History

In 1986, the Palm Springs Pride celebration began as a simple dinner and variety show showcasing the talents of local entertainers at the Riviera Resort grand ballroom. The first Pride Parade, named the Desert Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade, took to the streets of Palm Springs with 35 units and was greeted by hundreds of men and women. The parade went down Williams Road to Mesquite and into Demuth Park, where the festival was held. Since then, Greater Palm Springs Pride has flourished and grown from those humble beginnings and emerged as a four-day celebration that attracts 200,000 people from Southern California, across the nation, and worldwide.

1913

• Dr. Florilla White was an important citizen of Palm Springs. Her activities and guests were worthy of note in the newspaper. She was highly respected yet variously described as “eccentric,” “unusual,” “free-spirited,” “independent,” and other code words for lesbians. A trained medical doctor, she arrived in Palm Springs in 1913 after escaping the start of the Mexican revolution, saving her sister Cornelia, with whom she had been pioneering at an American residential colony. Reported by Tracy Conrad Special to the Desert Sun, Published April 6th, 2018.

 

1916

• William Pester arrives in Palm Springs and lives in the Indian Canyons. He is arrested in the 1940s for having sex with 10 men. 

 

1969

• June 28 - the community fights back following a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village (police harassment was common at that time for gay bar patrons due to a New York City law requiring a minimum of three articles of “gender-appropriate clothing”). Later termed “the Stonewall Uprising”, the riot lasted three days.

• Palm Springs' first very lesbian-friendly hotel, The Desert Knight, was established in 1969 by Eadie Adams and her partner, Pat McGrath. For 30 years, it was known as the Desert Knight. In the book Palm Springs Babylon, the Desert Knight is mentioned as being visited by many, including Gloria Swanson. 

1970

• The nation’s first Gay Pride March is held in New York City.

• Amazon Bookstore, the first lesbian-feminist bookstore, opens in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

1973

• The National Gay Task Force (“Lesbian” was added later) was formed to “bring gay liberation into the mainstream of American civil rights.”

1974

• Congress members Bella Abzug and Ed Koch introduced the first federal bill to include language directed at protecting the rights of gays and lesbians; the bill was defeated.

• American Psychological Association removes homosexuality from its list of psychological disorders.

1975​

• El Mirasol Villas at 525 Warm Sands Drive was purchased and opened as a gay hotel by Daryl James. 

1976

• Christine Jorgensen, a U.S. Army veteran and the first American woman to publicly announce her gender reassignment surgery was a guest speaker at a Palm Desert Women’s Club Luncheon held at the Desert Club in La Quinta (demolished and now the site of Fritz Burns Park at Avenue 52 and Avenida Bermudas). 

1977

• A planned Gay Rights Rally in Palm Springs protesting Anita Bryant drew protests and was canceled. 

• Anita Bryant leads a successful campaign to repeal a gay rights law in Dade County, Florida.

• Assemblymember Mr. Art Agnos presented AB1, the anti-discrimination bill in Sacramento. Mr. Agnos later served as mayor of San Francisco and was a longtime champion of our community.

1978

• Gilbert Baker designs the Rainbow Flag to fly in the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade. Gilbert Baker would later be honored by Palm Springs Pride with a 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award.

• State Senator Briggs’ Prop. 6, commonly known as The Briggs Initiative, called for a ban on LGBT teachers and their supporters in public schools. Openly gay San Francisco politician Harvey Milk was instrumental in fighting the measure. Governor Ronald Reagan opposed the measure, which was defeated by a landslide in the November statewide vote.

• On Nov. 27th, our community mourns the loss of San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone. Confessed killer Dan White claims junk food impaired his judgment.

1979

• The first National March on Washington for Gay and Lesbian Rights draws between 100,000 and 200,000 participants.

• Palm Springs Public Library held a forum on “Talking with Children About Sex” that included “Understanding Different Values,” a roundtable talk among clergymen of different faiths, speaking on homosexuality as a sexual choice. 

1981

• The first reference to AIDS, then known as Gay-Related Immune Disease or GRID, appeared in both medical journals and the mainstream press.

