History of Pride and San Diego LGBT Timeline
Established in 1974 as a sponsored program of The Center for Social Services, Inc. (The Lesbian & Gay Men's Community Center) and then incorporated unto it's own in 1994 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, San Diego Lesbian and Gay Pride exists to produce civic, cultural and educational events which support and encourage a sense of pride within San Diego's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community.
FOR THE RECORD: An editing error resulted in a significant 
milestone being omitted from the timeline printed in the 2008 Pride Guide. We apologize for the error. The following milestone is a significant part of the Pride history in San Diego.
1974 - 200 gays and lesbians march in protest for the first time through the streets of downtown SD; some cover their heads with paper bags for fear of reprisal - This action is recognized as the first organized march in San Diego.
1969 -
June 28- the community fights back following a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village (police harassment was common at that time for gay bar patrons due to a NYC law requiring a minimum of three articles of "gender-appropriate clothing")Later termed "the Stonewall Uprising", the riot lasts three days.
1970 -
* The nation's first Gay Pride March is held in New York City
* The Gay Information Center, run by Stephen Bell, goes into operation, as San Diego's first gay hotline
* San Diego's Metropolitan Community Church is charted on June 6th, with "Papa" John Hose as the first full-time pastor.
1971 -
* SDSU's Gay Liberation Front, founded by Bob Brunsting, protests police harassment by picketing the SDPD, one of the first organized gay public demonstrations in SD history
1973 -
* The San Diego Gay Center for Social Services opens at 2250 B. St.
* The National Gay Task Force ("Lesbian" was added later) is formed to "bring gay liberation into the mainstream of American civil rights"
* The Royal Court de San Diego holds it first coronation, electing Empress Tawny Tann and Emperor Omar
1974 -
* 200 gays and lesbians march in protest for the first time through the streets of downtown SD; some cover their heads with paper bags for fear of reprisal - This action is recognized as the first organized march in San Diego
* The Mr. and Miss Gay San Diego Contest is established
* Congress members Bella Abzug and Ed Koch introduce the first federal bill to include language directed at protecting the rights of gays and lesbians; the bill was defeated
* American Psychological Association removes homosexuality from its list of psychological disorders
1975 -
* The first permit was issued by the San Diego Police Department granting permission for the San Diego Pride Parade to occur
* The San Diego Democratic Club is founded by Bob Lynn, for "lesbian and gay political action"
1976 -
* Stepping Stone is founded. Later noted as opening their doors in 1975
1977 -
* Anita Bryant leads a successful campaign to repeal a gay rights law in Dade County, Fl.
* San Diego County sends the state's largest contingent to Sacramento in support of AB1, Art Argos' anti-discrimination bill
1978 -
* Gilbert Baker designs the Rainbow Flag to fly in the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade
* State Senator Briggs' Prop. 6 call for a ban of LGBT teachers and their supporters in public schools; Gov. Regan opposes the measure, which is defeated in a statewide vote.
*The fires non-fiction gay rights story broadcast on network TV- St. Matlovich v. the Air Force, depicting an historic lawsuit against the military's anti-gay policies
* Disneyland hosts it's first "Gay Night"
* On Nov. 27th, our community morns the loss of SF Sup. Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone; confessed killer Dan White claims junk food impaired his judgment
1979 -
* The Update launches its first issue; reporting on the recent police raid of the Fourth Ave. Club and subsequent founding of the Gay Alliance for Equal Rights
* The WING Café, a feminist restaurant-gallery-performance space, opens on B St. with entertainment co-produced by Sue Palmer and Kathy Najimy
* Al Best becomes the first openly gay San Diegan to run for City Council, finishing fifth in a field of 11 candidates
* The first National March on Washington for Gay and Lesbian Rights draws between 100,000 and 200,000 participants
* The Greater San Diego Business Association (GSDBA) is founded to support businesses owned by and friendly toward the LGBT community
* The San Diego Lesbian Organization (SDLO) operates a new women-run hotline serving San Diego
1980 -
* Seniors Active in a Gay Environment (SAGE) is formed to offer support to older gays and lesbians
1981 -
* The first reference to AIDS, then known as Gay-Related Immune Disease or GRID, appeared in both medical journals and the mainstream press
* The San Diego Log Cabin Club is founded, aimed at broadening the human rights agenda within the Republican Party
1982 -
* The San Diego chapter of PFLAG, an organization formed to "help others unlearn the homophobia inherent in the socialization process" holds its first meeting on December 12th.
