If you have ever been in our Pride office, you may have noticed Pride posters on the walls from over the decades. One of the things that always strikes me is how in the early days of Pride some of the only sponsors were LGBTQ and ally owned small businesses. Discrimination and stigma were so rampant that major companies wouldn’t come near us, so we relied on individual contributions, button sales, and the financial support of our local LGBTQ small businesses.
Those early LGBTQ entrepreneurs created LGBTQ jobs, careers, future business owners, and financial stability in a community that has historically been underemployed. These business leaders have always maintained a philanthropic mindset as they helped to build our community, nonprofit landscape, and strong found-family bonds.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has stripped us all of our daily normalcy, health, and already taken too many from us, our local LGBTQ businesses are still leaning in to support their workforce and the entertainers who depend on those businesses for income to care for their own livelihood and families.
While our beloved local businesses adapt to continue serving us and those they employ, I hope that those of us who are healthy and financially stable enough to reciprocate their decades of support do so. On our website, we have added many local LGBTQ-specific community resources to help us endure the COVID-19 pandemic including ways to support the local businesses who have always been by our side.
Like many of you, I have wept over the last several weeks at the loss of colleagues and loved ones at the hand of this virus and the devastating impact it’s having on all of our lives. What keeps me going is witnessing the compassionate altruistic ingenuity of our community shine through as well all lean in to care for one another while staying physically apart. That’s what this community does best, care for each other. We always stand together, united, and Together We Rise.
With Love, Hope, and Pride,Fernando Zweifach López
Pronouns: They/Them/Theirs
Executive Director
San Diego Pride
Learn more about the ways you can support our local LGBT businesses here.
Fernando Lopez was the Executive Director of San Diego Pride. Lopez’s years of LGBT advocacy, nonprofit management, public education, diversity consulting, media relations, guest lectures, and organizing have made them a consistent presence ensuring the struggles of the LGBT community are ever visible.
