As Pride organizers, it’s our job to create [the Pride] celebration every year, and that celebration is vital. We need these spaces of joy, these spaces to be so unapologetically ourselves, in order to shore ourselves up for what feels like a constant battle.
And that unbridled queer and trans joy and unabashed embrace of our identities is itself its own form of resistance.
And: Pride commemorates the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall uprising, when our community members fought back against state-sanctioned police brutality and sparked what is now the global Pride movement.
Pride is a celebration, yes – and it is also a protest – the purpose of this celebration is liberation.
We’ve seen a dramatic increase in anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric and policy across the country, including here in San Diego, over the past few years. We have made progress that deserves to be celebrated, yes, and we still have a lot of work to do to achieve full pride, equality, and respect for all LGBTQIA+ people locally, nationally, and globally.
That work requires intentional reconnection to our roots as a movement for social justice and to our roots in throwing the first brick (*or penny, or punch, or shot glass – the stories vary!) at Stonewall 55 years ago.
During San Diego Pride, we come together to reconnect to those roots, especially at the Spirit of Stonewall Rally, where we get to honor the folks in our midst who are doing the work and come together to take action.
–Jen LaBarbera (they/them), interim co-executive director, San Diego Pride
July 13 – She Fest 2024 (10th anniversary)
She Fest, which for years was hosted by the North Park Community Park, is now taking up space at the base of the Hillcrest Pride Flag in the heart of the LGBTQ community.
She Fest’s annual event includes workshops, vendors, community organizations, performers, and community-building activities. All aspects of She Fest’s annual event center on 2SLGBTQIA+ women, non-binary people, and people who find community with these identities.
Join the fun Saturday, July 13, 12-3pm, with 10 workshops from 1-5 pm.
The workshops include:
The Art of Self-Seduction – In Our Nature; Bad-ass Boundaries Workshop: Tools to Get Your Needs Met – Your Therapy Room and Coach Alex Ray; Everyone belongs in the fitness world, including YOU! – The Experience Fitness & Mobility Studio; Matayuum Kahnop: Storytelling “is” Resistance! – Queer Sol Collective; Perinatal Mental Health Education – Emily Beltran, LCSW; Play with Your Queerness: Games to Connect with Yourself & Our Community – Kaleidoscope Training Center; Queer Ecosystems: Weaving Our Future Together Through Climate Collapse – Mothers Out Front & Honeycomb Collective; Reclamation Rope Lab – The Rope Collective; Sustainable Printmaking – Ratas Rags and Soledawg; Weaving with Words – Great Oak Press.
For details of each workshop and facilitator bios, visit bit.ly/45SZxpK.
The Hillcrest Pride Flag is located at 1500 University Ave., in Hillcrest (corner of Normal Street).
July 17 – Light up the Cathedral
Community members from all backgrounds and faiths are invited to join LGBTQ faith leaders and other faithful at St. Paul’s Cathedral on Wednesday, July 17, as they gather together at 7 pm to participate in the annual interfaith Pride celebration, sponsored by San Diego Pride.
St. Paul’s Dean Penny Bridges, LGBTQIA+ Faith Leaders and Allied Faith Leaders, will perform an Interfaith Pride Celebration service at St. Paul’s Cathedral. After the service, the Cathedral will be lit in rainbow colors, viewable from a distance.
St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral is in the Bankers Hill neighborhood, adjacent to Balboa Park, where the San Diego Pride Festival will take place on Pride weekend.
It is the formal seat of the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego and traces its origins to the first Protestant church in San Diego, founded in Old Town in 1853. The Very Reverend Penny Bridges is the Dean of the Cathedral.
St. Paul’s is located at 2728 Sixth Ave., with the cathedral entrance on the Fifth Avenue side. Limited parking on site and on local streets.
July 19 – Spirit of Stonewall Rally
“Our Pride celebrations began as a protest. Pride is still a protest, and our work is not yet done.” –San Diego Pride leadership
The Stonewall Inn Riots happened in NYC in 1969. San Diego’s first rally was held in 1975. San Diego Pride’s Spirit of Stonewall Rally is a time to recognize and honor the leaders who are working hard to preserve our gains and meet the many challenges still facing our community.
