San Jose Pride

I’m from San Jo so I already am biased. SJ never gets love. We’re always the forgotten south bay of the Bay, the not-​cool-​enuf lesbians and the seem-​to-​be– never-​land compared the the East Bay and SF. No offense taken.
I’ll play the comparison game. I’ve been to NY, SF and SJ pride only. I must say I had the best time in NY, 2^nd best in SJ and the worse in SF. SJ is more real (for me) — family oriented, a better mix of people of color, working class people (but def still needs to improve in this area) and a fairly ok mix of LGBT community (still needs to improve in this area too). Because SJ is the capital of Silicon Valley, it is more conservative, less creative compared to the rest of the Bay, BUT considering all the corporate sponsors are up in the other bigger cities, SJ planning committee works with what they can and that I can appreciate. Thank you!
Funny thing is… I felt more proud celebrating in NYC and in SJ than I’ve ever felt in SF. I feel the pride is felt and seen more in SJ than in SF where naked men and sex fests are happening in public. What happend to our pride? Wish I experienced Pride during the Stonewall era. I can only read about it, but to keep it true to Pride’s roots, I stay away from superficial San Francisco.

I have been to lots of Prides in lots of places — and to each their own.
San Jose Pride is small in comparison to large market cities (Chicago, SF, etc.). It’s basically all in one big park, and there are your typical snacks, beer, vendor booths and a mainstage.
We had a ton of fun checking out the vendors (different ones from SF, which was refreshing). Favorites? Hella cheap cute scarves at the Indian textiles place, water beads (HELLO gifts for my bridesmaids!), fancy soaps that weren’t crazy overpriced, Rocky Horror Picture Show, and so so so so so so so much free stuff. We came away with at least 3 free T-​shirts.
Barefoot tent — you are truly everywhere with that Twister mat.
Cheer SF did a performance, which was cooler than seeing them in the SF parade, and they also had some bungee jumping /​rock climbing area that looked cool.
If you are in the South Bay, it’s worth taking a trip. And if you want to b@^*$^ about the $ 15 door fee, go on family day when it’s free.

Yes, the admission fee does seem odd at first since San Francisco’s Pride events are all free and donation based, but it costs money to put these events together and (yeah, I’ll say it) the rest of the Bay is just not as Gay! Having the largest gay population per capita brings in tons of sponsors and gay tourism. San Jose doesn’t have that, but they still want to show their Pride!
I went to my first San Jose Pride with the mistake of comparing it to my city’s Pride. Being from San Francisco, it was disappointing. I felt it was more like a county fair than a Pride. That was my mistake, comparing and judging. Every city has a different Pride and I should have went with an open mind. This is Pride!
Look for an update when I do go to San Jose Pride with an open mind. Fun is what you make of it. Pride is what you make of it.

Just came back from San Jo Pride and I was disappointed.
It costs $ 15! I didn’t even know they could charge for such a thing. My sis and I arrived just about an hour before the whole Sunday thing ended and yet we still had to pay full price! LAME! Saturday the Family Day last year wasn’t great but there was still some fun to be had. Sunday though… $ 7 for parking, $ 15 entrance and $ 4 beers and $ 4 pretzels. That’s hardly something to celebrate.
Sure sure, I did get to see Brandy and Kat de Luna (both great performances), but still I find these events to be about the community and if the community can’t afford to attend, then what’s the point? One extra star for having a good presence of people of color and an overall diverse representation of the Queer community.

It’s hard to know what to say when it comes to San Jose Pride, but really as it comes… when you roll over the two stars it says «I’ve experienced better.» And really that’s what it comes down to.
For something that is supposed to unite the community, I don’t know if they get the word out as well as they should. But beyond that, when you have San Francisco closing down streets and doing things like that — I’m sure that you could have added some more stuff to make the event huge. The pool party event to kick off ’08, I think was a good idea.
The place I think that was glorified the most for it was Hunter’s, that explains ridiculous lines on Pink Party and all of that. I don’t know if I will ever get encouraged to go and experience San Jose Pride, because it’s like bad foreplay before the orgasm of San Francisco Pride.
But you know what, maybe there will come a time. Step it up San Jose, I’m rooting for you.

I will admit the only reason I went to the San Jose Pride Parade after party was due to the fog we have had in San Francisco. The fog has been so thick and the weekend before this event was freezing. What to do… hmmm when there is a fork in the road… one to East Bay and the other to South Bay what do you do? I made a bad decision.
This was so lame of an event. The party was held in some park, which was fine but we had to pay $ 15 to get into the gated area where we spent even more money on a bud light (no vodka people) and other typical crap for Sale.
e. I mean common how many more rainbow shit can one gay own? (OK so that is my personal opinion on rainbow stuff, I get the concept.)
The organizers couldn’t even get the layout right. The main stage was right near the dance area which by the way was in the dirt. Yes folks a sunny day out side with a $ 5 bud light, buzzing, flip flops, shorts and your feet are fucking filthy because you are dancing in a bunch of dirt like a pig in a pen. Common organizers these people paid $ 15 to come in for a fun day and walk away with nasty toes and dust covered legs. (Maybe they should have had a pedicure booth at the exit gate.) Oh you have so much respect for these people.
I will help to spread the word what a waste of time it is attending this event in the park. Maybe it was an off year but according to one other who has attended this event the entrance fee was the same and the layout of the entertainment stages were the same.
Event planning 101 was not attended by the Pride Committee of San Jose!