Dear Pride Family,
No one organization makes Pride possible. No one organization could possibly hope to serve the full needs of our beautifully diverse community. In many ways, San Diego Pride is a convener of organizations who show up to highlight, heal, and empower the vibrant spectrum of who we are. This is why every year we rely on our partners to help us in that work, and I wanted to take this opportunity in the lead-up to Pride to highlight the organizations that work with us at the Parade and Festival to help us all celebrate and connect.
Bankers Hill Community Group hosts a Clean Up Team that works to keep the neighborhood near the Festival grounds tidy by collecting and sorting trash, recycling, and composting.
San Diego Black LGBTQ Coalition hosts the Black Pride Resource area, near The Movement Stage, where you can find information and resources for the Black LGBT Community.
The Center coordinates the Children’s Garden for parents with children 13 and under to enjoy youth-centered activities and games. Face painting, cotton candy, popcorn, and snow cones.
Family Health Centers of San Diego is coordinating the Health & Wellness Resource Area this year to provide information, meditation, direct service resources, screenings, and Yoga.
Hillcrest Town Council volunteers are gracious enough to do a Monday after Pride Clean Up! When most in our community are still tired and recovering, they’re hard at work!
San Diego County Health Department is one of several groups to ensure we provide free, confidential HIV testing and referrals at the Pride Festival all weekend long.
SHERUK / ASOONAX / Rainbow Tribal Village is hosted by the Strong Hearted Native Women’s Coalition where you can find information and resources for Indigenous and Two-Spirit Communities.
Information Booth & Guest Relations are led by Volunteer with Cheli. They can assist you with accessibility information, entertainment schedules, Festival maps, lost & found, and more!
The Leather Realm is an 18+ area produced by San Diego Leather Community where they showcase entertainment, interactive exhibits, vendors, and workshops.
Lit Cafe is hosted by the San Diego Public Library where you can connect with queer authors, find LGBTQ books, see Drag Queen Story hours, and get special edition Pride Library cards!
Pride 5K & Fun Run hosted each year by Front Runners & Walkers San Diego raised much-needed funds for our year-round programs and The Center.
Queer History hosted by Lambda Archives helps us all take a look back to learn about the history of San Diego’s LGBTQ Community.
Trans Pride Village coordinated by The Center is an intentional space for transgender, genderqueer, intersex, and nonbinary information and resources.
Each of these organizations above brings in even more volunteers, resources, community groups, partners, and small businesses. Our own programs do similar work at the Recovery Village, Senior Cool Zones, Youth Zone, API Pride and Latine Pride Resource Areas. If we were to list all of those additional organizations, there would be hundreds.
The Festival has grown and diversified its programming over the years, so if you haven’t been in a while, I hope you take the time to really walk around and explore all that goes into making Pride weekend possible. It’s an honor to work alongside partners who strive every year to meet the ever-evolving needs of our community so they can help us all Thrive!
With Pride,
Fernando Z. López
Pronouns: they/them/theirs
[email protected]
Executive Director
San Diego Pride
Fernando Lopez is 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.