• The GAP Bar at 8101 Ramon Road (demolished and now Gentry Plaza) and Dave’s Villa Caprice County Club in Cathedral City were firebombed with minor damage. 

1982

• Bottom Line was purchased by James Suguitan and William Gordon. 

• In the midst of a lawsuit with the United States Olympic Committee banning the use of the name “Gay Olympics,” the first “Gay Games” were held in SF, with 1300 athletes representing 12 nations participating.

1984

• At a press conference in late 1984 to express opposition to a clothing-optional resort becoming an AIDS hospice, then-Mayor Frank Bogert said, "The whole world now has the idea that Palm Springs is the place you go to get AIDS. When (tourists) hear Palm Springs has an AIDS place, they're not going to come here." 

• Hoping to bring “the drags of the New York club world into the daylight,” the first annual drag festival, “Wigstock,” is held in New York City.

1985

• Cleve Jones envisions a national memorial, the AIDS Memorial Quilt, after seeing a patchwork of signs posted at a 1985 Candlelight March bearing the names of people lost to AIDS. Cleve Jones would be honored as the Palm Springs Pride Celebrity Grand Marshal 2009.

• The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is founded.

• Police conducted Sting Operations at Ruth Hardy Park, Palm Springs, and 45 people were arrested over two years. 

1986

• The Desert Business Association organized the first Pride celebration in Palm Springs, which was promoted as “Sizzle.” The event was a variety show at the Riviera Resort's grand ballroom, showcasing the talents of local entertainers.

• The Desert Women's Association was formed with Emily DiSimone as president. It starts with five members who organize potlucks and BBQs for local lesbians.

• Proposition 64, the LaRouche initiative, which called for the quarantine of HIV-infected individuals, is defeated with the vehement support of the LGBT community.

1987

• Sizzle 2 was not well received by the community due to its poorly staged production. The event was never held again.

• Liberace died at The Cloisters, his Palm Springs home, from cytomegalovirus pneumonia caused by AIDS on February 4, 1987. A memorial service was held Friday, February 6th, at Our Lady of Solitude church. A second service was held in Las Vegas on February 12.

1988

• Charles Pierce performed in a gay Pride benefit concert at the McCallum Theatre, billed as “A comedy show of female impersonation by America’s best-known performer of his kind!” Joan Edgar, Music Director, and Kirk Fredericks, Production Director.

• October 11 is celebrated as the first National Coming Out Day.

• California state legislator Lyndon LaRouche’s second proposition requiring the reporting of names of persons with AIDS to local health officials, Prop. 69, is defeated.

• Desert Gay Pride weekend, July 4, was billed as a Country Fair at the Villa Resort in Cathedral City. Desert Women's Association and the Desert Business Association are cosponsors of the Country Fair.
   

1989

• Pride featured a Friday reception at the Fashion Plaza, the Saturday Eartha Kitt show at the Radisson Resort, and the 3rd annual Sunday Country Fair hosted by the association of predominantly lesbian members, the Desert Women’s Association, at The Villa Hotel, 67-670 Carey Road. 

• Triangle Inn, a clothing-optional resort for men, was opened by Matt Robinson and Kevin Rice. 

1990

• Gay & Lesbian Alliance of the Desert was registered on Mar 2, 1990, as a domestic nonprofit company incorporated at P.O. Box 861, Cathedral City, CA 92235. The agent's name of the company was Cal Willis. It was last registered with the IRS in Sept 2012. It opened the GLAD Community Center at 773 Williams Road, Palm Springs, on Sunday, July 15, 1990. The Center was vandalized four days later, on July 19, 1990. Greg Pettis was president; Cindy Chaisson was a volunteer coordinator; Cal Willis was a co-founder; and Steve Ramirez was a public relations director.

• The Gay & Lesbian Alliance of the Desert (GLAD) organized the Pride Festival, which was held at the Perez Auto Park. 

1991

• Palm Springs chapter of PFLAG, an organization formed to “help others unlearn the homophobia inherent in the socialization process,” holds its first meeting. They later received their 501c3 in March of 1994.

• The Festival moved to Demuth Park.

• The community staged a rally at City Hall to raise awareness and support AB 101.

