Beginning in July, The Center’s Bingo program will be changing from a weekly to a monthly event. The last weekly Bingo night will be Tuesday, June 24 at 7 p.m. Beginning Tuesday, July 15, Big Gay Bingo will be held on the third Tuesday of every month, with the first game beginning at 7 pm. Special Bingo theme nights and exciting guest callers will be featured each month. July’s Big Gay Bingo will feature the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and Todd Klein of the Gay & Lesbian Times. The price is $15 for a one-game pack, including progressive. Special games are just $1 more.

For more information, call 619-692-2077. The Center is located 3909 Centre St. in Hillcrest.

The Emmy-winning comedienne famous for sharing her life from Hollywood’s D-list is making the A-list at this year’s San Diego LGBT Pride festival in Balboa Park, scheduled July 19-20. Griffin will make her special appearance at 6 p.m., July 20, on the festival’s solar-powered Green Stage, sponsored by Sempra Energy.

A native of Chicago, Griffin became known to American households during a four-year stint on NBC’s “Suddenly Susan,” playing the role of an acerbic colleague to actress Brooke Shields. She later began making numerous appearances on television and award shows, including standup specials for Bravo, such as “Kathy Griffin is Not Nicole Kidman,” plus guest spots on late-night talk shows and ABC’s “Celebrity Mole” reality series. She has also co-hosted the Billboard Music Awards three years in a row and supplied voices to characters on the animated series, “Dilbert” and “The Simpsons.”

In 2005, Griffin debuted her own, highly successful reality show on Bravo, “Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List,” which earned her an Emmy for Outstanding Reality Program. The show recently began running in its fourth season, and in May, the gay-friendly comedienne picked up a GLAAD Media Award at Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.

“We’re very excited to have this three-time Emmy award winner showing her support to San Diego Pride. Griffin is a consummate performer and a devoted friend to the LGBT community,” Ron deHarte, executive director of San Diego Pride, said.

For more information about Pride festival entertainment, visit the Web site at www.SanDiegoPride.org, or call 619-297-7683.

San Diego LGBT Pride will honor and celebrate two longtime, same-sex couples in its annual parade, scheduled for 11 a.m., July 19, along University Avenue in Hillcrest. Pride’s Inspirational Couples reflect the fulfilling partnerships that exist throughout the LGBT community and they cast a human light on achieving full equality for all people. The honor is an inspirational show of support for the committed and dedicated couples within the GLBT community.

The couples will appear at the front of the procession, along with other gay and lesbian couples who will be celebrating the rights of same-gender couples in California who now have the freedom to marry.

“Pride has recognized loving couples who have waited many years for marriage equality for the last three years. This year, the celebration takes on greater significance with the pending statewide vote on a constitutional amendment that would end recognition of our marriages,” said Ron deHarte, Executive Director of San Diego Pride.

The honorees are John Dapper and Lyman Hallowell, who will celebrate their 63rd anniversary in August, and Donna Phillips and Gladys Langsford, who have been together for 45 years.

Dapper and Hallowell met while employed at 20th Century Fox studios in Los Angeles. After leaving the studio some 50 years ago, they continued their careers as independent contractors for a variety of movie and stage productions such as Oklahoma, Guys and Dolls, The Godfather, and There Was a Crooked Man, starring John Wayne. Dapper later focused his talents on painting when the couple lived in Honolulu, where his works in watercolors are installed at the University of Hawaii. And in addition to working as a film editor, Hallowell served as an Air Force pilot during World War II.

Phillips and Langsford met at a former gay bar in Hillcrest called Gizmo (now the Wine Lover), where Phillips was an employee. Langsford had moved from Canada to San Diego and worked for Bell Telephone until retiring 20 years ago. Soon afterward they purchased a home in Clairemont and still reside there today. Phillips also served in the Air Force, but was discharged for being gay. She currently works part time at Borders Book Store in Mission Valley.

The San Diego LBGT Community Center will host an event to celebrate the life of artist Frida Kahlo. The celebration will include live bands and traditional dance performances, a Frida Kahlo look-a-like contest, artwork by Latin artists, great food, beer and tequila on Saturday, June 28 from 6-10 p.m.

All proceeds from the event, which will be at The Center, will benefit The Center’s Latino Services Program.

Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door. The event is for those 21 years and older only. For more information or to purchase tickets visit www.thecentersd.kintera.org/frida2008.

The Center is located at 3909 Centre St. in Hillcrest.

The Hillcrest History Guild (HHG) is selling tickets for its second annual Toast to Hillcrest event, to be held Thursday, Aug. 14 from 5:30-8:30 p.m. The event gives participants the opportunity to celebrate Hillcrest, named one of the top 10 neighborhoods in America in 2007, while enjoying wine, spirits and appetizers at numerous restaurants and bars throughout the area. A red double-decker bus will also cruise the neighborhood providing transportation for participants. All proceeds from the event benefit the HHG.

Tickets are $19 before Aug. 1 or $25 after Aug. 1 or on the day of. Visit www.hillcresthistory.org for more information or to purchase tickets.

More than 65 cities from across the United States, Canada and Mexico will be represented when San Diego hosts the official opening of the first session of the International Court System’s Parliament on Saturday, Aug. 2, at The San Diego LGBT Community Center.

Each chapter of the International Court System elected a representative and an alternate to parliament.

The International Court System is one of the oldest GLBT organizations in the world, founded in 1965 by World War II veteran Jose Sarria, who announced his decision to step down after 42 years of leading the international nonprofit charitable organization.

Sarria, who was also the first openly gay candidate to run for public office in the United States, named City Commissioner Nicole Murray-Ramirez as his successor in Seattle in August 2006.

Murray-Ramirez, known as Empress Nicole the Great now serves as Queen Mother of the Americas for the 65 chapter strong International Imperial Court System of U.S.A., Canada and Mexico.

Since taking the new leadership position, the Queen Mother has brought many changes to the organization, which has raised millions of dollars annually for religious and social service organizations.

The Queen Mother proclaimed the establishment of the organization’s Parliament to make the system more of a democratic monarchy and to give each respective Court a voice within the organization.

Empress Nicole in her position as Queen Mother of the Americas will officiate at the opening ceremonies and preside over the first session of the new Parliament. She has also appointed a prime minister, speaker of parliament and executive secretary, to the new governing body of the organization.

Judy Shepard, mother of Matthew Shepard, who was fatally attacked for being gay, and the founder of the Matthew Shepard Foundation, will be the keynote speaker during the opening session.

Shepard will also be the special guest of honor at the Imperial Court de San Diego’s 37th annual Coronation Ball: “A Military Affair,” to be held later the evening of Saturday, Aug. 2, at the Westin Hotel Horton Plaza.

The Imperial Court de San Diego’s elected representative to the Parliament system is Chris Grinston, with former Mr. San Diego Leather, Adam Latham, as the alternate.

For more information about the opening session of parliament or the Imperial Court de San Diego’s 37th annual coronation, call 619-757-0197, 619-254-6372 or 619-692-1967.