It is a time for us to honor our origins, celebrate those who are leading the way, and call our community to action around some of our movement’s most pressing issues. There will be an awards ceremony for this year’s Spirit of Stonewall honorees, speeches, live performances and an official Pride Flag raising ceremony.
This event is free to the public and there is limited seating on a first-come, first-serve basis. Accessibility seating is available in the front of the seating area near the stage.
Note: Those who purchased tickets for the separate Hillcrest Pride Block Party will be able to view and hear the rally from the adjoining block party grounds.
Presented by San Diego Pride, the rally includes a number of speakers. Erica Pinto, chairwoman of the Jamul Indian Village, will first offer an acknowledgment of the unceded Indigenous territories on which we celebrate.
The 2024 Spirit of Stonewall Rally’s keynote speaker will be Kierra Johnson, executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force.
Also included are two of the 2024 Spirit of Stonewall awardees, Ady Huertas, a longtime librarian (lesbrarian) at San Diego Public Library who has championed and overseen LGBTQA+ programs in our library system year-round, will talk about what is at stake when LGBTQIA+ books are banned and challenged.
Christine Kehoe, San Diego County’s first out LGBT elected official in 1992, who later made more history in the California State Assembly and Senate, is also part of San Diego Pride’s Founding Leadership. Kehoe will give remarks about the history (and future!) of San Diego’s LGBTQIA+ movement.
In addition to the speakers, a number of creatives will be part of the festivities, including: spoken word artist (and alum of the Pride Youth programs) Espi Ouapou (pen name Espi Love) will perform bringing together arts and advocacy; performing artist ViRR will share the Black national anthem, “Lift Ev’ry Voice And Sing”; and Larissa Balzer from the San Diego Women’s Chorus will perform “America The Beautiful” while a group put together by Pride’s Military Department present the colors in an all-veteran honor guard.
The Pride Youth Marching Band will perform during the start of the rally and also to close it out during the ceremonial raising of the giant Pride flag by Hillcrest Business Association to kickoff Pride Weekend.
The rally takes place Friday, July 19, from 6-7 pm at the Hillcrest Pride Flag, located at 1500 University Ave., (corner of Normal Street).
For more information, including details about the Spirit of Stonewall honorees, bios about each of the individual speakers and performing artists, accessibility and parking options, visit sdpride.org/rally-2024.
July 19 – Hillcrest Pride Block Party
The Hillcrest Pride Block Party, presented by the Hillcrest Business Association (HBA), is an annual event that gets the public dancing and ready for the weekend of Pride-related festivities.
Doors to the Block Party open at 5pm so you can grab a drink and find the best vantage point for the San Diego Pride Spirit of Stonewall Rally, which takes place starting at 6 pm in an adjoining area.
After the rally and the flag raising, the dancing, networking and fun begins at 7 pm and continues until 11 pm, with a performance by Aliyah’s Interlude. According to the HBA, “Performer, fashionista, influencer, Aliyah’s Interlude is poised on the eve of greatness with her hits like Fashion Icon and It Girl.”
DJs spinning from the Block Party stage this year are Jinx Mirage and Kinky Loops. Jinx Mirage, originally from the East Coast, has made a name for himself in the nightclub scene in Palm Springs over the last four years and looks forward to bringing their high energy style and blend of classic, disco and tech house to San Diego to kick off Pride weekend. Popular local DJ Kinky Loops is known for her infectious smile, heart-thumping beats and energetic performances showing her pure love of music. “DJing is about creating the energy of a crowd as a collective, letting people take that moment to let loose and dance, getting lost and free of stress on the dance floor… there is no happier moment as a DJ,” she said.
The massive Ferris Wheel is back, there will be vendors to peruse, the Stonewall Rally and flag raising, performances and dancing, and Red Bull is sponsoring an expansive Craft Cocktail Bar. Bartenders will be using spirits from event sponsors Jim Beam, Effen Vodka, Hornitos Tequila, and the BarKeep Company, along with beers from Coors Light and Blue Moon, with craft beer from Hop Valley Brewing.
Note: This is an all-ages event; if you plan on purchasing alcoholic drinks, IDs will be mandatory.
