San Diego LGBT Pride estimates between 1,200 and 1,400 people attended the Spirit of Stonewall rally that officially kicked off Pride weekend on July 28 at Marston Point in Balboa Park.

During the rally, Pride co-chair Philip Princetta said Pride chose this year’s theme, “Equality: No Turning Back!,” because, “we are never going to turn back or turn our backs until every Californian, every American and every citizen of the world is treated equally regardless of the issue.

“We demand equality for all and we expect nothing less,” he added.

Councilmembers Toni Atkins and Donna Frye presented an official proclamation from the San Diego City Council honoring Pride to co-chairs Anne Hewett and Princetta.

“We continue our fight for equality in the courts, in the legislatures and at the ballot box,” Atkins said. “While those battles go on – and some we win and some we lose – on the day-to-day level we are achieving the most meaningful kind of equality, the one that happens in our everyday lives.”

Atkins said her appointment by her colleagues to become San Diego’s interim mayor last year following the resignation of Mayor Dick Murphy, as well as the recent appointment of openly lesbian Tracy Jarman as San Diego fire chief are significant.

“More and more members of the LGBT community are openly woven into the fabric of the broader society as it should be,” she said. “There is just no going back from here.”

Pride executive director Ron deHarte recognized the Pride award recipients, who included Sandra Usi Ramírez (Champion of Pride Award), Chris Shaw, Ken St. Pierre and Shaun Travers (Community Service Awards), Bobbi Harwood (Friend of the Year), and Diversionary Theatre and San Diego County Employees Charitable Organization (Stonewall Service Awards).

deHarte also recognized longtime couples Fran Frazee and Elaine Almos, of Hillcrest, and Ken Britt and Ken Gardner, of El Cajon. Frazee and Almos have been together for 46 years, while Britt and Gardner have been together for 57 years. Both couples rode in the Pride parade the following day.

“They reflect the many fulfilling partnerships that exist throughout the community and they cast a human light on the importance of marriage equality,” deHarte said. “Their involvement in the parade is an inspirational show of support to the scores of other LGBT couples who have built such rewarding lives together.”

Other speakers at the rally included Neil Giuliano, who served four terms as an openly gay mayor of Tempe, Ariz., and is now president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). Lavender Lens publisher Bixi Craig, Metropolitan Community Church founder Reverend Troy Perry and recording artist Juba Kalamka also spoke at the rally.

Perry talked to the crowd about the importance of hope and healing.

“It’s our responsibility as GLBT people to make sure the younger generation, those who follow us, have hope in our community, have hope that we can make a difference, have hope that we can stand together, have hope that we can stop all forms of discrimination. It’s all about hope,” he said.

Perry said his friend, who contracted AIDS in the early ’80s, was initially given only six months to live by his doctors, but survived another four years before succumbing to the disease. He said his friend survived longer than anticipated because of his faith in healing.

“When people come into our community, when our young people come out, they have to come in and find healing,” Perry said. “In the midst of our community, people need healing.”

Giuliano, who came out publicly 10 years ago during his tenure as Tempe’s mayor, said it’s important how the media portrays the lives of the GLBT community.

“I really believe, having dealt with the media as an elected official for so many years, that the way the media portrays our lives doesn’t make a little bit of difference, it makes all the difference,” he said. “So the work that we do with GLAAD, media advocacy and being an anti-defamation voice all across this country is very significant today.”

Giuliano said the GLBT community has progressed significantly in the last five to 10 years, adding that public policy changes as public opinion changes.

“We have seen great change in pubic opinion,” he said. “I share the frustration of many across this country who have expressed to me that we haven’t won everything yet … It is hard because we must balance the frustration of how far we need to go with really the strong success of a movement.”

According to the San Diego Police Department, approximately 150,000 people attended the Pride parade. The exact festival attendance has not yet been calculated, but has been estimated at 35,000 to 40,000, according to Frank Sabatini, Pride’s media coordinator.

Sabatini said 250 youth gained free entrance after passing through the youth information tent hosted by PFLAG, and 500 active-duty military personnel took advantage of Pride’s first-ever offer of free admission to the group.

“I feel that Pride’s executive director, Ron deHarte, did a superb job in upping the ante on Pride weekend with the addition of giant balloons at the parade and in the great number of bands and performance groups that he booked into the festival,” Sabatini said. “The relocated main beer garden was also a hit, with many festival-goers who got to enjoy a new sprawling space shaded by trees and enlivened by a performance stage.”

Sabatini said about three dozen couples took part in the commitment ceremony at the Pride festival, with nearly 100 bystanders in attendance.

He said there were two or three arrests made at the festival, and the seven protesters at the parade were contained in the protest zone, which is located at Tenth and University avenues.

“To my knowledge, there were no blatant skirmishes that occurred between them and the community,” Sabatini said.