Kehoe and Gloria were joined by more than half a dozen public officials from around the county to celebrate the beginning of Pride weekend. Voters in the area elected San Diego’s first openly gay elected official, Christine Kehoe to the City Council in 1993. Gloria's district includes the neighborhoods Hillcrest, North Park, South Park, Normal Heights and University Heights that have long been considered the most LGBT-friendly district in San Diego. “We know in the LGBT community, this is where we come to celebrate those wonderful court victories and mourn those horrible ballot losses. They are symbols we rally around in times of triumph and in moments of great sorrow,” said City Councilman Todd Gloria during the flag-raising rally. The San Diego Planning Commission rejected the project twice before the City Council unanimously approved it in May with about a dozen people in attendance at the meeting to officially oppose it. The community, including a nearby church were largely in support of that change.īut the rainbow flag raised Friday had a more difficult journey to approval. to name a street after the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, the late Harvey Milk, a San Francisco supervisor. In May, San Diego became the first city in the U.S. This year it will be the first parade of its kind to have active-duty and veteran military men and women march in uniform. Last year, the city was the first to have openly LGBT service members march in the Pride parade.
But San Diego also had its landmark moments. The entire country focused on the repeal of the 18-year ban on gays in the military and Barack Obama being the first sitting American president to publicly support gay marriage. The flag raising marks a banner year for the local gay community on a national stage.
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Though the rainbow flag was raised to its full height during the ceremony, it will be flown at half mast the rest of the weekend to honor the shooting victims.
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The flag raising ceremony began with a moment of silence to honor the 12 people who died and 58 people injured in the Colorado movie theater shooting earlier Friday morning. “The flag is such an intricate part of the community that stands for diversity, family and equality,” Schneider said. Schneider, 47, wasn’t the only one to get emotional as leaders of San Diego’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities pulled on the rope to send the 18-foot by 12-foot flag into the air to kick off the city’s 34th Pride festival that goes through Sunday. Jill Schneider couldn’t stop her tears as the giant rainbow flag rose on its 65-foot-tall flagpole in the heart of Hillcrest for the first time Friday. With valid ID: seniors, military, youth and students, $10 at the gate per day. Shuttle to parade and festival from Old Naval Hospital Parking Lot (Park Boulevard and Presidents Way)
Where: Marston Point in Balboa Park (near Sixth and Laurel streets). Where: Beginning at University Avenue and Normal Street proceeds west on University to Sixth Avenue, turns south on Sixth. The park is home to 16 museums and performing arts venues, ornate Spanish-Renaissance architecture, 1,200 acres of beautiful gardens and the world-famous San Diego Zoo.When: Saturday, 11 a.m. Just south of Hillcrest sits Balboa Park, the largest urban cultural park in North America and a hub for recreation, arts and culture, and community gatherings. On the west end, the Hillcrest sign marks the heart of the community, an area filled with quaint shops, a monthly art walk, restaurants and thrilling bars- said to be the area where "Sunday Funday" was born.
The market features over 175 vendors every Sunday - rain or shine - from 9am until 2pm. Pride Plaza also hosts the Hillcrest Farmers Market, known as San Diego's largest and best farmers market. The monumental rainbow flag on the east end serves as a community gathering point for celebrations, rallies, special events and also serves as the starting point for the nation's third largest LGBT Pride parade.
With a span of over a dozen blocks along University Avenue, the neighborhood has staked its claim of diversity with the 65 foot tall Hillcrest Pride Flag at Pride Plaza on one end of the rainbow, and its famed and historic Hillcrest sign on the other.