Tickets for the Hillcrest Block Party are $30 (plus a small fee) for the 5-11 pm event. To purchase tickets or to learn more about the event, visit bit.ly/4bwNHmL.
July 20 – Pride 5K Run & Walk
Bright and early before the Pride Parade starts, San Diego’s very own Front Runners and Walkers club will be setting the stage along the parade route for the annual Pride 5K Run & Walk.
More than 1,700 participants from around the world (there is a virtual option!) bring in approximately $40,000 every year in donations for Front Runners, San Diego Pride, and The Center’s Youth Housing Project.
The race and other activities begin at the corner of University Avenue and Centre Street, adjacent to the San Diego LGBT Community Center.
All ages and abilities are welcome to register. Festivities begin at 6:45 am with active bib-pick up (for live participants, only), a vendor village to peruse, a free “kid’s dash” at 7:30 am, and the 5K kicking off at 8 am.
Pre-race bib pick-up is on Friday, July 19, from 2-630 pm at The Center, located at 3909 Centre St. You can also pick up your bib on race day, between 6:30-7:45 at vendor village.
If you can’t pick up your bib Friday but want it in advance of race day, you can have someone else pick it up but they must have a photo of your photo ID, no exceptions.
So gather your friends, families, co-workers, and allies, and form a team. Or run by yourself, you’ll meet plenty of kindred spirits along the route. Come out to cheer! Or become a sponsor and support the community.
To learn more about the 5K, visit sdpride.org/5k. To learn more about Front Runners and Walkers, visit frwsd.org.
July 20 – San Diego Pride Parade
The San Diego Pride Parade steps off at the corner of University Avenue and Normal Street, the location of the Hillcrest Pride Flag, at 10 am, Saturday, July 20.
This is San Diego’s largest one-day civic event, which sees more than 100 parade entrants and close to 300,000 spectators along the 1.5 mile parade route in support of the local LGBT community.
The route, which always starts with louod vroom of the women motorcycle contingent, continues west on University to Sixth Avenue, where it turns south and marches left into Balboa Park at Upas Street and down Balboa Drive to Quince Street, toward the entrance of the Pride Festival at Marston Point.
This free event provides entertainment to spectators for nearly five hours, ending at 3 pm, when the streets are cleaned and opened back up for traffic.
Many attendees love to wait until the bitter end and be part of the enormous 300 feet-long Pride Flag that is carried by spectators from the start of the parade down the entire parade route and into Balboa Park.
San Diego Pride Festival
The Pride Festival is San Diego’s largest two-day event, highlighting the best in LGBTQ entertainment, interactive exhibits, cultural presentations, and community resources.
In its early years at Marston Point, the festival was below Juniper Street; now it stretches all the way to Laurel Street. The main stage was at the base of the big curve (right under the planes landing at Lindbergh Field) for many years, but for at least the last 10 years it has been at the top of the festival, close to the entrance.
When:
Saturday, July 20, 11 am – 10 pm
Sunday, July 21, 11 am – 9 pm
Location: Marston Point in Balboa Park (Sixth Avenue and Laurel Street)
Regular Tickets – available until July 19, 2024
- Weekend Pass – $38
- VIP access – $219
Day Of/Box office Only – Last Minute Tickets – Pride Weekend
- Weekend Pass – $42
- VIP access – $239
High-school-aged youth and younger: FREE at Box Office only
Seniors (65+): $15 at Box Office only
Volunteers: FREE with a completed 5-hour shift (register at sdpride.org)
VIP passes include:
- Weekend VIP Access
- Branded VIP credential and wristband
- Exclusive entrance
- Expanded VIP lounge
- Enhanced views of mainstage
- Upgraded VIP restrooms
- Catered food from 1 – 7 pm in VIP lounge
- Four hosted drinks per day redeemable at any festival bar
Entertainment
With four big stages at the festival, there are so many DJs and performers, we can’t possibly identify them all, but here are some highlights. For more info, visit sdpride.org.
Stonewall Main Stage – Todrick Hall, Rico Nasty, and Sheila E.
Fusion Stage – DJ Fariba
Movement Stage – Coco Channel and KSwift
Mundo Latino Stage – Betty Bangs
*This article has been updated with additional information for the San Diego Pride Festival.
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