On Saturday, July 17, Pride attendees will be able to tune in to our virtual Pride Live or join the LGBTQ community in person for resilient celebration throughout the city and county. Instead of those 350,000 people at the Pride parade or the more than 50,000 people at a Pride festival, there will be smaller, scaled-back in-person events throughout the county alongside virtual options for those who still want or need to celebrate Pride from home. This year, we’re celebrating both our resilient past and the resilience we continue to find in each other with a series of hybrid in-person and virtual events. For those who are able, coming back out either virtually or in-person with other LGBTQ folks will be more important than ever. The economic and health consequences of COVID-19 have disproportionately affected LGBTQ communities, and our community has endured so many losses over the past year and a half. Reports from both the Trevor Project and SAGE have found that LGBTQ youth and seniors, respectively, have experienced significant social isolation during the pandemic, putting folks at risk for negative mental and physical health outcomes. The pandemic has been particularly hard on LGBTQ communities who have spent a long time apart from their chosen families. To recycle some overused buzzwords from 2020, we’re again pivoting to a new version of Pride in this still-unprecedented time. While we are all finding our paths back to some sort of “normal,” a typical San Diego Pride this July still isn’t in the cards. Happy Pride 2021! Yet again, Pride will look much different this year - in a new and exciting way. LaBarbera (they/she) is the education and advocacy manager at San Diego Pride and lives in Normal Heights.

Viejas casino san diego ca