, and respect for all lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities locally, nationally, and globally" and its vision as "a world free of prejudice and bias".


History


Origins

In the 1970s, gay men in San Diego founded a Center for Social Services in a house at 2250 B Street. The Center became a social and political focus for the gay community. In June 1974 the Center hosted a gay pride event which included a yard sale and potluck dinner at the Center as well as an informal parade to Balboa Park and back. Marchers had to walk on the sidewalk since they had no city parade permit. In 1975 the community was able to secure permits for a rally and a 400-person march. The parade has been held almost every year since, despite organizational and financial problems, which were finally solved in 1989 with the formation of a permanent Pride organization with professional management.


1980s

In 1986, organizers had difficulties getting insurance coverage for the parade and festival, but were able to resolve the issues by moving the festival onto private property and negotiating reduced coverage requirements from the City of San Diego for the parade.


1990s

In 1991 the event was moved from June to July. In 1993 the parade was moved to its current route from Hillcrest along University Avenue and 6th Avenue to Balboa Park. San Diego Pride was incorporated in 1994. In 1994, former mayor and current talk-show host Roger Hedgecock organized a group of protesters calling themselves "The Normal People". They applied to march in the Pride parade “in political disagreement to the homosexual agenda.” When rejected by the organizers of the parade, Hedgecock filed a lawsuit, arguing that their exclusion violated San Diego's "Human Dignity Ordinance." The
Superior Court In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civil ...
rejected their claim, arguing that their right to march was not protected under the ordinance, since the parade was a private event and the "Normal People" message was intended to interfere with the event.


2000s

The 2001 San Diego Pride theme was "Diversity Creates Community" and featured the first official Pride program printed in both English and Spanish.


2010s

In 2011, several hundred active and retired military service members marched in the parade, in anticipation of the imminent removal of the "
Don't ask, don't tell "Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) was the official United States policy on military service of non-heterosexual people, instituted during the Clinton administration. The policy was issued under Department of Defense Directive 1304.26 on December ...
" rule for U.S. military personnel. They did not wear military uniforms, but rather T-shirts with the name of their branch of service. This was the first time that active-duty American military personnel publicly marched in a gay pride parade. In 2012, the U.S. Department of Defense granted permission for military personnel to wear their uniforms while participating the San Diego Pride Parade. This was the first time that United States military personnel were permitted to wear their service uniforms in such a parade. The local Navy command had already approved the wearing of Navy uniforms, but the DOD decided to add their official stamp of approval "since the event has garnered national media attention." The Defense Department stressed that this was a one-time approval and applied only to this particular parade, based on their determination that the event was a non-political civic event. Military members are generally permitted to participate in parades if the parade is nonpolitical, patriotic in nature, and a civic event, but they need specific permission to wear their uniforms at such an event. The DOD directive stated, "Based on our current knowledge of the event and existing policies, we hereby are granting approval for servicemembers in uniform to participate in this year's parade, provided servicemembers participate in their personal capacity and ensure the adherence to military service standards of appearance and wear of the military uniform." Two Republican congressmen objected to the decision, saying that the parade was political in nature, but organizers said it was not political, pointing out that both of San Diego's mayoral candidates marched in the parade, even though one is a conservative Republican and the other is a liberal Democrat. Also in 2012, the parade started from Harvey Milk Street, the first street in the nation to be named after gay civil rights icon Harvey Milk, and proceeded past a huge new
rainbow flag A rainbow flag is a multicolored flag consisting of the colors of the rainbow. The designs differ, but many of the colors are based on the spectral colors of the visible light spectrum. The LGBT flag introduced in 1978 is the most recognized u ...
, which was raised for the first time on July 20, 2012, to kick off the Pride festival. Both the street rename and the flag were unanimously approved by the City Council in May. The 2013, festival featured an outdoor wedding chapel (couples arranged for their own officiants) in celebration of the overturning of California Proposition 8 the previous month. Grand marshals were La Toya Jackson and George Takei with his husband Brad. In 2016, the organization was the subject of controversy as some community members were unhappy with the organization's actions, and demanded transparency. Specifically, they fired Executive Director
Stephen Whitburn Stephen Whitburn is an American politician serving as a member of the San Diego City Council from the 3rd district. He assumed office in December 2020. Early life and education Whitburn was born in West Germany and grew up in multiple states. H ...
, a former San Diego City Council candidate. Subsequently, a group called Save SD Pride was formed as a response to a perceived lack of transparency. In December 2016 the groups had reached a deal to reform the organization by adding an advisory council, as well as consolidating into one group to focus on the 2017 Pride event.


2020s

In 2020, the parade went virtual due to the
impact of the COVID-19 pandemic As of 2022, the COVID‑19 pandemic is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV‑2). Its impact has been broad, affecting general society, the ...
.
Essential workers A key worker, critical worker or essential worker is a public-sector or private-sector employee who is considered to provide an essential service. The term has been used in the United Kingdom in the context of workers who may find it difficult t ...
were declared "community grand marshall."
Adam Lambert Adam Mitchel Lambert (born January 29, 1982) is an American singer and songwriter. Since 2009, he has sold over 3 million albums and 5 million singles worldwide. Lambert is known for his dynamic vocal performances that fuse his theatrical tra ...
,
GiGi Goode Gigi Goode (born December 2, 1997) is an American drag queen and reality television personality known for being a runner-up on the twelfth season of the drag competition series ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. Following her appearance on ''Drag Race'', ...
and Margaret Cho shared messages of support. In 2021, San Diego Pride went forward without the usual large parade and festival. In place of the parade, a "Resilient Community March" was staged from Balboa Park to the pride flag in Hillcrest, with an estimated attendance of at least 10,000 people.


References


External links


Official website
{{Pride parades LGBT culture in San Diego Pride parades in California Festivals in San Diego Annual events in California