After all the marching, celebrating and shouts of support, the monumental, colorful San Diego Pride Festival is now just a memory, and Pride Executive Director Fernando Lopez was basking in the afterglow Monday.
“It was the smoothest, best-running Pride Parade, festival, rally that I’ve been through in my 13 years," Lopez said.
They won’t have the final numbers in for several more days, but Lopez said it looks like their estimates of 300,000 or more people at the parade and the festival seem about right.
“I just couldn’t believe how incredible the staff, the volunteers, the contractors were. Everything just sort of went according to plan," they said.
There was a sense of relief in Lopez’s voice. With the rise of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and violence across the nation, there were concerns.
But Lopez said in San Diego at least, when it came to threats, things were actually better this year.
“There was a dramatic reduction in the number of aggressive emails that we received, or communications. So, I probably felt the safest I ever did going into this year’s event," they said.
In fact, Lopez contended that all the media attention to the anti-LGBTQ+ news might have actually ended up helping.
“I really think it put this lens on it that seemed to diminish things ... So I think all of that really just not only helped San Diego Pride be safe and successful, but Prides all over the country," said Lopez.
The San Diego Pride organization is the largest in the country. Lopez said the organization has been working on next year's event for months.
“You have to start planning those things out at least a year and a half to two years in advance," they said.
Keeping Pride going strong is about more than just the local LGBTQ+ community. It’s also about the pride San Diegans can take in a parade that’s the largest single-day event in the county, not to mention the two-day festival, coming off without a hitch.