• The first Dinah Shore event was produced as a one-night party by Mariah Hanson under her Club Skirts Presents The Dinah Marquee at the Palm Springs Art Museum.

• Street Bar (A Streetbar Named Desire) opened on New Year's Eve (12/31/90) on Arenas Road. Gloria Greene owned it, Vinnie DeCosta was its manager, and Chef Gregg was its chef. 

1992

• The first Desert Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade, with 35 units, took to the streets of Palm Springs. Making its way down Williams Road to Mesquite and into Demuth Park, the site of the Festival, the Parade was greeted by hundreds of men and women.

• The Gay & Lesbian Alliance of the Desert hosted the parade and festival, which took place at Demuth Park over Memorial Day weekend.

1993

• Tool Shed, The Original Levi, Leather, Fetish, Gear Bar, opens on Sunny Dunes. 

• Bee Charmer Inn, a discreet women’s desert retreat, opened in November 1993 and closed in May 2002. When it opened, it was the only hotel catering to Lesbians; others soon followed. When it closed, a male couple purchased the property, turned it into a men’s hotel, and renamed it Terrazzo Palm Springs. It’s now La Maison Hotel, located at 1600 East Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs, CA 92264.

• When California Gov. Pete Wilson visited the Indian Wells Racquet Club in 1992, PFLAG picketed him at the country club where he spoke.

1994

• The Pride organization started operating under the name of Palm Springs Lesbian & Gay Pride.

• Palm Springs Leather Order of the Desert was founded. 

• Greg Pettis was elected to the Cathedral City Council, becoming the first gay elected official in the Coachella Valley. 

1995

• The Pride Parade and Festival moved from Memorial Day Weekend to Veterans Day Weekend. This move, combined with promoting Palm Springs Pride at other Southwest Pride events, resulted in significantly increasing hotel occupancy rates. The Pride celebration would grow yearly over the next fifteen years when the first economic impact study was conducted.

1996

• The Pride Parade was held on Ramon Road.

• David Mixner was the Grand Marshal of the Pride Parade

• The narrowly defeated Employment Non-Discrimination Act became the first bill of its kind to be voted on by the full U.S. Senate.

• Judge Kevin Chang ruled in 1996 that the State of Hawaii had failed to show the necessary “compelling interest” to uphold a constitutional ban on same-sex marriages.

• Congress passes, and President Bill Clinton signs the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act into law,” permitting states to deny marriage recognition by same-sex partners.

1997

• The Pride parade moved to Palm Canyon Drive in 1997, and Michael Feinstein was the Grand Marshal. Members of the Desert Chapel congregation marched on city hall to protest the move because of their anti-homosexual beliefs.

• Pride organization formally changed its name to Greater Palm Springs Pride.

• On August 4, the American Psychological Association voted to limit attempts to “cure” homosexuality and agreed to require reading a statement to gay patients affirming that being gay is normal and healthy.

• Comic actress Ellen DeGeneres comes out as a lesbian, as does her character, on the highly publicized April 30 episode of Ellen, a first for American TV.

• The Walt Whitman Community School, the nation’s first private school for gays and lesbians, opens in Dallas on September 5.

• Cathedral City - In 1997, the city approved the first domestic partnership ordinance in the area.

1998

• The Pride organization was incorporated under Greater Palm Springs Pride as a nonprofit on November 4, 1998.

• Palm Springs Gay Veterans marched in the Palm Springs Veteran’s Day Parade for the first time. 

• Casitas Laquita Resort for Women was established in 1998 and closed in 2016. Located at 450 E. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs 92264. Originally built as a Motor Inn in the early 1940s. Lesbian couple Joanna Funaro and Denise Roberson purchased and extensively renovated the hotel, increasing the number of rooms to fifteen. For many years, it was a lesbian hotspot, with the Wine Cellar for entertainment showcasing the “Sassy Sisters” and hosting special events like the Lesbian Writers Festival. The resort closed its doors in 2016. The property was sold but has remained closed.

• 2,500 attended the first Disneyland “Gay Night.”

1999

• The festival expanded to include Arenas & Marquis Gardens.

• The Pride organization received IRS 501(c)(3) non-profit status in October 1999.

