LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — It was the 40th anniversary of Las Vegas Pride this past weekend and the organization celebrated their Ruby Red Anniversary.
Channel 13 sat down with the president and CEO of Las Vegas Pride, Brady McGill, and he told us about how this event began and where we are now.
A celebration of self affirmation, dignity, and equality, Pride is a night where the streets of downtown Las Vegas fill with color and life.
McGil says the first Pride celebrations here date back to 1983. I asked him when the annual event first started, what did Pride look like and what was the size of it?
"The first forms of pride were really small we started on a campus with UNLV with some student organizations in echo of what happened with the stonewall movement," McGil said.
He continued, saying it went from a few dozen people to now more than 10,000.
While many parade goers are locals, there are also thousands of visitors from around the world.
"We really seek to improve and amplify the voices of our community especially for our LGBT voices but anyone underserved, through our magazine, through our website, and events like this, we uplift other communities," McGil said.
He said about 20% of our population in Las Vegas identifies as a member of the LGBTQ+ community.
"We do affect everyone's lives, someone that you know and care for is LGBT... whether you know it or not, they are. So your voting rights, the choices you make for our society are impacting people that you love potentially in a negative way and when we can celebrate and have a more open mentality we can all in."
Oscar De La Hoya and his partner Holly Sonders are the grand marshals of this year's Pride celebration. Oscar is one of the most successful and popular boxers in history and he is in the works of moving here to Las Vegas.
I asked Oscar's girlfriend Holly how it felt to be one of the grand marshals for our Las Vegas pride event for the special 40th anniversary year.
"We just moved to Las Vegas and we couldn't think of a batter way to integrate ourselves to this community, so we are really excited," she said.
Oscar is an Olympian born to Mexican parents in East Los Angeles, the pro won 10 world titles in six different divisions in his career.
Now, De La Hoya and his partner have been embarking on a new journey, moving to Vegas. They believe helping to create a welcoming and inclusive city is critical, especially among the LGBTQ+ community.
"Everyone here now is very supportive especially here in Vegas, so just be happy smile, be happy and live your life."
