LaBarbera (they/she) is the education and advocacy manager at San Diego Pride and lives in Normal Heights.
Happy Pride 2021! Yet again, Pride will look much different this year — in a new and exciting way. While we are all finding our paths back to some sort of “normal,” a typical San Diego Pride this July still isn’t in the cards. To recycle some overused buzzwords from 2020, we’re again pivoting to a new version of Pride in this still-unprecedented time.
The pandemic has been particularly hard on LGBTQ communities who have spent a long time apart from their chosen families. Reports from both the Trevor Project and SAGE have found that LGBTQ youth and seniors, respectively, have experienced significant social isolation during the pandemic, putting folks at risk for negative mental and physical health outcomes. The economic and health consequences of COVID-19 have disproportionately affected LGBTQ communities, and our community has endured so many losses over the past year and a half. For those who are able, coming back out either virtually or in-person with other LGBTQ folks will be more important than ever.
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This year, we’re celebrating both our resilient past and the resilience we continue to find in each other with a series of hybrid in-person and virtual events. Instead of those 350,000 people at the Pride parade or the more than 50,000 people at a Pride festival, there will be smaller, scaled-back in-person events throughout the county alongside virtual options for those who still want or need to celebrate Pride from home.
On Saturday, July 17, Pride attendees will be able to tune in to our virtual Pride Live or join the LGBTQ community in person for resilient celebration throughout the city and county. For example, folks can join the LGBTQ Latinx Coalition at Mujeres Brew House (a new women-owned brewery space in Barrio Logan), take the elevator up to the rooftop of the Hotel Solamar to celebrate Black Pride with the San Diego Black LGBTQ Coalition, picnic and play yard games in the LGBTQ youth-only space at the Pride Youth Picnic in Mission Hills, or head out to the Viejas Casino to party with Gottmik at Pride at the Park.
And, of course, San Diego Pride and the LGBTQ community still has a home base in Hillcrest, where the Pride Block Party and our LGBTQ-owned businesses are eager to welcome folks back throughout Pride week. She Fest, the annual festival centering women and non-binary folks, is returning to help kick off Pride week on July 10 as a hybrid virtual/in-person event, with an incredible festival planned for the area around Pride Plaza. Our annual Spirit of Stonewall Rally is also returning in-person to the Hillcrest Pride Flag, and Pride events are planned in Hillcrest throughout Pride week.
Pride has at times been a riot, has always been a protest, and more recently has been — thanks to those who paved the way — a celebration. The Pride movement is rooted in protest, in claiming space for our community, in fighting back against state-sanctioned oppression and violence. And here in San Diego, our first “parade” was actually a march — staged without a permit and without permission, while many members of our community marched with bags over their heads to protect their identities. In that spirit and in recognition of that history, we’re returning to our roots in a new way this year, coming together on Sunday, July 11, to march in solidarity, in resilience, in community from Balboa Park to the heart of Hillcrest.
Hillcrest continues to be the heart of the “gayborhood,” and it’s also important to remember that Pride belongs everywhere in San Diego. As Pride volunteers and staff have planned these dispersed Pride events, it has been heartening and exciting to watch these additional neighborhoods and businesses throughout the county welcome and embrace the LGBTQ community. All of these events mentioned are just a sampling of the protests, celebrations and gatherings happening throughout Pride week in San Diego. In pivoting from a centralized festival and parade to these dispersed virtual and in-person events, the LGBTQ community is shining in a new way.
Pride offers LGBTQ people, whether or not they’re fully “out,” an opportunity to be their whole, beautiful, true selves, whether that’s for a minute, an hour, a da, or a lifetime. A beautiful, resilient season is upon us, San Diego. Come out and join us!
Visit sdpride.org/pride for more information on all the San Diego Pride 2021 events.