• www.pspride.org URL registered.

• The Palm Springs Gay Men's Chorus, with 24 members, was founded as The Caballeros. Local residents formed the Caballeros after the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles performed their holiday concert in Palm Springs in 1998.

• The Desert Stonewall Democrats was founded.

• The first Human Rights Campaign Fund Garden Party was held in Palm Springs.

2000

• The Pride Festival moved from Arenas Road to the Angels Baseball Stadium in Sunrise Park. The Arenas Road Marquis Gardens location was ideal because of the high concentration of gay businesses and residents in the area. Critics believed that the move from the “street fair” atmosphere of Arenas to the “festival village” at the Sunrise Stadium was a bad decision.

• The owner of Streetbar, Dick Haskamp, was named the first Community Grand Marshal.

• On January 5th, the Palm Springs City Council unanimously passed Ordinance No. 1578 – the Domestic Partnership Ordinance - a policy extending certain rights afforded to married couples to unmarried domestic partners. The Ordinance was brought forth by the Palm Springs Human Rights Commission. 

2001

• America’s first LGBT Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Desert Memorial Park, Cathedral City. 

• Desert Winds Freedom Band was founded and four Desert Winds Freedom Band members joined the Great American Yankee Freedom Band of Los Angeles (GAYFBLA) in the Greater Palm Springs Pride Parade on November 3.

• Golden Rainbow Senior Center (now the LGBTQ Community Center of the Desert) was founded through a bequest from the Prime Timers of the Desert Foundation. The organization first met in the Fellowship Hall of the Metropolitan Community Church, 32150 Candlewood Drive, Cathedral City. David Grindstaff was its first Executive Director. 

2002

• As part of the 2002 Pride events in Sunrise Park, the Gay Liberation for the 21st Century organization placed a Morris Knight memorial plaque in the park, recognizing his work to have the LGBT Veteran’s memorial installed in Cathedral City against extreme anti-gay pressure from veterans' groups.  An Oleander tree was planted near the plaque to symbolize renewal. In the same location, AMVETS placed a replica of the Sacramento Veterans Memorial paver for LGBT Veterans.

• Lang Yang of the Desert chapter of the Gay and Pacific Islander Organization was established on January 1, 2002.

2003

• The festival and parade, which has grown 20% in the last five years, attracted nearly 60,000 attendees over two days in 2003, making it the largest annual special event in Palm Springs.

• Ron Oden was elected the first openly gay and African-American Mayor of Palm Springs and the first openly gay and African-American mayor of any city in the U.S.

2004

• Ron Oden, the first openly gay Mayor of Palm Springs, rides in the Palm Springs Pride Parade.

• California Boots and Breeches Corps Uniform Club - Desert Division is founded.

• The Grand Marshals for this year’s parade are the 4,000 same-sex couples who married in San Francisco this past spring. These couples stand as powerful symbols of our community's enduring determination to achieve equal rights for all Americans, regardless of sexual orientation.

2005

• LGBA Combined Marching Band marches in the Greater Palm Springs Pride Parade.

2006

• Palm Springs High School’s Spirit of the Sands Marching Band and Visual Corp marched in the annual Pride Parade for the first time. In the fall of 2006, Palm Springs High School band director Brian Ingelson decided it was time for his marching band to perform in the Palm Springs Pride Parade. What started as a controversial decision, viewed as anti-Christian and with death threats against the band director, has become one of the band’s most meaningful performances of the year, not only for the students marching in the parade but for the tens of thousands of Pride Parade spectators.

2007

• Cinema Diverse: The Palm Springs LGBTQ Film Festival was launched. 

2008

• Palm Springs Biker Chicks lead the parade for the first time.

2009

• An undercover sex sting operation by the City of Palm Springs Police Department occurred in June in the Warm Sands neighborhood.

• Cleve Jones served as Celebrity Grand Marshal.

• ​Safe Schools Desert Cities began as Gay Associated Youth closed in 2009.

2010

• The Greater Palm Springs Pride organization announced on July 19, 2010, the election of LGBT rights activist Ron deHarte to its board of directors. deHarte will work closely with the board and community stakeholders to guide the organization in fulfilling its mission.

