Rising Together in Defiance and Joy

Dear Community, 

For well over fifty years, Pride organizations across the US have worked – have fought – to protect and celebrate our communities, our legacies, and our futures. Day in and day out, our organizations work with individuals, build coalitions, raise funds, advocate with decision-makers, and spend time in-community, addressing the systemic bias that threatens our wellbeing. It can be daunting, and it can be exhausting – especially in moments like we are experiencing now, when so much of the progress we have made is under attack.

Our movement is a complex thing. It requires those committed to it to make room for the breadth of our communities. It requires deep listening, willingness to examine ourselves and our structures, and a constant recommitment to a shared vision of our world. As someone who has been working in our movement for two decades, it’s this complexity that I find the most challenging, and the most compelling.

Recently, I’ve heard a return to the refrain, “Pride started as a riot”. This is true. The origins of our movement, and of Pride itself lie in an uprising led by trans women of color, sex workers, and butch lesbians (shout out to Marsha, Sylvia, and Stormé). Stonewall is an important touchstone for our community – a reminder that we are capable of resistance in the face of oppression.

For me, it is equally important to remember what we were resisting: laws that regulated what types of clothes could be worn by men and by women. Laws that put limits on our expression of self, and allowed no space for the incredible variation in the human experience of gender. Laws that sought to limit us, our world, and our access to joy.

The thing is, the LGBTQIA+ community has never allowed anyone to limit our joy. We are, at our essence, beings of joy itself.

Even through the moments when our existence was deemed “illegal”; when our ways of exploring and expressing ourselves were deemed “unacceptable”; when our organizations were “uncharitable”; and when our families were considered “unnatural” we have endured. We have continued to find space for radical joy. That is the essence of Unbreakable Pride. And every time we celebrate, organize, and rise together, we embody our Unshakeable Power — the power to exist, to resist, and to thrive against all odds. 

You can hear it in the music that we listen to, the ways that we greet each other and adorn ourselves, and in our annual celebrations, full of color, and laughter, and life. If you pay close attention, you’ll find both defiance AND joy.

Yes, Pride began as a protest. It has its roots in resistance. We stand firmly in that space – unshakeable in our power. And, it’s equally important that we take every opportunity to drink in the liberation and joy that has always been our goal – unbreakable in our pride.

I am excited to be part of the team co-creating this year’s Pride Week events, and look forward to sharing this beautiful celebration with the San Diego community.

Kristin Flickinger
(she/her)
Interim Executive Director of San Diego Pride

Kristin has worked in the LGBTQ+ movement for 20+ years as a community organizer, fundraiser, Executive Director, and Director of Programs for the world’s largest LGBT organization. Her current focus is on working with organizations in transition, and fostering joy for leaders and the communities they serve.