Pride
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Pride Issue 2025

Celebrate the season with wines that support advocacy organizations and local establishments that support the community
Avatar photo by Caleb Wiseblood and Emma Montalbano

It’s officially Pride Month, and despite the national politics surrounding certain LGBTQ-plus issues, the community is ready to celebrate with events across the Central Coast. As part of our annual Pride issue, Senior Staff Writer Caleb Wiseblood speaks with a handful of wineries that are contributing a portion of wine proceeds to support local LGBTQ-plus […]

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Pop a cork: Vintners across Santa Ynez, Santa Maria, and Lompoc valleys celebrate Pride with wine-based fundraisers

Avatar photo by Caleb Wiseblood

Since its inception, Los Olivos’ Future Perfect Wine hasn’t let a year go by without donating one of its wine’s proceeds to a cause close to owner and winemaker Sunny Doench Stricker’s heart. “I have released a Pride rosé every year since the tasting room has been open, and we just celebrated our fourth anniversary […]

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Pride parties: Local businesses attempt to bring LGBTQ+ nightlife to the Central Coast for Pride month and beyond

by Emma Montalbano

Time and place Chido Bar is located at 221 N. Broadway in Santa Maria. For more information, visit facebook.com/ChidoBarSantaMaria or call (805) 631-5007. For more information about Libertine Brewing, visit libertinebrewing.com or call (805) 548-2338. The venue is located at 1234 Broad St. in SLO. To find more Pride events happening during the month of […]

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Overdue breakthrough

The Pride in Mental Health Act hopes to make accessible mental health care services for LGBTQ-plus youth the law
Avatar photo by Bulbul Rajagopal

 A host of Democrats across the United States are trying to bolster access to mental health care and support for LGBTQ-plus youth.  U.S. Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-California), the first Black and openly gay senator to serve in the Senate, introduced the Pride in Mental Health Act on March 14—a day after the Oklahoma medical examiner […]

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Pride Issue 2024

Out and about: Our Pride issue highlights a social group for older members of the LGBTQ-plus community and the need for the Pride in Mental Health Act
Avatar photo by Taylor O'Connor and Bulbul Rajagopal

With this year’s annual Pride issue, we’re taking a little time to focus on support systems for the LGBTQ-plus community—what exists and what needs to exist. Staff Writer Taylor O’Connor talks to the Pacific Pride Foundation about a program it’s expanding into North County intended specifically to provide a sense of community that may be […]

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Connection, socialization

Pacific Pride Foundation’s Lavender Elders program is designed to bring older LGBTQ-plus folks together
by Taylor O'Connor

Get together Visit pacificpridefoundation.org to learn more about Lavender Elders and other programs that Pacific Pride Foundation offers. While there are many options for the LGBTQ-plus community to get together during Pride Month in June and throughout the year, it can be challenging for older community members to have that experience.  “Things like going to […]

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It’s Pride Month

The Central Coast is celebrating the LGBTQ-plus community this June with events in SLO and Santa Barbara counties
by Taylor O'Connor and Adrian Vincent Rosas

As we roll into national Pride Month, celebrating the LGBTQ-plus community seems especially poignant following a year of anti-trans legislation across the country, attempts to ban gender identity and sexual orientation from sex education, and fights in local schools and cities over rainbow flags and crosswalks. In 2023, SLO and Santa Barbara counties are hosting Pride events all June long. For this year’s annual Pride issue, Staff Writer Taylor O’Connor has event details for you; and New Times Staff Writer Adrian Rosas from the Sun’s sister paper writes about trans visibility and what local organizations are doing to lift them up.

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Pride Issue 2022

by Sun Staff

Our annual Pride issue is coming a little early this year, but is it ever really too early to celebrate the activism and visibility of the LGBTQ-plus community? We talk to the Pacific Pride Foundation about the upcoming summer of in-person events, why it’s important to remember the activist roots of Pride, and the current […]

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Pride Issue 2020

by Sun Staff

June was Pride Month, but the usual parades and events that commemorate the occasion were waylaid by the COVID-19 pandemic. The month also coincided with the Trump administration and the Supreme Court of the United States respectively taking steps backward and forward for the LGBTQ-plus movement. There’s still a long way to go, and despite […]

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Pride Issue 2019

by Sun Staff

On the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Inn uprising, the city of Santa Maria gets to participate in its third annual Pride Celebration and Resource Fair on June 28, 2019, hosted by the House of Pride and Equality (HOPE). In the couple of years since HOPE first started, the voice of the LGBTQ community in […]

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Pride Issue 2018

by Sun Staff

Beginning a Pride celebration for a city that has never had one is a big deal, especially for its LGBTQ population. Local nonprofit the House of Pride and Equality (HOPE) brought Santa Maria’s first Pride festival to life in 2017, and this year’s event on June 30 is slated to be even bigger and better. […]

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