*In the midst of a lawsuit with the United States Olympic Committee banning use of the name "Gay Olympics", the first "Gay Games" are held in SF; 1300 athletes representing 12 nations participate
* The San Diego Bisexual Forum is established by the respected researcher and noted author of The Bisexual Option, Dr. Fritz Klein
1983 -
* Shanti opens its doors and later becomes the San Diego AIDS Project
1984 -
* Hoping to bring "the drags of the New York club world into the daylight", the first annual drag festival, "Wigstock" is held in New York City
* America's Finest City Freedom Band is formed
* Chief Bill Kolender names Lt. Dave Spisak as the first Community Liaison Officer responsible for outreach to several groups, including the LGBT community
* Gay and Lesbian Latina/o Organization (GLLO) holds its first meeting on June 19th
1985 -
* Cleve Jones envisions a national memorial, the AIDS Memorial Quilt, after seeing a patchwork of signs posted at a 1985 Candlelight March, bearing the names of people lost to AIDS
* The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is founded
* Bart Hopple founds Athletes in Motion (AIM) to promote organized athletic groups in preparation for the 1986 Gay Games II
* The San Diego Men's Chorus holds its premiere performance at the First Unitarian Universalist Church
* Susan Jester is appointed by Mayor Roger Hedgecock as the only openly gay member of the Advisory Board on Neighborhoods
* Dr. A. Brad Truax is appointed to the San Diego County Human Relations Commission in May, by Board of Supervisors Chair Leon Williams
1986 -
* The San Diego Women's Chorus is founded under the direction of Dr. Cynthia Lawrence-Wallace
* William Hurt becomes the first performer awarded a Best Actor Oscar for playing a gay character, Molina in the film Kiss of the Spider Woman
* Proposition 64, the LaRouche initiative, which called for the quarantine of HIV-infected individuals, is defeated with the vehement support of the LGBT community
* Mayor Maureen O'Connor becomes the first elected official to ride in the San Diego Lesbian & Gay Pride Parade
1987 -
* The second March on Washington draws 600,000 participants; San Diegans Albert Bell and Jess Jessop are among the 862 arrested in the largest act of civil disobedience on record
* The March on Washington culminates in the "marriage" of approximately 2000 same-sex couples at a mass wedding on the steps of the IRS building
* The March on Washington marks the first large scale display of The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt
* The City of San Diego proclaims June 13-14, "Gay Pride Days" and several City Council candidates ride in the Pride Parade
* ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) is formed, beginning a new wave of confrontational protests; Albert Bell organizes a San Diego chapter that same year
* The Gay Center's name change to "The Lesbian and Gay Men's Center" meets with considerable disapproval
* Following the Center's name change, Pride co-chair, John Keasler, is falsely accused of being a "closeted heterosexual", with plans to marry his female co-chair after the 1987 Pride Parade
* In December, the Lesbian and Gay Archives of San Diego is founded by Jess Jessup "to preserve and teach our history"
1988 -
* The San Diego Gay Times publishes its first weekly issue in January, under the leadership of editor Larry L. "Lair" Davis
* On April 12, San Diego is the second stop of The NAMES Project's 20-city tour; thousands view the AIDS Memorial Quilt at Golden Hall
* October 11 is celebrated as the first National Coming Out Day
* California state legislator Lyndon LaRouche's second proposition requiring the reporting of names of persons with AIDS to local health officials, Prop. 69, is defeated
* San Diego sends a contingent to Sacramento's largest civil rights demonstration to date in support of lesbian and gay rights; Jesse Jackson speaks to the crowd of 20,000
1989 -
* The first African American group to march in the Pride Parade; Lesbian and Gays of African Decent United (LAGADU) forms on January 21 to offer support and fellowship
* Tim Williams is named the first Executive Director of San Diego Lesbian and Gay Pride
1990 -
* Congress passes and President Bush signs into law the 1990 Hate Crimes Statistics Act, the first federal statute to include the term "sexual orientation"
* Chief Bob Burgreen refines the role of Community Liaison Officer and in April appoints Mathew Weathersby as the first liaison assigned exclusively to the LGBT community
* San Diego's Human Dignity Ordinance, co-authored by Councilmembers Pratt and Wolfsheimer, becomes law on May 16, offering protection in housing and employment
1991 -
* The Nation of the Four Directions, a support group for lesbian, gay, bisexual Native Americans is founded
* San Francisco becomes the first city in the U.S. to register same-sex couples as domestic partners
