Re: 40th San Diego Gay Pride parade.
Dear Editor,
I am Gary B. Gulley, the organizer of the first Gay Pride parade in our city of San Diego in 1974.
I was also an initiator of Gays against the War 1972 and ‘73, the Gay Center 1972 and ‘73 and the founder of the Gay Student’s Union at San Diego State University in 1975 and organizer of Labor against the Briggs Initiative [Prop. 6] in 1978. I was the last president of the San Diego Gay Liberation Front in 1972 after Robert [Jess] H. Jessop.
I wish to thank all those who supported our community’s struggle for equal justice and civil rights with special thanks to ECS [Episcopal Community Services]. That year, 1974, over two hundred of us marched from New Town Park to a rally in Balboa Park in June. We did so without a permit from the City; for freedom is not by permit.
Since those early years our annual parades have now grown to be around 250,000 each year. Since the release of AIDS in Jan 1978 we have lost tens of thousands of our brothers here in San Diego. But, their loss has also led to the advanced biotech industries we have today. We can all take solace in knowing that their many deaths have gone on to benefit us now in so many ways.
Thanks to the many and diverse groupings that now make up our yearly parades. May the Good Lord look kindly upon you all.
With best regards for you and yours.
GARY B. GULLEY
San Diego
Pride of Hillcrest Block Party?
Dear Editor,
Pride is supposed to be a time to celebrate while helping out the many charitable organizations that represent the best of our community. But it appears that yet another event that is supposed to be for charity has instead been turned into something very different.
Until 2011, the Spirit of Stonewall Rally and Awards Ceremony was held in Balboa Park free of charge. But in 2012, the Hillcrest Business Association got San Diego Pride to agree to hold this event at the new Hillcrest Pride Flag and let the HBA host the first Pride of Hillcrest Block Party after. In exchange, San Diego Pride was given all of the proceeds from this Block Party to give back to the community just as it does with the proceeds from the two-day Pride Festival.
However, much like how it created controversy with Mardi Gras, the HBA changed the terms to benefit itself. In 2013, the HBA locked San Diego Pride into a contract that splits 50/50 any proceeds left after the HBA ran the Block Party and spent whatever it wants. San Diego Pride is forbidden from interfering or allowing anyone else to sponsor another Pride event on Friday.
And the devil is in other details. This contract also requires San Diego Pride to pay for all of the Pride Flag site “maintenance” bills the HBA sends it the rest of the year, which includes the many thousands of dollars needed to keep replacing the rainbow flags.
Last year, the HBA reported it cost $116,323 to host the Pride of Hillcrest Block Party, and that it took in $129,919. So after all that effort, San Diego Pride would have received only $6,798 – and much if not all of this had to go back to the HBA
The HBA will be the first to tell you they are not a charity. They are a mutual benefit corporation that by law cannot do anything on behalf of the greater community. San Diego Pride may believe that any money it gets is better than none from a free event; but there can be no pride in letting a private group take advantage of a community’s goodwill.
So please, by all means, attend the Spirit of Stonewall Rally and Awards Ceremony. Mark the start of the 40th annual Pride celebration. But afterwards, if you want to make sure your money helps people who need it, skip the Block Party and enjoy the many bars and other businesses in Hillcrest.
MAT WAHLSTROM
San Diego
