Author: V. Iyengar, Silicon Valley Chapter

This Labor Day weekend, San Jose’s Caesar Chavez Park was transformed into a hub of celebration and inclusion as Silicon Valley Pride marked its 50th anniversary. 

The celebrations extend over two days. On Saturday evening, the night festival took place, which had Snow tha Product, Mexican-American Grammy-award nominated rapper and singer, and San Jose Native, as a headliner. Then, on Sunday morning, the pride parade took place, where participants marched from Downtown San Jose at Julian Street & Market Street to Plaza de César Chávez Park. The parade will also include a 40-foot bus wrapped in pop-art that honors eight LGBTQ+ advocates, provided by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation authority. Finally, on Sunday afternoon, the festival concluded with a six hour festival featuring Onya Nurve, the winner of the 17th Season of RuPaul’s Drag Race. 

This year, however, due to a reduction in funding and sponsorships, organizers have noted an increased financial strain compared to previous years. As a result, the celebrations were forced to downscale this year. These cutbacks have frustrated organizers, including Bianca Zamora, the chief diversity officer of Silicon Valley Pride. In an interview with ABC7 News, Zamora said, “Right now is not the time to shy away from inclusion and equity initiatives. Right now is the time to invest even harder because so many communities across our country are being impacted,” alluding to the recent reduction in corporate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and cited this reduction as a partial cause for this year’s lack of funding. 

Despite, these barriers, enthusiasm from organizers and festival-goers has not been curtailed, and this year’s festivities continued with the name “Unstoppable: 50 Years of Love, Legacy & Liberation.”