LGBTQ+ community, assemble! This weekend, the South Bay is hosting the Silicon Valley Pride Parade and Festival for residents near and far to come celebrate. This year’s theme: “Standing for love and Liberation.” The weekend will kick off with a night festival on Saturday, including two stages for DJ’s and live performances, with Sunday including a parade along Market Street, dancers, artists and live bands. The festival will include fun for the youngsters with the family-friendly Family Garden, and adults with the cocktail lounge and live visual art exhibits.

SV Pride
Sat-Sun, Various Times, Free
Plaza de Cesar Chavez, San Jose

The South Bay’s official Pride celebration kicked off earlier this week with the raising of the LGBTQ flag at San Jose City Hall. The party continues through the weekend with a variety of events—including a Trans and Friends Rally on Saturday and a night festival later that evening. Also on the completely fabulous calendar is Drag me to the Show, a drag queen show sponsored by LaRuce Beauty and hosted by Coco Minaj that features four queens from Silicon Valley performing a series of musical numbers. More info on all the festivities can be found at svpride.com.

Silicon Valley Pride
Thu-Sun, Various Times
San Jose

Unity. Diversity. Strength. These are the ideals that this year’s Silicon Valley Pride parade and festival aims to highlight in the local LGBTQ+ community. Celebrating its 43rd anniversary, the weekend begins with a Trans and Friends Rally—focused on those who identify as transgender and gender non-binary. Later, the nighttime festival will feature four fantasy-themed realms: Under the Sea, Enchanted Forest, Good vs. Evil and Space Odyssey. On Sunday, there will be a parade moving from Market Street to Julian Street and ending with a lively celebration featuring dancing, local artists and live bands.

Silicon Valley Pride
Sat, 4:30pm, $10
Plaza de César Chávez, San Jose

Silicon Valley Pride is gearing up for the 40th anniversary of the event, which takes place late summer in downtown San Jose. To garner support for the annual festival, organizers are holding a series of fundraisers leading up to the main event. The Sweetheart Ball, one such function, took place over Valentine’s Day weekend.

The next one takes place this Sunday, Feb. 22, at Mosaic Restaurant: the much-anticipated Silicon Valley Pride Drag Brunch.

For $20, brunchers will be treated to a brand new menu and a show featuring local drag queens and DJs. Bottomless mimosas cost another $10.

Diners are encouraged to dress in their flashy finest so they can get their portraits taken by photographer Lawrence McCrorey.

Featured entertainers include local favorites Mona Lot Moore, in full face a dead ringer for Cher, and Alina Malletti-Galore, a longtime mentor in the South Bay’s drag community and perennial contestant in Miss Gay USofA.

Money raised benefits the Gay Pride Celebration Committee of San Jose, a nonprofit that produces Silicon Valley Pride festival and has served the local LGBT community for more than four decades.

San Jose’s first gay rights rally took place in 1971. The following year, one of the first gay newspapers in the nation, Lambda News, began to promote the event. Within a few years, the annual pride festival in San Jose featured political speakers, dozens of community sponsors, live entertainment and a parade through downtown.

In 2014, organizers rebranded from San Jose Pride to Silicon Valley Pride, to give the event a more regional focus.

Silicon Valley Pride Drag Brunch. 11am-2pm Sunday at Mosaic Restaurant, 211 S. First St., San Jose. $20, tax and tip included. For more info: 408.282.8888.