• In 2010, official Pride events attracted 57,502 attendees, who pumped $12.3 million of direct spending in Palm Springs. Of those attending, 72% were from out of town. Pride generated $122,978 in hotel transient occupancy tax (TOT), $108,173 in City of Palm Springs Transactions and Use Tax (PSGT), and 314 full-time equivalent jobs were supported in the community by the expenditures made by Pride and its audiences in 2010.

2011

• The economic impact from organization and audience expenditures in Palm Springs increased in 2011 to $14.1 million.

• On the heels of a city manager’s report that admitted wrongdoing in the Warm Sands sex sting that exclusively targeted men who have sex with men, the Palm Springs Police Chief David Dominguez, who led that sting operation, announced his retirement.

• Among the black eyes the Police Department is sporting is the use of gay slurs to describe those who were being observed, and an investigation would determine that the police chief himself was the first to utter what the report called “disturbingly offensive remarks.”

• Section of Rainbow 25 Flag in Parade - Community leaders carry a large section of the Key West 25th Anniversary Rainbow Flag in this year’s Palm Springs Pride Parade. The rainbow flag was created by Gilbert Baker (who was on hand to receive the Palm Springs Pride Lifetime Achievement Award) in San Francisco in 1978, the year Harvey Milk was assassinated. The rainbow flag is an international, universal symbol of gay pride. Originally a mile-and-a-quarter long, the Rainbow 25 Flag was unfurled in Key West on June 15, 2003.

• Communidad Orgullo GLBT Tijuana and Greater Palm Springs Pride jointly announced on May 27, 2011, that human rights activist and board member of Palm Springs Pride Ron deHarte would be the international grand marshal of the 2011 Marcha de Orgullo GLBT Tijuana, in Tijuana, Baja California Mexico.

• The International Prime Timers organization held its national conference in Palm Springs during Pride weekend.

2012

• Mattie Leyden, Laura Meeks, and George Zander founded the Trans Community Project, which hosts a trans support group at the LGBTQ Community Center of the Desert. 

• Desert Hot Springs High School Marching Band appears for the first time in the annual Pride Parade.

• The L-Fund was established to provide emergency financial assistance to cis, trans, and queer-identifying lesbians in crisis across the Coachella Valley and surrounding areas.

• Greater Palm Springs Pride is recognized as the Organization of the Year by the Desert Business Association.

• Greater Palm Springs Pride represented the Coachella Valley in the San Diego Pride parade on July 21. It debuted several new 20-foot-tall character balloons, including same-sex couples Adel and Eve and Adam and Steve. The custom-designed giant balloons were featured in the parade to draw attention to equal rights and the freedom to marry for all individuals.

• Greater Palm Springs Pride hosted some of the Carter-Johnson Leather Library at the November 3 and 4 Pride Festival. The collection was displayed as part of the Fetish in the Outfield leather area within the festival. The Carter-Johnson Leather Library is a huge traveling exhibit containing over 10,000 items. It includes artwork, books, DVDs, magazines, newsletters, newspapers, pamphlets, photographs, club and event pins, posters, and other materials that explore the world of alternative sexuality from the 1700s.

2013

• The Pride Festival is held for the last time at Sunrise Stadium.

• The 25th Anniversary AIDS Walk is part of the annual Pride Parade.

• Palm Springs Women’s Jazz Festival was founded by Gail Christian and Lucy DeBardelaben. During the previous ten years, they became known and respected as local promoters who created spaces for queer women of color.

• LGBT Center of the Desert presents Center Stage, a benefit concert with a special guest emcee at the Palm Springs Convention Center on Thursday, October 31, 2013. This was the first time The Center held its annual fundraiser during the annual Pride Week celebration.

2014

• The City of Palm Springs approved closing Palm Canyon Drive for two days to accommodate the Pride Festival’s move to downtown Palm Springs. The Festival will take place on Palm Canyon Drive from Amado to Baristo and on Tahquitz and Arenas Road between Indian Canyon and Belardo. The Festival's main stage will be on Arenas Road between Calle Encilia and Indian Canyon.

