Productions at Pride this year range from plays to theme parties, and producers hope to promote diversity at events.

“Our focus on a social level is to bridge the gap in the community to bring different backgrounds, ages, you name it to the table,” Talonya Geary, producer of “Central Park Night” at the Hard Rock Hotel in Downtown, said. “Hopefully [we can] create an atmosphere that they can all celebrate and enjoy this year.”

Heidi Kinney of in2U Events agrees. She said as a co-chair for the Human Rights Campaign’s Federal club, she has witnessed segregation.

“I think one of the reasons we shot ourselves in the foot is because everybody didn’t come together,” Kinney said. Her party, the U*NI*TY party, takes place at the Flame.

“We want everyone to feel as if they have a place to go,” Kinney said. “Not just gay people, not just lesbians, not just bisexuals, everybody. We want everybody together to feel good and have a great time.”

Giving back to the community is also a focus each promoter is committed to, says Nick Moede, producer of the Salvation, Popsicle and Boot Camp parties. Moede said his organization has already donated $3,000 to San Diego Pride and will also donate 15 percent of ticket sales.

“We’re giving away a lot of tickets to active duty servicemembers to get them to come out,” he said. According to Moede, proceeds for the Boot Camp party are going to an organization supporting the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Donations from the U*NI*TY party will go to the Sunburst Youth Housing Project.

“If I would have had something like that when I was younger, when I got kicked out, things probably would have been a lot easier for me,” Kinney said.

Kinney said starting with the U*NI*TY party, in2U Events is going to donate a portion of profits to different organizations, including the Human Rights Campaign, Marriage Equality California, and UNITE HERE Local 30.

“We go out of our way to donate our time to any cause that is presented to us,” Kinney said. “If we can fit it in our schedule, we will do it.”

Geary said her party’s proceeds will go directly to San Diego Pride, which will decide who needs the money most.

She said she believes the lesbian community of San Diego, is an “up-and-coming sector” of the community and could use support.

“We’re trying to really bring it up to speed by investing a lot of time, energy, and passion, more than anything, to really try to add value back to this event.

“To my knowledge there’s never been a lesbian event at the Hard Rock Hotel,” Geary added. “Certainly to my knowledge there never was one of this magnitude. We’re really pushing ourselves outside of our comfort zone, both as producers and as the ones funding the event, to put something together that the lesbian community can really be proud of.”

The U*NI*TY party and Salvation and Popsicle parties both have entertainers on their itineraries.

“It is really exciting that we’re bringing in some new talent,” Moede said, mentioning his parties will add something different to the Pride circuit by bringing DJs to San Diego who have never previously performed here.

“We have Peter Rauhofer, who’s an amazing DJ,” Moede said. “It’s very rare for him to come out to the West Coast and play.”

Moede said DJ Oscar Velazquez has recently been announced as the opening act for Rauhofer. DJ Velazquez is a popular DJ from Mexico City and is the resident DJ at Living, one of Mexico City’s most popular gay clubs. Moede called Velazquez a very talented DJ.

The U*NI*TY party’s list of performers includes Alden Schell and Bitter Sober. According to Kinney, Bitter Sober has been compared to famous lesbian duo, Tegan and Sara, who promote Bitter Sober.

Ron deHarte, executive director of San Diego Pride said he is excited for Pride.

“With the time, energy and effort of all of these various groups, we know that these events will be very successful, and we are expecting great results,” deHarte said. “We are just as anxious as the rest of the community to see how much money these various events will raise.”

According to deHarte, last year San Diego Pride granted more than $120,000 to more than 50 community organizations.

“Over the years, San Diego Pride has donated more than $1.3 million back to the community, including over $614,451 directly to The Center,” deHarte added.

deHarte thanked party promoters for their support.

“San Diego Pride is eternally grateful for the support of our local party producers who are generously supporting the San Diego LGBT community by making Pride the beneficiary of their parties,” he said.