San Diego’s biggest civic event, the annual Pride parade and festival drew record attendances this past weekend. According to San Diego LGBT Pride over 230,000 people witnessed 253 contingents marching in the parade. Contingent participation increased by 50 percent over 2016, with new additions such as the Black Panther Party, Interfaith and The San Diego Convention Center. “This weekend saw over 200,000 people descend on Hillcrest to send a message of unity,” said Chloe Janda, public relations manager for San Diego Pride.
This year’s unifying Pride theme, Allied in Action: United for Justice, helped to bring people out in huge numbers this year according to the organizers.
“We are hoping that Pride can bring the entire community together,” Bianca Burt, co-chair of the San Diego LGBT Pride Board told the Union Tribune. “There’s more that unites us than divides us. We are open to hearing from parts of the community that feel left out.”
During the parade the San Diego chapter of No Justice, No Pride held a peaceful rally at Sixth and Upas together with a native honor song in memory of the 17 trans women of color who have been murdered this year.
Despite the pre-Pride rhetoric the huge parade went ahead with very few reported problems. As the parade ended people headed to the festival site in Balboa Park to enjoy dozens of booths and a jam-packed music festival headlined by legendary group En Vogue.
Commenting on the crowds Fernando Lopez, director of operations for San Diego Pride said, “Ticket sales are up 20 percent from last year. We’re on track to have 48,000.”
The Salvation Army, a Buddhist group and Narcotics Anonymous were among the booths set up at the Pride Festival and volunteers say they had a good turnout of people interested in hearing more about them.
This year was the first time the Salvation Army charity sponsored a booth at the festival, said communications manager Rachael Fowler. “A lot of people have been pleasantly surprised to see us here,” said Fowler, adding the group had “a lot of good conversations with people” at the festival.
“Some people have heard that The Salvation Army doesn’t serve the LGBTQ community. But that’s not true,”said Fowler. “It is in our mission statement that we do not discriminate.”
People curious about Buddhism sought information from the booth sponsored by the Soka Gakkai International USA, a sect of Nichiren Buddhism.
“I think people are searching for answers they can’t find anywhere else,” said Rich Macklin, a volunteer. “(Buddhism) is a philosophy that becomes a daily practice. It unlocks your highest potential.”
Another volunteer, Patricia Howard, said, “We decided to come back this year at the festival after several years of not having a table. We have had quite a few discussions, actual dialogues,” said Howard, adding that people “are seeking some type of solution.”
A table by Narcotics Anonymous had literature about dozens of daily meetings all over the county. The two people at the table said a number of festival-goers expressed interest in recovery for either themselves or others.
Art Garcia, the enrollment coordinator for the Mankind Project, said this was the fourth year the organization had a table at the festival. The organization has 48-hour weekend retreats for men only that “can transform your world as a man.” The literature says the “new warrior training adventure is a modern male initiation and self-examination.” The Mankind Project’s next retreat is Oct. 20-22 and is located in a mountainous area.
Also with a table was the California Men’s Gathering that is more of a social organization with movie nights, pool parties, barbecues and educational workshops for mostly gay men. The literature says they are “connecting men at the heart” for personal growth.
As the last festival-goers made their way home on Sunday San Diego LGBT Pride summed up the weekend with a post on Facebook which read:
“2017 Pride is in the books, but our work together is far from over. Let’s keep the message of this year’s theme going until next Pride! Allied in Action: United for Justice!”
