June 6- June 12 | 9th Annual San Mateo County PRIDE Celebration

Please join the PRIDE Initiative, our sponsors, Behavioral Health and Recovery Services, the BHRS, Office of Diversity and Equity, the SMC PRIDE Center, the SMC LGBTQ+ Commission and our Community Partners for the 9th Annual San Mateo County PRIDE Celebration June 6th-June 12th. This will be our second mostly virtual event. The Purpose of the Annual PRIDE Celebration is to promote health and wellness among the LGBTQ+ Community. To Build a sense of community. To provide info about behavioral health services. Help individuals in marginalized communities seeking services. To provide a free LGBTQ+ positive, sober environment for San Mateo County.

This year’s event will consist of a week-long series of Workshops centered on issues important to the LGBTQ Community and ending on Saturday with a Grand Finale filled with entertainers from our Local Community from 11-2pm, streamed live from the PRIDE Center Facebook page in partnership with PENN TV. So far some of the workshops include a return of the Queer Author’s series which is a collaboration of the SMC LGBTQ+ Commission and SMC Public Libraries. This year the Queer Author’s Series is featuring author George M Johnson with their book All Boys Aren’t Blue: A memoir manifesto on June 9th at 6pm. The SMC PRIDE Center is offering a workshop A Road Map, Tips and Tools for people who identify as Transgender or Gender Non-Binary on June 10th 6-7:30 pm.

The PRIDE Center is offering a SOGIE Training for Community Members on June 7th 6-8 pm. Kaiser is offering a workshop with an Expression Specialist from their Gender Clinic to offer people who identify as Transgender and Gender Non-binary tips on everything from how-to put-on makeup, how to dress and how to walk etc. on June 10th 6-7:30 pm. The Office of Diversity and Equity Health Equity Initiatives will be holding an informative outreach workshop on June 8th 7-8 pm.

On Saturday we will be having our Grand Celebration filmed live at SMC PRIDE Center and streamed on the PRIDE Initiative Facebook page featuring MC Jesus U Betta Work, the return of favorites like local rap artist Aima the Dreamer and the Youth Drag Group from Cappuccino High School the Rebel Kings and much more. To link to our full schedule of events, to register and to stream our Grand Finale go to www.SMCPRIDECelebration.com.

Written by Zachary Comtois, PRIDE Initiative Co-Chair