When San Diegans think of Latin culture, they inevitably conjure up images from our closest international neighbor – a cold cerveza, carne asada taco and lively ranchero music, perhaps a T-shirt bearing the likeness of Argentine-born revolutionary Che Guevara.

However, as poet Walt Whitman might have said, San Diego’s GLBT Latino/a population “contains multitudes,” including Brazilians, Cubans, Argentineans, Puerto Ricans, Chileans, Salvadorians, Nicaraguans, and people from other Spanish-speaking countries, including Mexico.

In recognition of San Diego’s diverse Latino/a population and its rich array of food, music, history and traditions, the organizers of this year’s Latin Pride festival are hoping to infuse the event with even more diversity and cultural authenticity.

San Diego’s fourth annual Latin Pride festival takes place from 3:00 to 10:00 p.m. this Saturday, Aug. 20, at the corner of President’s Way and Park Boulevard in Balboa Park. The event will include music, food, arts, crafts, a mercado, children’s garden and cantina. Proceeds benefit Bienestar, The Center’s Latino Services Project and Border Angels, a nonprofit organization that advocates for the safety and health of migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The afternoon will begin at 3:00 p.m. with Latin cuisine, art displays, the music of DJ Alex “El Heavy” Ramirez, and an all-day “Loteria,” or Mexican lottery.

Unlike traditional bingo, in which the cards are filled with numbers, Loteria cards contain tarot card-like images, including el leon (the lion), el sirena (the mermaid), el payaso (the clown), el borracho (the drunk) and others. Drag performers will call out the numbers in search of lucky lottery winners.

At 6:00 p.m. there will be a traditional blessing ceremony with performances by the Atzec troupe Oceolotl, named after the Aztec jaguar god. The group will perform a ceremony traditionally observed by the indigenous peoples of Latin American countries.

From 6:30 to 10:00 p.m. the dance floor will come alive with the sounds of rock en Español band Emaue, DJ Alex Ramirez, a high-energy drag show and the sounds of salsa, cumbia and merenge as performed by Latin dance band Primo.

At a children’s garden, parents can take part in arts, crafts and games with their young ones.

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the festival entrance on the day of the event. Children under 12 are admitted for free when accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Shawn Ingram, The Center’s director of development, noted the changes planned for this year’s event.

“It’s going to be more cultural and traditional, … with more varied flavors of Latin America,” Ingram said. “The people wanted a stronger connection. They said, ‘We don’t want hot dogs on a stick or DJs rapping.’”

Organizers are asking attendees to take part in a charitable, demographic survey. For $1, people can purchase a pushpin to note their country of origin on a large map of Mexico and central and South America.

Ingram said this year’s event will be somewhat smaller, as The Center’s Latino Services department takes over production from Bienestar.

“We’re going to scale back this year,” Ingram said. “We want the event to have some structure and cultural relevance.”

For instance, instead of having food and craft booths, this year’s festival will have a “mercado.” Instead of having a beer garden, cerveza will be available at the “cantina.”

Carolina Ramos, head of The Center’s Latino Services Project, said the festival, however, would not be lacking in substance.

“We’re making it more cozy,” Ramos said. “Part of our culture is we like to be close together. We call it a ‘bolita.’ We like to be closer in physical contact…. It’s not unusual for us to be in a festival setting with lots of people laughing, dancing, drinking and having a good time.”

Earlier this year, local GLBT Latino/as met at the Centro Cultural de la Raza to discuss this year’s festival. A majority of those in attendance said they wanted to assure this year’s event was inclusive of the entire spectrum of Latin culture.

Longtime gay and Latino activists Nicole Murray-Ramirez and Franko Guillen were among those in attendance. Both are founders of Latino Pride.

Murray-Ramirez noted the common misperception that Mexico is the epicenter of Latin culture.

“If you ask the average GLBT Caucasian community member what Latin Pride is, they’ll just say it’s Mexican,” Murray-Ramirez said. “This [event] gives us a great chance to educate the people about the diversity of the Latino community’s ethnic background and that they come from different countries…. In New York, most Latinos are Puerto Ricans. In Miami, they’re Cubans.”

Since its inception, Latin Pride organizers have attempted to dispel this myopic vision of Latino/a culture. Each year, the event opens with the presentation of the flags of each of the Latin countries.

