With the San Francisco Pride Parade and Celebration a little more than three months away, we want to update you on where things stand. While abiding by the city’s COVID-19 shelter-in-place directive, our staff and board continue to forge ahead, cautiously optimistic that taking sensible — if unprecedented — measures now will enable us to celebrate Pride 50 together as a community.

One of our strengths as a community that will help us through this crisis is solidarity: checking in on one another, keeping in close digital contact, and above all, staying home unless absolutely necessary. In difficult times, our natural human impulse is to join together, something that resonates deeply for LGBTQ people. But for the benefit of everyone, we must remain some distance apart. All the online-only performances, virtual happy hours, and living-room dance parties we’ve seen pop up in the last week have warmed our hearts.

At the same time, we at SF Pride are realistic that this year’s historic anniversary may look very different from what we had hoped for, and all options are on the table. As we enter the second full week of social distancing in San Francisco, we are working very closely with our partners at City Hall to continually assess the outlook for gatherings like ours in the months to come. We are of course aware that tens of thousands of people visit San Francisco from around the world for Pride, and we wish to thank you for your loyalty. We hope to welcome you to our fabulous city soon, when it is safe to do so. Keep an eye on this space for further updates.

In the meantime, if there are queer elders in your life, please give them a call every few days. Same goes for the immunocompromised, the newly unemployed, and anyone living alone. In the wake of some appalling racist incidents, make sure your Asian-American friends know that the community has their backs. And if you are able, please contribute to one of the many online fundraisers for those in our communities who need the help now and in the near future.

The theme of 2020 is Generations of Hope, and we encourage you to remain hopeful in the face of fear. The resiliency of our communities will see us through. Stay safe, stay healthy, and stay strong.

Fred Lopez

Executive Director