Petition to repeal San Diego Pride's policy against our youth

To:  San Diego Pride Board of Directors

The GLBT Times April 13th editorial stated, "San Diego Pride has decided that youth 17 years old and younger who want to enter the Pride festival at Marston Point this summer will need to be accompanied by a parent or guardian."

PRIDE has abandoned our youth. Young people have been a key part of Pride for as long as I have been going - since 1994. Youth have been on the forefront of Pride in regards to creating their own spaces, providing entertainment, volunteering, etc. Pride is one of the only times young people get to interact with the entirety of our community - to see what a gorgeous and wonderfully diverse culture we have. Pride is the time of year that gives us hope.

Whose decision was it to deny entrance to the very young people who so desperately need to attend? The youth that will be most affected by this asinine new policy are those not yet out to their parents, whose parents kicked them out of the house, or whose parents are too busy working to attend a festival.

If PRIDE’s decision was based upon shielding youth from certain content at the Festival then certain booths or whatnot that they find "questionable" could be designated to a certain 18 and up area. But to deny entrance to the entire festival is absolutely outrageous.

We urge the San Diego Board of Directors to repeal this policy immediately - so that San Diego's youth retain the right to attend the Pride Festival without a parent or guardian present.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Petition to repeal San Diego Pride's policy against our youth Petition to San Diego Pride Board of Directors was created by and written by Margot Kelley (frontera8@hotmail.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.

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