We all know how much is at stake in this election. Local, state, and federal elections will shift a balance of power that will either uplift the LGBTQ community or continue to strip away our rights. Knowing that the outcomes from this upcoming election will dictate how our daily lives are legislated and that LGBTQ civil rights are on the line can seem overwhelming to think about and even scary at times. After a strong decade of progress for the rights and protections of our community, particularly through several major Supreme Court victories, the thought of going backward is terrifying.
Our community, however, is resilient to our core. From the spark of Stonewall to the marches, parades, festivals, and rallies we now know as Pride, for decades, our movement has utilized the scale of these events and organizations to mobilize the power of our community. Pride events are where we have deployed hundreds of volunteers to register voters in our community, where we have educated our community about upcoming ballot initiatives and issues, and where we use our media reach to educate the broader public about the challenges our community is still facing.
In 1978 we marched and created visibility at Pride to protect our LGBTQ educators against Anita Bryant and Prop 6, the Briggs initiative. In 2008 we mobilized our community during Pride, fighting to protect our freedom to marry as we tried to defeat Prop 8. This year, like any other, it is vital that our community turns out to vote.
The LGBTQ community is not a monolith, but we are disproportionately impacted by issues of systemic inequality, our lived experiences compounded at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities. In order to fight against oppression, we stand in solidarity with broader social justice movements. Coming before us on the ballot this election will be decisions that seek to address issues of police accountability, affordable housing, as well as systemic racism and gender discrimination in access to employment, housing, and education. That is why, this year, San Diego Pride is supporting three measures: Measure A, Measure B, and Prop 16.
Our 2020 theme is Together We Rise. We chose it to be intentional about our intersectional efforts, to give focus and to underscore our need to work collaboratively even at a time when our nation seems more divided than ever. I hope you will vote this election. I hope you will volunteer with our nonpartisan Get OUT the Vote efforts. I hope you will show up together for our intersectional social justice movement because Together We Rise.
With Pride,
Fernando Zweifach López
Pronouns: They/Them/Theirs
Executive Director
San Diego Pride
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.
