Fresno Pride Goes Regional. This year's Parade and Festival's theme "Out In The Valley"acknowledges that Fresno's Pride has morphed into the Pride event for the Central Valley.

"When we started the Parade and Festival 16 years ago," Fresno Rainbow Pride chairman Jeff Robinson remarked, "we never dreamt that our event would become a regional affair, but we have. Fresno's is the major Pride event between Sacramento and the Los Angeles basin every year."

The Pride Festival will once again take over the streets of Alhambra and Fulton, just south of Olive and west of Van Ness Avenues

"We're expecting a larger number of booths (at the festival) this year," Robinson said. "And, many of them will be new to the festival this time."

The Grand Marshal for this year's parade will be internationally known author Dr. Lillian Faderman.
Faderman, who is a long-time member of California State University, Fresno's faculty, has penned numerous books and articles about the LGBT community. Her best-known books include: Surpassing the Love of Men (1981), Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers (1991), Chloe Plus Olivia (1994), To Believe in Women (1999) and her autobiography Naked in the Promised Land (2003). She's also been a contributor to the Advocate, The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, to name just a few.

MTV star Matthew Fashion will be Fresno's first Celebrity Grand Marshal. See the Matthew Fashion article on the Grand Marshals page.

Also being honored as Community Service Award Grand Marshals are Jerry and Kathy Ward, past leaders and activists of the Fresno chapter of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.

Riding in the parade as Honorary Grand Marshal will be Fresno city councilmember and friend to the GLBT community Cynthia Sterling.

Headlining this year's Pride Festival is San Francisco's Lipstick Conspiracy. Lipstick Conspiracy broke out after appearing at a number of Bay Area Pride events in 2004 and being voted Best Girl Band the same year by the Bay Area Guardian.

Conspiracy was featured on the first-ever transgendered stage at San Francisco Pride last year. The band has been dubbed "pioneers in the transgendered rock explosion."
PlanetOut named the Conspiracy as one of their Featured Artists in 2004.

The band was named by the Stonewall Society as Transgendered Favorite Musician 2005 at the Society's Pride in the Arts Awards last spring. The Conspiracy is currently recording their latest album, "A Perfect Alibi." See http://www.LipstickConspiracy.com

Also headlining the festival will be a Hot Bods contest. All comers are welcome to compete. Prizes of $100 will be awarded to Mr. (Gay/bisexual males and F2M), Ms. (lesbian/bisexual women) and Miss (transgendered females and drag queens). Audience applause will determine the winners.

The parade is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Parade participants will assemble at Palm and Olive Avenues.
The festival will kick off immediately after the conclusion of the parade. A full day of Pride will end with a 4 and 8 o'clock film screenings by Reel Pride at the Tower Theatre.
Visit http://www.fresnorainbowpride.com for more information. See you there!