OCEANSIDE — Thousands of people converged in downtown Oceanside along Pier View Way on Saturday for the annual Pride by the Beach celebration, featuring live entertainment, food, and over 100 booths offering resources and activities.
The annual event is organized by North County LGBTQ Resource Center, a nonprofit serving the LGBTQIA+ community in Encinitas, Carlsbad, Oceanside, Vista, San Marcos, Escondido, Rancho Bernardo, Fallbrook, Camp Pendleton and other parts of North County.
The family-friendly celebration, currently in its 18th year, kicked off Pride Month with live music by queer acts, drag performances, and dancing. Dozens of booths featured crafts, resources, snacks and Pride-themed merch from local nonprofits, political organizations, businesses, and queer-affirming churches.
Attendees enjoyed dancing, listening to music, eating and connecting with one another.
North County LGBTQ Resource Center Executive Director Max Disposti said this year’s celebration is more meaningful than ever, especially amid the wave of policies and rhetoric targeting transgender individuals throughout the United States since President Donald Trump took office in January.
“Pride has been an opportunity to be together, and this year, more than ever, we feel that we need each other,” Disposti said. “With an event like this, you feel less alone. You feel energized for weeks and months after. That’s really the idea of Pride, so you don’t forget that feeling when you feel under the weather.”
Jasper M., who attended the festival with his rainbow-clad dog Tuba, said Pride offers a place for him and other transgender people to be able to relax, be themselves, and not have to explain anything to anyone.
“It’s a place of existence,” he said of the festival.
One attendee, who asked not to be named, said it was meaningful to see faith organizations, in particular, showing support for the queer community, as someone who grew up in the Catholic Church.
“The mom hugs always make me cry,” she said, referencing the individuals offering Free Mom Hugs to attendees. “It was cool to find out there were Catholic, queer-affirming churches … I kind of want to slide that info over to my mom.”
This year’s Pride takes place a few weeks after the Oceanside City Council reversed a decision to fly the pride flag beneath the city flag at the Civic Center throughout June.
Earlier in May, the council voted 3-2 in favor of flying the flag. On May 21, Councilmember Jimmy Figueroa announced that he was reversing his “yes” vote out of concerns about maintaining neutrality at City Hall, effectively blocking the flag from being flown at the city building.
That decision still stings for members of the LGBTQIA+ community and Pride leaders, but they remain focused on moving forward.
“I know we had a setback with the flag,” Disposti said. “We are hoping Oceanside can still be the leading voice in North San Diego County for inclusivity.”
Pride by the Beach also named Andry José Hernández Romero, a gay makeup artist imprisoned in El Salvador, as the honorary grand marshal for this year’s festival and is calling for his release. Hernández Romero arrived in the U.S. seeking asylum from Venezuela, but instead was sent by the United States to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, a maximum-security prison.
The North County LGBTQ Resource Center, based in Oceanside, offers a range of programs for LGBTQIA+ youth and adults, including mental health resources, support groups, inclusivity training, HIV prevention and care, and transitional housing for youth at risk of homelessness.
For more information, visit ncresourcecenter.org.
