Changes in San Diego reflected in San Diego’s Pride Parade, Festival

The hundreds of San Diegans who marched for gay rights in the mid-1970s walked through a city largely indifferent, even antagonistic, to the cause.

What strides they have made.

Today, up to 9,000 people will take part in the San Diego Pride Parade, including the mayor, police chief and seven of the eight City Council members. Organizers are expecting 175,000 spectators from across the country and as far away as Australia, Germany and Britain.

While San Diego’s parade may never be as big as those in San Francisco or Los Angeles, there are many signs of how San Diego has changed into a city in the forefront of the campaign for gay rights.

In November, in the days after California voted to ban same-sex marriage, the largest protest in the nation occurred in San Diego. More than 20,000 people marched, double any other city’s turnout.

The size of San Diego’s crowd came as a surprise to many, including Cleve Jones, the gay rights activist and lecturer who founded the AIDS Memorial Quilt and was an intern for slain San Francisco supervisor and gay icon Harvey Milk. Jones is the grand marshal of today’s parade and several others around the country.

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San Diego Union Tribune

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How long has Seattle supported gay rights?

Seattle: 1st in gay rights

Seattle has been at the vanguard of gay rights for at least three decades. Remember Anita Bryant? While she was getting cities across the county to repeal gay rights ordinances in the 1970s, Seattle voters held the line — the first city in America to vote in favor of gay rights. The City of Seattle adopted a fair employment ordinance in 1973 which specifically prohibited discrimination against gay people in the workplace, followed by a fair housing ordinance in 1975. But in 1978, Initiative 13 attempted to repeal the ordinances. It went down in defeat, and Seattle voters successful stopped the national movement to turn back the clock of gay rights. Since then, the cities of Tacoma, Spokane, and others followed suit; Seattle has elected openly gay city council members for decades and is considered to have one of the largest gay populations in the nation.

– Leonard Garfield

Sunday’s gay pride parade marks the event’s 32nd year. See photos from the event here.

Learn more about Seattle’s Museum of History and Industry at seattlehistory.org.

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Seattle Post Intelligencer

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Former DC Mayor Marion Barry Lone Dissenter On Gay Marriage

Listen Now [12 min 6 sec] Tell Me More, May 15, 2009 · City council members in the nation’s capitol voted recently to recognize the marriages of gay couples who relocate to the area from states that have legalized the unions, such as Iowa and New Hampshire. Former Mayor and current councilman Marion Barry was the only member to vote against the provision, making him both the subject of praise and criticism.
Barry defends his stance and explains how his predominantly black constituency influenced his decision. See Former DC Mayor Marion Barry Lone Dissenter On Gay Marriage
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