Silicon Valley Pride

Silicon Valley Pride is an annual gay pride celebration that serves the LGBTQA community of the Silicon Valley / South Bay / Santa Clara County region. It is organized by volunteers from the Billy DeFrank Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center, a non-profit LGBTQA organization in San Jose.

Silicon Valley Pride Logo 2015

History
San Jose First Annual Gay Freedom Day Rally Dance
Pride coordinators meeting in Club Saint John in San Jose
First gay pride proclamation

It began as a gay rights rally in 1975. The following year, it evolved into the San Jose Gay Pride Festival. It took place downtown in St. James Park. The festival featured political speakers, community booths, and local entertainment. In 1977, San Jose celebrated its first Gay Pride Parade. In the 1980s, Stockton Street became the home of San Jose Pride. Many gay-owned businesses began to spring up in this quiet west-downtown neighborhood, creating one of the first gayborhoods in Silicon Valley. In 1995, the Pride Parade and Festival was brought back downtown to Discovery Meadow Park on San Carlos Street. In addition to the annual pride festival, the 2015 celebration will include a parade as well as ancillary picnic and luncheon events in the weeks leading up to the festival. Until 2014, Silicon Valley Pride was known as San Jose Pride. The festival was renamed to be more inclusive of the neighboring cities and towns in the Silicon Valley. The location of the festival has changed over the years, but it has always taken place within the city of San Jose.[1][2][3][4][5]

References
  1. http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_26355234/silicon-valley-pride-festival-is-small-but-feisty
  2. http://www.mercurynews.com/san-jose-neighborhoods/ci_18713127
  3. http://ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=69963
  4. http://ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=69679
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2015-05-10.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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