* San Diego's first gay and lesbian Halloween street party is attended by hundreds on October 31, on Normal Street, in front of the future home of the Center
* The Tom Homann Law Association, San Diego's' first LGBT legal organization is formed in February, named for a well-respected San Diego civil rights attorney who died ofAIDS
1992 -
* UCSD's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Association (LGBA) HOLDS IT FIRST "Kiss In" on campus, protesting the double standard for displays of affection
* A Lesbian Health Fair, thought to be the first of its kind in the nation, is offered at the Pride Festival, co-sponsored by Womancare Clinic and the Center's Lesbian Health Project
* September 18 marks the first public meeting of Mayor Maureen O'Connor's Gay and Lesbian Advisory Board
* On December 1, the San Diego Unified School District Board of Education approves a policy prohibiting discrimination against employees and students based on sexual orientation
1993 -
* The San Diego chapter of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is formed in January to monitor the news and entertainment media
* Melissa Ethridge comes out in January at the Triangle Ball, a gay and lesbian celebration of President Bill Clinton's Inauguration
* Openly gay City Council candidate Christine Kehoe launches her campaign on April 10 and is endorsed by retiring Councilmember John Hartley
* James Cua, Jeffery Tom, Dr. Linda Lloyd, and Dr. Sana Loue form APICAP to serve Asian Pacific Islanders and their friends and families infected or affected by HIV/AIDS
* The third National March on Washington for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Rights draws well over one million participants
* SDSU's Gay and Lesbian Student Union changes its name to include the work "bisexual" in order to reflect its "openness toward and acceptance of the diversity within our community"
1994 -
* San Diego native and Olympic diving champion Greg Louganis comes out during the 1994 Gay Games IV in New York City
* "The Normal People", headed by former SD Mayor Roger Hedgecock, file an injunction to march in the Pride Parade; the court denies their action
* After years of public speculation, pop superstar Elton John comes out as a gay man
* The Ikea furniture store becomes the first business in the U.S. to use clearly identifiable gay characters in a mainstream media television advertisement
* San Diego Lesbian and Gay Pride incorporated as a nonprofit organization on May 9, 1994
1995 -
* Greg Louganis, San Diego native and Olympic diving champion, is named San Diego Pride Grand Marshal
* Karibu is formed to serve African American gay, bisexual, transgender men
* San Diego Lesbian and Gay Pride received 501(c)(3) status from the Internal Revenue Service in March 1995
1996 -
* The narrowly defeated Employment Non-Discrimination Act becomes the first bill of its kind ever put to a vote before the full U.S. Senate
* Judge Kevin Chang rules in 1996, the State of Hawaii has failed to show the necessary "compelling interest" to uphold a constitutional ban on same-sex marriages
* Congress passes and President Bill Clinton signs into law the so-called "Defense of Marriage Act", permitting states to deny recognition of marriage by same-sex partners
1997 -
* On August 4, the American Psychological Association votes to limit attempts to "cure" homosexuality and agrees to require the reading of a statement to gay patients affirming that being gay is normal and healthy
* Comic-actress Ellen DeGeneres comes out as a lesbian, as does her character, on the highly publicized April 30 episode of Ellen, a first for American TV
* The Walt Whitman Community School, the nation's first private school for gays and lesbians, opens in Dallas on September 5th
* On November 6th, the first issue of Circuits, now San Diego Buzz Magazine, premieres under the creative direction of Dan Munn and David Malmquist
1998 -
* On July 20th, the San Diego City Council repeals a 1966 ordinance, which made it a crime for a man to wear a dress in public
*The San Diego Men's Chorus makes history by being the first openly gay choral group to perform at the White House.
* County Supervisor Diane Jacobs announces her opposition to domestic partner benefits. She says, "For us to establish benefits for domestic partners would undermine marriage." The Service Employees Union is seeking domestic partner benefits from the county. The city of San Diego already has domestic partner benefits.
* Streets in Hillcrest are closed October 14th for a silent candle light march honoring Matthew Shepard, the 21 year old gay student brutally murdered in Laramie, Wyoming, whose death has triggered a national movement for hate crimes legislation. The marchers stop on University Avenue at the memorial to John Wear, the 17 year old who was killed by three men who called him faggot.
