Through the hard work of the contestants and Royalty we were able to award $52,000 in scholarships at An Evening In TV Land: The Virtual Awards Reception that was held on November 19, 2020. Miss & Mister Phoenix Pride Royalty: Tyra Marie and Owen Michael Parker were crowned on March 15, 2020, at the Tempe DoubleTree by Hilton just a few days before the pandemic threw the city into lockdown. In 2020, we humbly celebrated our 40th Anniversary and $1 million give back to the community! We celebrated our 40th Anniversary in conjunction with the Greater Phoenix Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce ( now the Greater Phoenix Equality Chamber of Commerce ) on February 29, 2020, at Young’s Market.
Even though the Phoenix Pride Festival had to be postponed to the fall of 2021 and the Rainbows Festival was postponed to the spring of 2022, we were enormously proud of our ability to give back to the Phoenix LGBTQ+ community. We all do come together and step up and support each other, and when we work together, absolutely nothing is impossible. BUT if there is one thing that 2020 taught us, it was to look at the bright side of things, appreciate the incredible partnerships and relationships we have built, and relish in the outstanding work undertaken each day by our community members. 2020Ģ020 a challenging year with COVID-19 to say the least. These activities keep the spirit alive and allow us to renew our energies toward educating the general public about our Pride in ourselves and our right to exist. They host rallies, parades, marches, and festivals in the month of June, many on or around the 28th. Pride Committees, commemorate the birth of the gay and lesbian rights movement each year across the country. The gay crowd numbered over two thousand, and in this act of integrity and self-affirmation, the modern Lesbian and Gay Rights Movement was born and was soon formally launched into such organizations as the Gay Liberation Front. These riots continued through the weekend, until Monday morning. On June 28th, through 30th, 1969, after continual harassment by the New York City police, the patrons of the Stonewall Bar, located on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village, openly defied the unjustified raids and took to the streets in demand of their civil liberties. Phoenix Pride will continue to honor and celebrate our community by promoting April as “Pride Month” in Phoenix, Arizona, and by continuing the “March Toward Pride” events. In 2021, the LGBTQ+ community will be celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the first LGBTQ+ march in Phoenix. It is the goal of this organization to continue developing community programs to benefit the LGBTQ+ community and to continue to raise public awareness about the LGBTQ+ community in hopes to eliminate homophobia, transphobia, and discrimination still very much prevalent over 40 years later. Since 2008, the organization has been able to make significant contributions to other LGBTQ+ focused non-profit organizations and has awarded scholarships to LGBTQ+ individuals and allies continuing their education totaling over a million dollars. The organization is a leader in the metro Phoenix LGBTQ+ community. Under the leadership of Phoenix Pride, there has been an annual march, festival, parade, or celebration in metro Phoenix for almost 40 years. The organization was created as an educational non-profit to continue to educate and promote issues that affect the LGBTQ+ community in metro Phoenix.
helped establish the 501(c)(3) non-profit organization known today as Phoenix Pride.
This committee, best known at the time as the Phoenix Lesbian and Gay Pride Committee, Inc. Nearly ten years later, a group of volunteers joined together to coordinate the annual Pride festival.
It was a politically focused march to bring awareness to gay rights issues in Phoenix. In 1981, a group of gay & lesbian activists organized the first Pride march through the streets of downtown Phoenix to the state Capitol building.