June is LGBTQ+ Pride Month and PFLAG Santa Clarita, Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, and Queer SCV plan to celebrate with a community Picnic in the Park on Saturday, June 22.
Both organizations aim to strengthen support for and within the LGBTQ+ community in Santa Clarita.
“This year’s event is particularly significant because we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots,” said Peggy Stabile, PFLAG SCV co-founder and educational and advocacy coordinator.
The Stonewall riots, which were a series of violent demonstrations by members of the gay community against a police raid, took place on June 28, 1969, in New York.
“This was the first time that the LGBTQ community fought back,” Stabile added. “And for any of us involved in the LGBTQ community, this is a significant event because it started the civil rights movement.”
This year’s event is expected to be family-focused, with attractions like carnival games and lawn games, such as cornhole, horseshoes and water balloon tosses, along with live entertainment by Hipified Records, a College of the Canyons student-led music production company.
“The Pride event is always a very, very special one in Santa Clarita,” Stabile said. “We started having them back in the mid-90s … This is the first time we’ve had a venue large enough to invite the whole community.”
Boston Scientific’s employee relations group, PRIDE, will also be sponsoring the event with snack donations, including watermelon, lemonade and bottled water, and volunteers, according to Stabile.
Stabile hopes this events helps “our LGBTQ residents and all of the residents of Santa Clarita know that we consider them treasured for who they are and all the valuable contributions they are making.”
“We want them to know there is no need to be invisible,” she said.
The Picnic in the Park is scheduled for 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 22, at Dr. Richard H. Rioux Memorial Park located at 26233 Faulkner Drive in Stevenson Ranch. For more information, contact [email protected] or visit QueerSCV.com.
