Pride and all that remarkable word means

San Diego held its 43rd Pride Celebration recently. Pride is more than acceptance or safety or acknowledgement. Pride is understanding who you, your family and friends are, and shrugging your shoulders, smiling, hugging, and knowing love with strength. The San Diego Pride Parade is one of the nation’s largest with 100,000+ parade attendance and 40,000 music festival attendance (Statistics: San Diego LGBT Pride). Alliant International University, where I teach and research, had a float in the parade. My family was in attendance (Michelle in the Parasol Team and Ryan and Paige taking photos) as well as friends. San Diego was in a party mood.

Here are their thoughts on the parade:

Paige: “I thought the parade was amazing. There were people who dressed up, or just went casual; there were trans, lesbian, gay, bi, queer, questioning and more. It was amazing to see how many people support the LGBTQ+ community and it was an amazing experience and I’ll never forget it!”

Ryan: “The parade was a place where no matter who you love or what you love you are accepted for you. Pride was a place where love was in the air and you could tell. Everyone saying “Hi!” Wanting to talk, to get to know you. It was truly a life changing experience.”

Michelle: “This was my first parade and the level of love and acceptance was unbelievable.”

Alliant Int’l Univ. float                       Michelle & the Parasol Drill Team

     Paige & the rainbow flag            A long and worthwhile day