Following on from last year’s historic first-ever active duty military contingent taking part in a Pride parade, San Diego LGBT Pride has announced America’s Pride as the theme for its upcoming 38th annual Pride celebration. Taking place the weekend of July 20-22, the San Diego Pride weekend will include a large community rally, a mile long parade through Hillcrest, and a two-day festival in Balboa Park.
San Diego Pride adds that, with the America’s Pride theme it is looking to continue to break new ground and push forward on issues of equality.
Last year over 200 active duty and veteran military service members marched for the first time in the annual parade. The military contingent was covered on CNN, National Public Radio (NPR), Fox and CBS, and stories provided by the national news services Reuters and The Associated Press (AP) have been reprinted by hundreds of media outlets across the U.S. and Canada.
Speaking of the 2012 theme, Dwayne Crenshaw, executive director of San Diego LGBT Pride, says, “The promise of America grounded in the Constitution, contained in our Pledge of Allegiance, inscribed on the Statue of Liberty and enunciated by generations of our nation’s leaders is that America stands for liberty, for justice, for equality for all. This has been America’s Pride.”
As America’s seventh largest city, San Diego has seen its current mayor, Jerry Sanders, advocate for marriage equality along with a group of the nation’s mayors. He has also been involved in San Diego Unified school system instituting a comprehensive anti-bullying policy, reportedly the first and largest school district in the country to do so.
Adds Crenshaw, “We look forward to a fun, fantastic celebration here in San Diego of the advances in LGBT equality from the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ to the addition of Washington and Maryland to the growing list of states with marriage equality. If justice prevails, we will be able to celebrate marriage equality in California too. If not, marriage equality in California along with issues such as preventing bullying of LGBT youth to ending discrimination against LGBT individuals and families in all areas of life will take center stage as we promote the full realization of America’s Pride.”
For information about sponsoring San Diego Pride, participating in the parade, performing at the rally or festival, being an exhibitor/vendor or for volunteer opportunities, visit sandiegopride.org or contact the San Diego LGBT Pride office at 619-297-7683.
