1981
After a setback in the previous year, 1981 was a year of growth and change for Pride. From out of the ashes of the Lesbian/Gay Men’s Pride Alliance, came the Lambda Pride Association. The parade route changed from a march that started downtown to a parade that began at Balboa Park, went north into Hillcrest, and then went back to the park. It was also the first year that San Diego Pride included a festival.
Lambda Pride
Lambda Pride was formed by Doug Moore and other members of the community in an attempt to create an organization that would have some permanence and stability. It was a separate entity from the Center and would file for its own 501c3 status. Barbra Ripley, John Phingsten, Rev. Howard Williams and David Scott rounded out the Board of Directors. Lambda Pride would be the organization that produced the annual pride events for most of the 1980s.
New Parade Route
The parade route, which had historically started at Newtown Park, instead started from Balboa Park, heading north into Hillcrest to Robinson, and then returning to the park. The Update estimated the parade attracted 3,000 viewers. It was a huge jump after the previous year’s drop following the split with the lesbian separatists. The parade also became more exciting as contingents began to create more and more elaborate floats.
West Coast Production Company entered the first of many floats that would become parade favorites. WCPC won the Grand Marshal’s award for best float. The Los Angeles Gay Men’s Chorus won an award for best out-of-town contingent and the Gay Academic Union won the committee award. Other awards went to Saloon III and The Forum.
Protest at the Rally
The rally was held at the Spreckles Organ Pavilion as in previous years. It featured awards and speeches and performances by groups such as the Stonewall Singers. The biggest change was the presence of a small group of fundamentalists calling themselves the Moral Majority. One man was arrested after he attempted to take their signs from them. It would be the beginning of many years of growing confrontations with the fundamentalist groups in the ‘80s.
Finally, a Festival
The biggest change in 1981 was the addition of a festival after the parade. The first festival was only a block long and took place on Juniper between Fifth and Sixth streets. Although the scale was small, many of the components of today’s festivals were already present, including vendor booths, games, entertainment and beverages.
There were a few stumbling points along the way. Lambda Pride didn’t have a liquor license to sell beer, so it was given away for free. Even so, there was an incident when it was pointed out that nobody was scheduled to tend bar and somehow someone’s kids ended up distributing
beer until somebody noticed. There was also an incident with two intoxicated heterosexual men who tried to provoke a fight, but police officers were able to break it up. As a result, Lambda Pride decided to hold future festivals on private property where they could be open longer and have more control over attendance.
After…
Weeks after the 1981 Pride event, The Update would run an article on July 10th about a surge in deaths from a rare form of pneumonia among gay men. In hindsight, the article is a disturbing warning of the devastation to come.