Fifty Years of Pride in Albuquerque

Fifty Years of Pride in Albuquerque

Albuquerque was one of the first cities to organize a Pride event after the Stonewall Riot of 1969 and the first Pride Parade in New York City in 1970.

Visit Albuquerque tells the story thusly:
Albuquerque Pride began in 1976 with a group of 25 brave UNM students, an LGBTQ+ organization called “Juniper,” (est. 1974) who walked from Morningside Park to Morningside and Central to little fanfare — a truly radical act for the time, when being “out” posed many risks. In 1977, Pride’s second year, a crowd of over 100 people joined the march. Today, you can find two commemorative sculptures at Morningside Park in honor of the activists who paved the way for a more inclusive Albuquerque. When the memorial was erected, it was the second of its kind in the nation, behind New York City’s Stonewall memorial. Today, Albuquerque’s Pride memorial is one of three of its kind in the United States. The man behind it — Dr. P.J. Sedillo — attributes it as an example of the local community’s resilience and role in the national struggle for LGBTQ+ rights.

The official page of Albuquerque Pride has more to say.
Here in Albuquerque, the parade grew steadily from those first 25 pioneers. In 1977, over 100 people marched on the sidewalks for GLBT rights and rallied at Morningside Park to hear speakers tell of their personal experiences and what was happening all over the country. We moved from the sidewalks to the streets. Then Pridefest moved from Morningside Park to Spanish Village at the New Mexico State Fairgrounds for a number of years. Then in 2001, on our 25th anniversary, Pride moved to Main Street on the Fairgrounds. The event was a huge success and over 5,000 people attended the daylong event. More space, more vendors, more entertainment and more community! In 2008, the estimate was over 30,000 people attended the three day event …and we keep growing. We were noted as the 9th most attended festival by New Mexico Business Weekly newspaper, Best of Festival by the Alibi and noted as the 3rd largest parade in the state of New Mexico.
New Mexico is the only state that has both Hate Crimes and Human Rights legislation that includes sexual orientation and gender identity. New Mexicans are accepting of diversity but being aware of your environment and taking appropriate precautions after a day at Pride are advised.

I would add that several years ago, the Pride Celebration event was relocated to the Balloon Fiesta Park in the north of Albuquerque which I attended in 2023. In 2024 this was moved down to the Civic Plaza in downtown.

All three of our major network TV stations covered this year’s parade. But I would give a special kudo to KOAT TV which posted this story last year. KOAT Pride Story from 2025 when they interviewed P.J. Sedillo, an archivist for Albuquerque Pride.

The organization was called Juniper, a local student group at UNM.
"Twenty-five brave individuals walked from up from Morningside and Central with no fanfare, no news like now. They proceeded to walk down to Yale Park, which is where the bookstore is now at UNM," Sedillo sad. "When it was over, they needed to walk back to their cars. Well, they met a lot of other people in the gay community along the route, and they wanted to continue the festivities. So they ended up right here at Morningside Park."

KOAT also visited our church’s Pride Service in 2025,Monte Vista Christian Church and interviewed our minister and a few members including me (Joni).

This was my fourth year attending a Pride Event in Albuquerque and fifth overall after attending a small party in the Bishop Arts District in Dallas in 2019. But I got a head start this year because our sister city across the river, Rio Rancho, organized their first Pride Celebration at Haynes Community Center and Park across the street from the big Intel chip manufacturing plant.

I took a friend over there and we got to hear the Band of Enchantment, a local LGBTQ inclusive group perform!
Our church did not run a float in the parade this year, although we did host a booth at the Pride Festival in the Civic Plaza later. So I parked my car at our parking lot, walked a few blocks south to Central Avenue and wandered around taking some pictures and checking who was participating.

One group I chatted with was Casa Q, a fantastic local organization that offers a group home for teens 14–17 and a Transitional Living Program for young adults 18–22.

I also chatted with the Common Bond – U21 LGBT group who were giving a parade safety briefing and loaned me some sunblock!

And I found the float for the Transgender Resource Center, another fantastic local resource. I decided to march behind their float and my friend, M, joined me.

The floats were lined up in the eastbound lanes of Central east of Girard Boulevard. Fortunately, we were in the right lane which moved out first. I had a great time interacting with the watchers especially on the center median, making eye contact, exchanging Mom Hugs, and doing a little dance strut or just sashaying my way down the avenue while pumping my umbrella to the sound of one of the PA systems blasting out music.

My friend, M, peeled off when we got to Morningside to visit an afternoon gathering at Morningside Park. But I continued on to San Mateo, turned left to Copper and then walked back to the church parking lot. By the time I staggered up the slight slope into the lot, I had logged about 5 miles of walking! Fortunately I had been doing regular walks for about four week prior, so I was mostly in shape for this!

I was VERY glad to find a nearby Burger King for air conditioning, food, hydration, and rest! And there was a small group of Pride attendees who picked the same BK to chow down at!