Our Day in the Sun :: Orange County Pride
The month of August may strike some locals as too hot for another fabulous outdoor Pride celebration, but Orange County has made it work for several years. Set for Saturday, August 10, this year's event theme is "Our Day in the Sun" and includes many deeper meanings besides the summer climate.
"The main reason is a historic reference to the first-ever LGBT Pride festival in Orange County, held in 1989," according to Daniel Shad, OC Pride vice president for outreach. The first Orange County Gay Pride Festival, held in Santa Ana, incited a clash between attendees and anti-LGBT forces. Police ordered organizers to lock the gate to the festival grounds for half an hour after the brawl and considered shutting the event down early, but decided to let it continue as scheduled for the rest of the day. As the event continued, so did the tension between festivalgoers and the anti-LGBT crowd.
Janet Avery, then-president of Orange County Cultural Pride, took to the stage in an effort to calm the crowd. "We came here to celebrate," she said, quieting the crowd. "If you have a friend who is not here to celebrate, please get them in the mood. This is our day in the sun."
This year, OC Pride will celebrate "Our Day in the Sun" from Noon to 10 p.m. by reflecting on and celebrating how far the LGBT community has come over the past 24 years. The event will once again be presented free of charge in downtown Santa Ana on Fourth Street between Broadway and Ross. Organizers have vowed to "build on the efforts of those who came before us so that we can continue to make great strides in our struggle for full equality."
In addition to dance music provided by headliners Luciana and Dave Aud�, the day will include live performances on the Velvet Lounge Main Stage by Eva Universe, Shawnee Sheking and PrimaNelle, all hosted by RuPaul's "Drag Race All Stars." Aud� and other hot DJs will be spinning all day and into the night in the Bud Light Dance Tent. OC Pride's Latin Dance Tent will feature DJ Siesta Soul as well as Carlos Andres, DJ Tito and more.
Unique to OC Pride in comparison with most other festivals is the annual Rainbow Symposium, during which a number of renowned speakers will address pertinent topics of interest to the LGBT community. This year's presenters include openly gay, suspended Roman Catholic priest Geoff Farrow on the subject of Spirituality and/vs. Religion; Attorney and Educator David Codell on The End of Prop. 8 and DOMA; Author, Blogger and Advocate Lori Duron on raising her "gender creative" son; USC Professor Karen Tongson speaking on Queer Suburbia. All Rainbow presentations will take place in the new Theatre Out building at 402 West 4th Street. The Orange County LGBT History Timeline Project will also be on display there all day.
Also unique is OC Pride's Kids Club, which will offer a variety of "Fun in the Sun" activities from noon until 6 p.m. These will include carnival games, a bounce house, arts and crafts, group games, water balloon fights and a pi�ata break. The Kids Club is a smoke- and alcohol-free environment.
"Our Day in the Sun is about celebrating our achievements as a community," V.P. for Outreach Shad said. "Obviously, marriage equality returning to California and full federal recognition of our marriages is a huge thing to celebrate. While our theme is definitely a celebration of those things, it is also a way to say thank you to those who have worked so hard to get us to where we are today, as well as a reminder that celebrating Pride has not always been so easy as it is today."
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