Guillen recalled the first event, when people from each represented nation carried out the flag of their country.

“It was one of my proudest moments, seeing them walking out and seeing people being identified,” Guillen said. “I would like to continue seeing that.

“When you talk about Latino, you’ve got to be inclusive,” he added.

“You can’t tell me that you’re going to have a Latino festival and have nothing but mariachis and Mexicans up on stage.”

Naturally, an important component of the procession is the inclusion of the Pride and United States flags. Murray-Ramirez noted the importance of the U.S. flag for many Latino/as, including those whose families have fought to become citizens.

“If you go into a Latino house you’ll see Our Lady of Guadalupe and then you’ll see [a photo of] the Kennedy’s – Robert or John,” Murray-Ramirez said. “They were the first public figures to reach out to the Latino community.”

Latino and Latina San Diegans also have cause to celebrate their personal stories of triumph over racism and homophobia.

This year Los Angeles elected its first Latino mayor in more than a century – perhaps the city’s most pro-gay leader thus far. As a city council member, Antonio Villaraigosa was an outspoken opponent of the Knight Initiative, which banned recognition of out-of-state same-sex marriages in California. More recently, Mayor Villaraigosa gave Assemblymember Mark Leno’s same-sex marriage bill props by signing a symbolic resolution supporting the legislation. Though the resolution is non-binding, it sends a strong message to Sacramento.

Closer to home, Chula Vista Mayor Steve Padilla “confirmed rumors” at last month’s Pride rally that he is gay, effectively making his city the second largest in the United States to boast an openly gay mayor, second only to San Diego (see adjoining interview with Mayor Padilla).

While traveling around the country, Murray-Ramirez saw other major metropolitan cities forming their own Latin Pride events. With the increasing popularity of Latino nights at local bars, he felt the time was right for San Diego to have its own event.

“As I always say, the ‘Golden State’ is turning brown,” Murray-Ramirez said. “The gay and lesbian community reflects the rise in that population. As the general Latino population grows, so does it grow in our community.”

Perhaps most surprising has been the strong showing of families and children supporting their GLBT family members at the festival.

“This is something I will always remember,” Murray-Ramirez said. “Some of our GLBT community members come from countries where there’s a lot of oppression.”

However, attitudes are gradually changing in Latin cultures. Argentina and Chile have legalized same-sex marriage, while, earlier this year, a series of radio advertisements sponsored by the Mexican government encouraged tolerance toward gays and lesbians – much to the chagrin of conservative Catholics.

Alberto Cortes, executive director of Mama’s Kitchen, a meal delivery service for people living with AIDS, laments that these two distinct parts of GLBT Latin identity are often at odds because of racism and homophobia.

“For myself, it’s very affirming to participate in an event that simultaneously acknowledges my heritage as well as this other culture that is important to me,” Cortes said.

Though Guillen recognizes that the anti-gay attitudes have long been passed down from the Catholic Church to Latino/a households, he feels Latin culture is more accepting of GLBT children than most people realize.

“There’s so many of us in the Latino culture that have loving parents,” Guillen said. “I have always been gay and I have always been accepted by my family. They loved me unconditionally. I don’t remember ever my father, my mother or my brothers making fun of me because I was different.”

Guillen, known in his drag persona as Franceska, is the host of two popular Latin nights at Bacchus House, where he has seen whole families arrive together.

“I’ve seen my clients bring in their moms, their dads and their grandmothers to the shows,” he said. “I think the Latino culture has been more accepting of so many things neglected by other societies. There are those that are disgusted by their children being gay or lesbian or bisexual or transgender, but it’s not the norm.”

In his discussions with young Latino/as, Guillen said he preaches the gospel of education and self-esteem.

“I try to empower the Latino community into believing in themselves,” he said. “Don’t allow anybody to break you down and make you feel less because of your skin color or because you may have an accent. I empower my Latino community by asking them to educate themselves…. The first thing that they should do is find a night class, find friends who will teach them English without discriminating against them.

“Some of use will die with an accent and that’s beautiful,” Guillen said. “I love being singled out as the Latino person. I would love for people to call me Franko or Franceska, but if they say, ‘The Latino man over there,’ that makes me feel good.”