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 the pandemic’s hold on in-person group gatherings, the LGBTQ-plus community did find a way to celebrate Pride Month on the Central Coast. A group in Lompoc shone a light on the deaths of transgender or gender nonconforming people while the Gala Pride and Diversity Center in SLO opted for a drive-by photo op. You can read about it all in this year’s annual Pride issue.
—Camillia Lanham
This article appears in Pride Issue 2020.