Alvin Prasad to be honored in this weekend's Pride march and festival

Alvin Prasad, who died after a hate-motivated attack on Halloween night last year, will be honored as this year’s Grand Marshal in the Sacramento Pride march taking place this Sunday. 

The Sacramento LGBT Center organizes the Pride march and festival every year, and Priya Kumar, the center’s Communications Manager, said that the attack shook the Lavender Heights neighborhood of Midtown Sacramento.

“This is happening in our own backyard and it’s everything that we’re trying to fight against, right?” Kumar said. “As the community center, as an LGBT community center, we have space to hold that type of legacy.”

Kumar said that Prasad was an advocate in the LGBT community and a supporter of Pride. Prasad’s family will be leading the march in a convertible donated for the march by the California Automobile Museum.

“It’s really heavy,” Kumar said. “We want to share that weight with Alvin’s family and our community.”

As a part of Sacramento Pride, the center will also be throwing a festival to celebrate LGBTQ+ culture in Sacramento.

Sacramento’s Pride festival will be held this weekend on June 13 and 14. The events, held on Saturday and Sunday, will feature performances from RuPaul’s Drag Race stars Willam and Detox. There will also be performances from local talent, like the Sacramento Gay Men’s Chorus and SAC DANCE LAB.

Kumar said that Pride weekend is the biggest way they get people to engage with their services like HIV testing, healthcare services and their community groups.

“It’s a good entry point,” Kumar said. “It helps to spread the message that you can thrive as an LGBTQ+ individual.”

There will be booths and food vendors within the festival. Hollis Sweet, Community Engagement & Volunteer Services Manager said that he was most excited for their Maker’s Market within the festival.

“The Maker’s Market is made up of local queer artisans that can’t afford a booth necessarily,” Sweet said. “But they’re artists that sell good quality stuff that need that exposure.”

If you’re looking to attend the festival but are coming up short on funds, you can volunteer for the festival in exchange for free entry. Volunteers can commit to one five hour shift in exchange for a weekend pass into the festival.

Sweet said that a lot of people that work at the center started out as volunteers, and that it can help people feel more connected to their community.

“In this world where people are so disconnected, it gives that sense that people actually do care,” Sweet said. “Volunteering is effective at helping people feel better about themselves and gain self-confidence.”

Volunteers can sign up as late as the days of the festivals, Sweet said. He also said that while volunteers won’t be doing manual labor, they’ll still be working hard.

“We do always run on a shortage of volunteers. In a perfect world, we’d have over a thousand. Last year, we had 370,” Sweet said. “Volunteers will work hard, but the work that they do will be meaningful.” 

Kumar said that they’ve also seen funding cuts, and that they’re trying to figure out how to fund Pride and programs at the center that are no longer receiving grants.

“With this administration … there’s been more attacks on LGBTQ+ community and nonprofits that are focused on social services,” Kumar said. “Especially this year since January, we’ve seen more cuts, and more of our grants, our programs are actually ending at the end of June.”

Kumar said that funding cuts made the center question whether it could still host Pride this year.

“The consensus was, yes, it’s still important. We still need to provide that space and that program,” Kumar said. “We also want to send a message that we’re not going anywhere.”

On Saturday the festival will be held from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. and on Sunday the festival will be held from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., at the Capitol Mall with the entrance at the corner of 7th and Capitol Mall. The march will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., starting at Southside Park and proceeding to the Capitol.