After a pandemic pause,
San Diego's massive and beloved pride
parade will be back in person this July,
attracting hundreds of thousands
of people from all over the world.
Welcome back. I'm Carla keto.
I'm Marcella Lee.
The beginnings of San Diego Pride,
though nearly 50 years
ago were much simpler.
CBS, as Richard Allen,
takes a look back at San Diego.
First Pride parade as well
as the powerhouse community
organization that San Diego
Pride has now become. Well,
that's right.
What eventually became San Diego Pride?
Had it start at this house in Golden Hill,
a small and dedicated group of
activists came together to plan
what was then called Gay Pride Day,
which has grown over the years into
San Diego's largest civic event.
Sometimes I stop in and look back and
think that that was pretty amazing.
Almost half a century ago,
San Diego and Jerry Delno helped
organize San Diego's first officially
permitted Pride parade. In 1975.
We just, you know.
Flew by the seat of our pants
following the Stonewall
riots in New York in 1969,
which gave birth to the modern
gay liberation movement.
Pride marchers began to sprout
up in other major cities during
the early 70s while in San Diego,
activists helped smaller gay Inns
and solidarity events and even
an unofficial March in 1974,
so it was just
time for us to do it. Now
85 years old, delno,
who's been recognized as one of the
original leaders of San Diego LGBT.
Movement had already been part
of Philadelphia's Pride parade,
along with her partner at the time.
All the sudden we were the March experts.
Because we had done this before
with only a few dozen people and two cars
that first parade started in downtown San
Diego heading up 6th Ave to Balboa Park.
Some people with the handmade signs.
Some people were masks, ending
with a rally in the park where
more folks had already gathered. We
had a little stage like a soapbox.
It was all very primitive in a way.
If you compare
it with what we do today.
50 years of pride
growing over the decades into a
massive three day event with a rally
parade and festival attracting
hundreds of thousands of people.
So this is a very first pride budget.
Fernando Lopez is executive
director of San Diego Pride,
which began with a few $100 and now
operates with a multi $1,000,000 budget
over the years. Slowly
but surely evolved into this.
You know, parade
as the marches and rallies
have expanded over the years.
Now beginning in the heart of
Hillcrest and ending in Balboa Park,
so has San Diego's pride organization,
creating far more than the parade,
which in 2019 broke
records with an estimated 360,000 people.
Now San Diego Pride is one of
the largest prides in the world,
the most philanthropic pride
in the world. Sponsoring
more than three dozen different
programs and producing some 175 events.
Year round serving the
entire LGBTQ plus community.
We even have an interfaith program and
are all these arts and music program.
We have a youth marching band
like there's so much going on here
throughout the pandemic. Olive,
San Diego's pride programs went virtual,
and while the in person parade was on pause,
pride held a free speech March
our community. So innovative and creative.
It was just really beautiful to see
how we were able to be resilient
through that whole entire time. While
some other pride organizations
throughout the country such as Boston.
Were not as fortunate and
folded during this tough time.
San Diego's became stronger than ever.
We're a community that knows how
to lean in and support one another.
Whether it's through, you know,
the ongoing HIV and AIDS epidemic
or ongoing legislative attacks.
And so when this pandemic hit two,
we just knew how to support each other.
A spirit of resilience that
stretches back to that first parade,
and the origins of San Diego
Pride as Jerry Delno can attest,
we have done ourselves proud now.
Richard Allen CBS 8
so happy we're gonna be
in person again this year.
We were fortunate enough CBS
8 to participate in the last
two before the pandemic.
We wanna get that back out there
again to be apart of it once again
going bigger this year and what a
great look back from 50 years ago
to see how it started and just how
much progress has been made and
still work to be done. Of course a
good history right there.
Great story Richard Allen and
contributed by Brian Kugler.
Producer here. They worked together
hard on that story. Team effort.