Because if not for them, there would be no “out and proud” cause to celebrate. Maybe take a moment to thank someone from generations before while you’re at it. So, while you’re out reveling this weekend, pause for a minute in gratitude. Now, 44 years later, it has become the largest single-day civic event in the region and holds the distinction of being among the largest Pride Parades in the country, attracting upwards of 250,000 revelers. The following year, community members sought to honor Stonewall and staged the city’s very first San Diego LGBTQ Pride Parade. Avoiding the risk of being fired from jobs or potentially losing their homes and families. To avoid outing themselves, they placed paper bags over their heads so as not to be identified. San Diego’s own history and struggle for civil liberties had marchers taking to the streets of downtown in protest in 1974 with many facing arrest. San Diego Pride is giving credit where credit is due this year, both in its theme “Stonewall 50: Legacy of Liberation” and by honoring “The Stonewall Generation” as 2019’s Community Grand Marshals. Those who came before are owed a huge debt of gratitude, the pioneers and people who paved the way for us, giving us the ability to enjoy the rights that we have today. They exploded the landscape of who we were allowed to be, demolishing barriers that seemed insurmountable and landed us at the heights on which we stand… in the mere shadow of the adversity we once knew. Though it has been 50 years since the Stonewall Riots, it and other earlier protests became the match that lit the fire. None of which would have been achieved if not for the brave actions of a group of drag queens, trans, gay and lesbian men and women who stood up during that fateful summer night on Jand said, “Enough!” Without their courage, we might not have reason to celebrate the freedoms we so enjoy each year. Imagine for a moment if you will, there was no such thing as Pride, with none of the hard-fought rights we’ve won as a community. When you say the word “pride,” more than likely it applies to one’s self and the individual connotations surrounding it.