• The Pride Parade route has been changed to accommodate the Pride Festival’s move to Palm Canyon Dr., and the street closure has become the largest closure in the city’s history. The Pride Parade steps off at Tachevah and travels south to Amado.

2015

• November 1, George and Chris Zander are attacked after leaving Arenas Rd. (George Zander later dies on December 10, 2015).

• Palm Springs Pride was named “Best 11 Gay Pride Festival Trips on the Planet” by Jetsetter Magazine.

• Data from attendees participating in official events, including the Pride Festival and Pride Parade, reveals the 2015 human rights and cultural tourism celebration generated over $22 million of organization and audience expenditures in the region. The impact increased from $20 million in 2014.

• Greater Palm Springs Pride announces a $20,461 donation from the Pride Youth Fund to GSA Clubs of Coachella Valley. The funds are intended to assist students and school advisors at the grassroots level and include $7,500 in grants for 15 GSAs to support programs and activities of their choosing.

• The first Dyke March and Rally occurs with 300 participants gathering at the Convention Center and marching to Palm Canyon and then down to Arenas Rd.

• 2015 Desert Business Association named Ron deHarte, President of Palm Springs Pride, the Outstanding Community Service Leader.

• Palm Springs Pride events grew significantly in 2014 and 2015, becoming the largest California Pride Festival south of San Francisco. Attendance increased from 15,000 to over 100,000.

2016

• Celebrating the 30th anniversary of Pride in the Coachella Valley, the Pride Parade will have 175 contingents and honor the fallen who lost their lives in the deadliest incident of violence against LGBTQ people in U.S. history. Highlighting anti-LGBT violence and paying tribute to the 49 victims of the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, Fla., marchers from Palm Springs’ lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and allied communities will carry signs with names and pictures of each victim lost in the June 12 Pulse nightclub shooting.

• The largest marching band to ever appear in a Pride parade appears in the Palm Springs Pride Parade with 350 members from the International Lesbian and Gay Band Association. The association held its annual conference in Palm Springs on Pride weekend.

• Frontiers.com named Palm Springs Pride one of the top 10 must-travel to Prides on May 16, 2016.

• Palm Springs Pride was named to the top 14 must-visit Pride Festivals in the World list by Holiday Lettings, a TripAdvisor company based in the UK. According to Holiday Lettings, "We are thrilled to announce that based on industry research and traveler feedback, we’ve created a list of the fourteen most loved and most talked about pride festivals worldwide, and the Greater Palm Springs Pride has been recognized on our list, 14 Must-Visit Pride Festivals Worldwide!" (August 3, 2016).

2017

• Palm Springs Pride events remained the largest free California Pride Festival south of San Francisco. Attendance at all official events increased to 140,000.

• Annual Pride events have a $24,000,000 economic impact

• Palm Springs elected the first all-LGBT City Council and third consecutive gay mayor.

• Brothers of the Desert, a group of black gay men living in the Coachella Valley focused on empowering and supporting the community through a variety of efforts, was formed. 

2018

• Palm Springs LGBTQ Community Leadership Council (CLC) was formed by David Powell and Ron deHarte in May 2018 to support the LGBTQ community in Palm Springs. The CLC provides a stable, effective, and ongoing collaborative mechanism through which LGBTQ community organizations can exchange information effectively, coordinate community activities, collaborate on community projects, and provide coordinated community leadership.

• Moreno Valley police chief Dave Kurylowicz told the Palm Springs City Council that he believed Riverside County sheriff candidate Chad Bianco had anti-LGBTQ prejudices.

• The nation's first all-LGBTQ city council in Palm Springs faced debates over whether to weigh in on national issues.

2019

• LGBT Veterans Memorial in Desert Memorial Park, Cathedral City, dedicated as the official California State LGBTQ Veterans Memorial.

2020

• Palm Springs Pride in-person events were canceled due to COVID-19 restrictions. A custom 30’ x 50’ rainbow flag for Palm Springs Pride was raised 175’ in front of Palm Springs City Hall. This was the first time a rainbow flag was raised at city hall.

2021

• At the annual LGBTQ Town Hall organized by the Police Chief’s LGBTQ Advisory Committee, Palm Springs Police Chief Bryan Reyes apologizes for the police department’s role in the June 2009 sting operations in Warm Sands.

