\u201cThis will lead to a bigger, more efficient, and more effective Pride, especially as we build on the experience and knowledge of the people who came before us,\u201d said Harami, who most recently worked for former Mayor Sheng Thao.<\/p>\n
Harami said the center will use Oakland Pride to introduce community members to the center\u2019s other offerings, including health care and social services.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Oakland Pride, traditionally held in September, will get a new date: Aug. 16. A parade course introduced last year<\/a> \u2014 from 22nd Street and Broadway to Frank Ogawa Plaza \u2014\u00a0will remain in place.<\/p>\n Joe Hawkins, who co-founded both the LGBTQ Center and Oakland Pride, said the merger is a roundabout manifestation of the original vision.<\/p>\n When Oakland Pride launched in 2010, the plan was to also create a permanent home for the city\u2019s queer community, Hawkins said. When that didn\u2019t come to fruition, Hawkins branched off and, in 2017, helped found the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, which he still directs. Now, the two organizations, which have often worked together in different capacities, will become one, as initially envisioned.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2021, the Bay Area Reporter published emails revealing financial strife<\/a> within Oakland Pride, which had canceled the annual event under confusing circumstances. That year, the organization actually asked the center to take over planning the celebration, but Hawkins demurred, saying the logistics and legalities would be too complicated on short notice. A separate group started a different event, Pridefest<\/a>, to fill the gap, and then both events were held the following year.<\/p>\n In a press release announcing the dissolution of Oakland Pride this month, George Smith III, the board president, said the decision was \u201cnot sudden.\u201d He said the financial situation he encountered at Oakland Pride when he joined the board in 2023 was a \u201cmess,\u201d including poor record-keeping, improper credit card use, and outstanding debts.<\/p>\n As a program of the center, Oakland Pride \u201cwill finally have the financial and operational infrastructure it needs to thrive,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n Like many organizations serving LGBTQ communities during the second Trump administration, Oakland\u2019s center has also had a rocky year<\/a>, including losing a $600,000 federal grant<\/a>, according to Hawkins.\u00a0<\/p>\n But local foundations, governments, and residents have more than made up for the loss.<\/p>\n \u201cOur community has always been that way \u2014 people stepped up in ways that were phenomenal,\u201d Hawkins said. With Oakland Pride struggling too, \u201cit was pretty clear we could help.\u201d<\/p>\n Harami said the idea is for the pride program to be self-sustaining through the sponsors it attracts. He emphasized that the festival is looking for both financial support and volunteers<\/a> this year.<\/p>\n Hosting an exuberant, festive celebration is a form of protest in an era when \u201crainbow crosswalks get removed<\/a>, and the rainbow flag gets taken down<\/a> at Stonewall,\u201d said Harami.<\/p>\n \u201cOur mere existence as queer folks is political,\u201d he said, \u201cand it\u2019s also an event where everyone can celebrate and find joy in these hard times.\u201d<\/p>\n “*” indicates required fields<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The nonprofit that organizes Oakland Pride is dissolving \u2014 but the festival has found a new home within…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191893,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[89975,2434,143,145,53296,144,89976],"class_list":{"0":"post-191892","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-brandon-harami","9":"tag-lgbtq","10":"tag-oakland","11":"tag-oakland-headlines","12":"tag-oakland-lgbtq-community-center","13":"tag-oakland-news","14":"tag-oakland-pride"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Oakland](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/large-Oakland-LGBTQ-Center.jpg\")
The Oakland LGBTQ Community Center on Lakeshore Avenue will now house Oakland Pride. Credit: Amir Aziz\/The Oaklandside<\/p>\n