‘We are still fighting’: Spirit of Stonewall rally spotlights queer activism
San Diego Pride honored local changemakers, including drag performers, trans advocates and leather community members, during annual rally rooted in protest history.
Written by Sam Barney-Gibbs, Edited by Lauren J. Mapp
More than 56 years after the Stonewall Uprising, San Diegans came together Friday evening to celebrate community members at the forefront of local LGBTQ+ activism.
The annual event commemorates the Stonewall Uprising, six days of conflict between LGBTQ+ people and law enforcement in 1969 responding to a police raid at a popular gay bar in New York City. The conflict caught the country’s attention during an era of nationwide battles for queer rights and is part of the larger, ongoing LGBTQ+ activist movement.
In Hillcrest, queer community members and allies cheered while waving pride flags at the Spirit of Stonewall Rally, an annual awards ceremony that San Diego Pride and the Hillcrest Business Association co-host to celebrate this movement and call people to action.
“When I say ‘Happy Pride,’ it’s a rallying cry,” said Kristin Flickinger, San Diego Pride interim executive director.
Eight 2025 Spirit of Stonewall Awards were given to groups and individuals to honor their leadership, activism and community fundraising.
Trans activist and drag performer Courtney Johnson received the Champion of Pride award and LGBTQIA+ Migrants & Defenders was honored with the Community Grand Marshal award. Media leader Cesar A. Reyes — who creates the official Pride guides for San Diego, Long Beach and downtown Los Angeles — was presented with the Community Service award.
Long-time volunteers and activists Julie Hoffman and Summer White — who met at San Diego Pride in 1985 — were honored with the Inspirational Relationship award. The Larry T. Baza Arts and Culture award was given to Jackette Knightley and Queens & Kings For Causes, the inaugural Julia Legaspi Trans Leadership award was presented to Bliss Vasquez and Bears San Diego received the Stonewall Service award.
During Light Up the Cathedral on Wednesday, Rev. Dan Koeshall received the Light of Pride award, which honors spiritual leaders advocating for the LGBTQ+ community..
Donnie Vella, the current treasurer and former president of Bears San Diego, stood with his organization as it received the Stonewall Service Award. He said the queer community is fighting for their rights and also increased visibility every day due to current political struggles.
“It's a great way for the community to come together to celebrate each other and hold each other up,” Vella said. “This year it means a lot more because of what's going on in the political climate with the United States.”
In his eight-year tenure as president of Bears San Diego, Vella said he worked to facilitate community organizing and cross-organizational community work, which he hopes is one of the reasons San Diego Pride included them in this year’s Spirit of Stonewall Rally.
“We've never been recognized by San Diego Pride for over 30 years we've been around, so it meant a lot to me when I heard that we got this award because of my hard work and also the work of our board,” Vella said.
He said his organization began with about five people three decades ago. Now, it is a citywide nonprofit actively involved in raising money for local groups like Transgénero and the North County Pride Center, as well as national groups like The Trevor Project.
The leather community has joined Bears San Diego in their local, state and national advocacy. Both subcultures celebrate specific body types, clothing styles and behaviors while championing the larger LGBTQ+ community.
Earl Gray, who holds the title of Mr. San Diego Leather 2024, took the stage on Friday with friends from the local leather community to highlight their work.
“Folks want to see leather as the kinks and the fetishes and the things that are going on behind curtains and doors and places like that, however they're not really noticing that we are out there doing a lot of hard work in the community,” Gray said. “We're educators, we're mentors, we're doing legislative advocacy at the Capitol, we’re doing lots of things that aren't being seen and aren't being respected when it comes to being included in the main voice of Pride.”
Gray said he’s spent time at the state Capitol with dozens of other members of the leather community to advocate for transgender youth rights, sexually transmitted disease prevention, overdose prevention and other causes that directly affect the LGBTQ+ community across California and beyond.
“We've always been here, but that representation has not been available to us,” Gray said. “I'm very appreciative that we are having at least a small spot this year in the festivities to be recognized and to be heard.”
A major focus of his speech was uplifting the transgender community, as they are “on the front lines, fighting our fight right now.” He said he hopes to energize people to go out and fight with them for LGBTQ+ causes.
“It's not just going to start with or end with them,” Gray said. “(Those who are actively trying to take away LGBTQ+ rights) are going to work their way into everyone else in our community, try to dismantle us, pin us against each other and cause us to fall apart.”
An attendee who identifies as a queer San Diego resident — and requested to remain anonymous due to safety concerns — said the event reminded her of all the people who are working to aid queer people even through “violent suppression of support for queer people.”
She said the spoken word poetry performed at the rally by Espi Love, a local poet and frequent Pride performer, specifically stood out to her. She appreciated this event as a space for people to share themselves creatively.
“It connected what is happening at pride to a liberatory struggle,” she said. “Your liberation as a queer person is deeply tied to all other struggles for liberation, which I don't always think is a message that's communicated at pride events. That's what pride should be about.”
The annual Hillcrest Block Party was supposed to follow the Spirit of Stonewall Rally, but due to construction of the future Pride Promenade on Normal Street, the event was canceled.
As for other Pride events, Gray emphasized the importance of ensuring those involved stay safe, especially with a changing political climate around LGBTQ+ people across the country. But he said the need for safety transcends Pride itself.
“It’s not just a parade anymore. It's a promise that we've kept to make sure that everyone is safe and that we are going to keep fighting to keep our rights and to to gain more rights,” Gray said. “This is to remember that we're still doing this. This many years later, we are still fighting.”