1999 -
* SAGE, Seniors Active In A Gay Environment, opens a drop-in center on Fifth Avenue for seniors. The center is a few doors away from The Caliph and across the street from the Inn at the Park, two gay bars frequented by older community members.
* Mama's Kitchen, a local meal-delivery service for AIDS patients, serves its onemillionth meal. Mama's Kitchen was founded by members of the gay community who volunteered at the old Food Bank, which later became part of the AIDS Foundation.
* A homophobic observer at the Pride Parade hurls a tear-gas canister at the Family Pride contingent in the parade and then escapes into the crowd. The tear gas causes severe reactions among many parade watchers who flee from the gas, but it only temporarily halts the parade. A $16,000 reward for identification of the assailant has been offered.
* San Diego County health officials record San Diego's 10,000th HIV/AIDS diagnosis.
2000 -
* Ted Weathers becomes San Diego's first openly gay male superior court commissioner.
* San Diego feminist, activist, author and lecturer Barbara Macdonald dies at age 86. A longtime critic of ageism in the lesbian and gay community, Macdonald co-authored Look Me In The Eye: Old Women, Aging and Ageism with her partner Cynthia Rich.
* Hillcrest Youth Center, a branch of the Lesbian and Gay Community Center designed specifically for gay youth 24 and under, opens near Fourth and Robinson in Hillcrest.
2001 -
* San Diego's new mayor, Dick Murphy, names six citizen panels to "ensure the City's commitment to diversity." Art Thompson, executive director of the Lesbian and Gay Community Center, is named to chair one of the panels, the Gay and Lesbian Advisory Board.
* Bob Filner, Congressman representing San Diego's 50th District, sponsors in Congress The Permanent Partners Act, which would allow gay U.S. citizens to sponsors their permanent partners for residence in the United States.
* In an effort to recognize the diversity of the community, the San Diego Pride Board holds an open meeting at the Center to discuss a new name for the Pride celebration. Community members suggest names such as Queer Pride, Rainbow Pride, and Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Pride.
* A new lesbian bi-weekly magazine, The Lavender, publishes its first edition October 22. The magazine is a news and life-style journal for lesbians and is California's only bi-weekly lesbian publication.
2002 -
* The
Lesbian and Gay Center, officially The Center For Social Services, a name taken almost 30 years ago when very few newspapers or telephone directories would print the words gay and lesbian, changes its names to San Diego Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, dba, The Center.
* Bonnie Dumanis is elected District Attorney for San Diego County and becomes the first openly gay or lesbian district attorney ever elected in the United States.
* The Union-Tribune publishes its first same-sex anniversary announcement in its "Celebrations" section recognizing the silver anniversary of David Rea and Harry Sillen, the owners of David's Coffee House in Hillcrest.
2003 -
* The Joan Kroc Community Center at 66th and University, operated by the Salvation Army, approves and then denies use of the center by the San Diego Gay Men's Chorus after learning that there may be drag performances as part of the Chorus' show. Chorus representatives are told that drag is not in line with the Salvation Army's mission policy.
* A federal judge in San Diego rules that the Boy Scouts' lease of land in Balboa Park violates the California State Constitution and the first amendment of the United States Constitution. Community activists, who have long opposed the lease because the Scouts discriminate against gays, applaud the decision.
2004 -
* The California Supreme Court agrees to hear the case brought by a San Diego lesbian against Bernardo Heights Country Club for discrimination. The suit claims that the country club has refused to treat her and her partner as it does heterosexual married couples.
* The City Council of San Diego votes to settle the ACLU's lawsuit against the city over the Boy Scouts' use of public land in Balboa Park and to give notice to the Scouts that their lease has been terminated.
2005 -
* The LGBT Center announces the purchase of a three-story, 23-unit apartment building in downtown San Diego for their new program of transitional housing for homeless 18 to 24 year old LGBTQ+ youth. It is thought that this is the first program of its kind in the country.
* Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the CA Same Sex Marriage Bill on 9/30/05. Protests were staged in 30 cities around the state in opposition to his action.
* Mayor Steve Padilla of Chula Vista came out publicly and is the second openly gay mayor of a large city (@ 230,000 population) in the U.S.
2006 -
* Update, southern CA LGBT newspaper since 1979 ceases publication with issue #1266 (3/29/06). Update was one of the longest operating gay papers in the U.S.
* The Center opens $4.1 million Youth Housing Project, 1640 Broadway, providing 23 studios for LGBT youths between 18 - 24 years of age. Counseling will be available for residents and other youth.