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Any time is a good time to be full of pride.
Albuquerque Pride will host its 37th annual PrideFest this Saturday, the biggest celebration of LGBTQ rights in New Mexico. This year the festival will be larger than before, spanning more of the fairgrounds with added events and booths. This year’s theme is Pride 365.
Miranda Sedillo, vice president of Albuquerque Pride public relations, said the theme is to remind participants that PrideFest is more than just one day, and is instead about connecting to the community as a whole.
“PrideFest has a lot of meaning behind it and it’s not just the party feel,” Sedillo said. “It’s necessary to have pride not just on this one day, but throughout the whole year.”
Sedillo, who has worked with the UNM community in the past, said she noticed a need for more resources in the local queer community.
“I think the LGBT community is definitely one of our underserved (ones),” Sedillo said.
Secretary Craig LaBerge-Esparza said the community is what has kept him working with Pride.
“I saw the community and I saw the spirit, and I saw the family that it really is,” LaBerge-Esparza said.
Giving back to the public is one of the major goals of Albuquerque Pride. There are currently no paid board members, and many members still pay to get into the events, he said.
In an effort to help serve the community, some of the money earned from PrideFest will go toward the Albuquerque Pride scholarship. The first round of scholarships was distributed last spring, and all the recipients so far have been UNM students. The scholarship is offered to New Mexico students who are involved with the LGBTQ community.
Thursday night, Albuquerque Pride will also host a candlelight vigil at Morningside Park starting at 7:30 p.m. Pride has organized the vigil in order to remember those who were lost in the fight for equality.
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“There are still people who are getting beat, murdered — different things occurring just because of their sexual orientation or their gender identity,” Sedillo said.
Sedillo and LaBerge-Esparza said they are not surprised at the opposition the LGBTQ community has faced this year. There is always opposition, they said.
“I think we’re just desensitizing ourselves; (protests) are just a reality of being with the organization,” LaBerge-Esparza said.
To deal with it, Pride has enlisted the help of the Albuquerque Police Department to make sure all participants are safe so everyone can enjoy the event, he said.
“As long as everyone has the opportunity to say what they need to say, we have our celebration, and everyone is safe,” he said.
In the wake of the ongoing challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8, Sedillo and LaBerge-Esparza said they hope people will remember what PrideFest is about.
“We hope it reminds people that we do still have a fight and that we do still have a struggle in our community,” LaBerge-Esparza said.
