I couldn’t be more proud to be writing to you from my family’s home state of Jalisco, Mexico, where the InterPride Conference and Annual General Meeting is finally back in person after three years. It’s also the first time the conference has been held in Latin America and in a Spanish speaking country. Next year, 2023, we’re bringing InterPride and a world of activists back to San Diego!
In 1981, just 12 years after the Stonewall Riots, San Diego Pride board member Doug Moore created a list of Pride organizers from around the country, and from that list in 1982 half a dozen Pride organizations met in Boston. In 1983, the second annual Pride Coordinator’s National Conference was held in San Diego as our movement’s activists and organizations made efforts to share strategies, resources, and best practices.
Over the years these early efforts grew into what is now called InterPride, a global organization that connects and uplifts LGBTQ activists and Pride organizers around the world, hosts an annual conference, oversees the WorldPride bid, and conducts research on the international Pride movement. In 2020 when Prides, as we knew them, came to a standstill, InterPride helped bring together organizers from 163 countries to produce the 27-hour virtual Global Pride celebration viewed by over 57 million people. Our staff and volunteers took an incredible leadership role in helping to make that possible.
With our international focus and partnership with the San Diego Diplomacy Council and the Department of State, we have met with 557 delegates from 137 countries around the world. In fact, over the last month we hosted fellows from Turkey and Thailand who are part of an international exchange program and are already doing inspiring LGBTQ justice work in their respective countries.
Registration, hotel bookings, and sponsorship opportunities are now open for InterPride 2023! There are even social passes available for folks who just want to come get to know our international guests without going to the entire conference. Volunteer opportunities will be announced as we approach the event next year. It’s an honor to be a small part of this LGBTQ global network-building legacy. I hope you will join us in some way next year as we bring a world of Pride to San Diego in pursuit of Justice with Joy!
With Pride,
Fernando Zweifach López
Pronouns: They/Them/Theirs
Executive Director | San Diego Pride
San Diego Pride raises funds primarily through festival ticket and beverage sales, and through sponsorships, and exhibitor fees. These funds support San Diego Pride’s community philanthropy which has distributed more than $2.5 million in advancement of its mission to foster pride, equality, and respect for all lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities locally, nationally, and globally.