• Archie “Bud” Smith, the longest-serving and oldest Palm Springs Pride Production team volunteer, passed away on May 28, 2021. He was the operations team's backbone for 21 years.​

• Lisa Middleton becomes the first Transgender Mayor of Palm Springs (Dec 9, 2021) and California. 

• Rainbow crosswalks are painted on Arenas Road and Palm Canyon Drive. 

• St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, set high on the mountainside overlooking Palm Desert and the Coachella Valley, was lit in Pride Rainbow colors in a dramatic display of solidarity with the LGBTQ community. The rainbow colors celebrated Pride Week starting on Saturday, October 30th. 

• Timothy Ray Brown (1966-2020) Memorial Bench dedicated in the Wellness Park (May 7, 2021) 

2022​

• Arenas Road District Dedicated, Nov. 3, 2022. The city of Palm Springs unveiled a new crosswalk sign proclaiming “Drag Queen Crossing” at the intersection of East Arenas Road and South Calle Encelia. 

• Frank Figueroa, EdD, the son of Coachella farmworkers, is the city's first openly gay elected city council official. 

2023​

• Coachella Valley Firebirds hosted its inaugural Pride Night on January 7, 2023. The youngest volunteer for Palm Springs Pride 2022, Asher Bisgaard (they, them, theirs), was invited to drop the first puck. $40,000 was raised from the PRIDE Night Jersey Auction to support the Pride organization’s LGBTQ youth programs. 

• Hunter’s Nightclub celebrates its 25th Anniversary. 

• The Drag4Drag rally, held in Palm Springs' downtown park on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, protested anti-drug legislation nationwide. 

• Greater Palm Springs Pride issued a proclamation to honor and celebrate freedom of expression of all forms and to declare, for all those under attack, including straight allies and entertainers, that in this anti-drag, anti-LGBTQ+ era, the City of Palm Springs, effective on this 18th day of April 2023, is DECLARED A CITY OF SANCTUARY AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION OF ALL FORMS. 

• Out on the Walk exhibition was held to celebrate the LGBT honorees on the Palm Springs Walk of the Stars. David Gray and Julie Warren, Co-Founders and co-directors of the LGBTQ+ History & Archives of the Desert, stated, "We were happy to collaborate with the Palm Springs Walk of the Stars and the City of Palm Springs to identify and recognize the deserving individuals who will be recognized with this new designation. We are excited to share their stories and call attention to these deserving LGBT contributors to our community.” 

• Palm Springs Fire Department Engine 1 was adorned with a rainbow flag during the Pride Parade for the first time.   

2024

• January 23, Grand Opening and ribbon cutting for Living Out Palm Springs, an Inclusive luxury apartment living experience for the Active 55+ LGBTQ Community at 1122 E Tahquitz Canyon Way. 

• Harvey Milk’s nephew, Stuart Milk, was recognized as a Global Ambassador at the 12th Annual Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast on May 9, 2024. The City of Palm Springs proclaimed May 9 to be Stuart Milk Day. 

• The Barracks, a desert cruise destination since 1992, originally called Wolf's, on the border of Palm Springs and Cathedral City, closed on August 4. California Department of Beverage Control alleges the bar hosted lewd conduct and revoked The Barracks Liquor License. 

• Stonewall Democrats of the Desert and the Palm Springs Gay Men’s Chorus celebrate 25th Anniversary. 

• December 12, Ron deHarte became the first openly gay Mexican American Mayor in the City of Palm Springs' 87-year history.

2025

• Palm Springs will host the 2025 International LGBTQ+ Travel Association (IGLTA) Global Convention from October 21 to 25. The City is touted as one of the most LGBTQ+-friendly in the world. IGLTA is the world's leading network of LGBTQ+-welcoming tourism businesses.

• The International Imperial Court System celebrates its 60th Anniversary with a gala state dinner in Palm Springs on November 1. Palm Springs Mayor Ron deHarte serves as Honorary Chair. The international gathering is headed by the Titular Head of the International Imperial Court System, Queen Mother I of the Americas, Nicole Murray Ramirez.

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