Oakland Pride Doesn't Miss a Beat

The sixth annual Oakland Pride event didn't miss a beat as the parade and festival saw increased attendance and people enjoying all manner of entertainment, from pony rides for the kids to a bucking bronco for young and old alike.

While attendance figures weren't available by press time, Oakland Pride board Co-Chair Carlos Uribe told the Bay Area Reporter that there were more people at this year's event than in 2014, which was held over the Labor Day holiday. Pride organizers earlier this year decided to move the event date to the Sunday after Labor Day, and it looks like that will continue next year, Uribe said.

"We definitely surpassed 2014," Uribe said in an email. "Based on that and very little 'negatives' about the date change, I think that we will be keeping this date."

He added, however, that the full board is expected to make that decision by the end of the month.

This year's second Pride parade saw more contingents. Politicians, kids groups, local businesses, East Bay churches, the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band, and the Alameda County Leather Corps all took part, along with many others. The Golden State Warriors drum line enlivened the Kaiser Permanente contingent, one of the parade's largest, and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf rode atop her famous snail art car, which spouted flames every so often.

Festival attendees seemed to notice the improvements.

"The parade was bigger and more people were watching," said Don Fritsche, president of the East Bay Front Runners, a running and walking group for LGBTs and friends.

Fritsche added that as a result of more people watching the parade, which stepped off at about 10:30 a.m. Sunday, more people came to the festival afterward, stopping by booths like the Front Runners' and many others.

Uribe also said that more people watched this year's parade, which saw crowds along Broadway that increased in size closer to the 20th Street festival entrance.

"The lines were about twice as long to get into the festival after the parade," Uribe added.

East Bay Municipal Utility District board member Andy Katz, a bi man, took in the festival while also worrying about the drought and the Butte Fire raging in the Sierra foothills, which was just upriver from the district's watershed. As of this week, no EBMUD-owned watershed land had been affected by the fire, which was 35 percent contained as of Tuesday.

Katz said that he enjoyed the community-oriented nature of Oakland Pride.

"It's more of a hometown pride," he said.

B.A.R. last week that the organization is in the black this year, thanks to large sponsorships from Kaiser and Oakland-based Pandora, the streaming music service, and more sponsors overall. The Pride organization raised a record $150,000, Uribe said, which was $70,000 more than what the board raised in past years and it has helped retire the $40,000 in debt the nonprofit was carrying from 2014.

Pride Breakfast

The East Bay Stonewall Democratic club held its third annual Oakland Pride Breakfast Sunday morning at the California Nurses Association headquarters on Franklin Street. It included a packed house of local politicos, honorees, and others.

Schaaf said that despite incredible victories like the national marriage equality U.S. Supreme Court decision in June, much work remains in terms of social justice and other issues.

"Our pride is that we as a city value diversity," Schaaf said.

But the mayor, who attended a benefit for homeless youth the night before Pride, also pointed out that 40 percent of homeless youth in the city identify as LGBTQ.

Former state Senator Carole Migden served as emcee, and presented four awards. The Trailblazer Award went to out Richmond City Councilwoman Jovanka Beckles, who endured anti-gay hostility at public meetings and beat back a challenge from Chevron-backed candidates to win re-election last year.

"We have to assert that black lives matter," said Beckles, an African American Latina lesbian. "Our responsibility for liberation extends to all."

Queer youth Rafael Johns, a member of Youth Radio, received the Emerging Leader Award. He told the crowd that while he's worked on a lot of stories for the media production company, the ones he enjoys the most are those on queer issues. But he said it's about more than covering coming out stories.

"People come out and you don't often hear about them after that," Johns, 20, said, adding that topics such as depression and alcohol abuse affect LGBTQ people too. "I've attempted to use my work" to help others.

Johns was also a parade grand marshal.

Lavender Seniors of the East Bay received the club's Community Service Award.

"If you aren't already a senior, you will be as you become dependent on others for your daily lives," said Lavender Seniors volunteer Deadre Bruetsch in accepting the award.

Finally, the Port of Oakland was the recipient of the club's Corporate Leader Award. John Betterton, secretary of the board at the Port, delivered a sobering assessment of how the entity, which runs the Port of Oakland and Oakland International Airport, has evolved.

"When I began working at the Port in 2002 it was the most homophobic workplace I'd been in," he said, adding that there was one out person among 600 workers that year.

He said that over the years, the agency has changed dramatically, thanks in part to the appointment of gay commissioners such as Michael Lighty, who previously served on the panel, and Michael Colbruno, a current member.

"Lighty turned it around," Betterton said.

He also noted that Colbruno and San Francisco Port Commissioner Leslie Katz, a lesbian, helped establish an LGBT group of statewide port officials to deal with LGBT workplace challenges and other issues.