20 years ago, I was reading the Washington Post and found out that an LGBTQ+ family organization was purposely not being invited to the White House Annual Easter Egg Roll. I thought, “Wow, many times there are a lot of children of LGBTQ+ parents who are not treated fairly,” so I contacted Carolina Ramos, then of “Family Matters”, and told her that I, along with the Imperial Court de San Diego (ICSD) wanted to hold a special Easter egg hunt on Easter Sunday for the children of LGBTQ+ parents. Then I got advice from a wonderful straight grandmother who had a Gay son who had put on a children’s Easter egg hunt; her name was Linda Childers. So that first year, about 50 children showed up with LGBTQ+ parents at Trolley Barn Park in University Heights and the ICSD, Family Matters of San Diego LGBT Community Center, Carolina, Linda and I held our first Easter Sunday event. In the last 20 years it has grown into an annual event and at times has drawn close to 600 children, and now not only children of LGBTQ+ parents, but an overwhelming number of straight parents and families (many living below the poverty line).
Every year our LGBTQ+ bars, businesses and entire community come together with the help of many organizations that assist us of the Imperial Court to put on this wonderful Easter Day event which now includes the Easter Bunny, games, snow cones, face painting, etc. Mayor Todd Gloria and California State Senate President pro Tempore Tony Atkins have been strong co-sponsors of our children’s Easter egg hunt since it began 20 years ago. The Leather Community and The Eagle always hold events that make the bicycle raffle/give away possible.
While I am proud to be the founder of this children’s event, trust me and believe “it takes a village” and at the center of this village is the Imperial Court de San Diego which takes the lead every year to organize this fun event.
This year our 50th Emperor Karen and Empress Sasha are the co-chairs and are doing an absolutely fantastic job along with the Board of Directors headed by President Emperor Darnell Williams.
We still need children’s baskets, bikes, donations etc. you can contact Karen at (619) 654-8423 and Sasha (619) 358-4130 for more information.
The 20th annual Children’s Easter Egg Hunt will be held on Easter Sunday, April 17th at Trolley Barn Park from 11AM to 3PM and all children and parents are invited.
