Funding for Colores was provided in part by: New Mexico PBS Great Southwestern Arts & Education Endowment Fund, and the Nellita E. Walker Fund for KMNE TV at the Albuquerque Community Foundation McCune Charitable Foundation, New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts and Viewers Like You Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Albuquerque Pride The story, P.J.

Sedillo and business owner, Lucas Romero reflect on the parade's past, present, and future and explore how pride continues to provide powerful sense of belonging.

>> MC: Here we go.

Here we go.

Lucas Romero, everybody.

>> Faith: Lucas, PJ, thank you for joining me today on Colores to talk about the 50th Pride Anniversary.

That's so exciting.

What are you each most looking forward to for this year's Pride parade?

>> Sedillo: It's that family atmosphere that I love, of the past and the future brought together.

>> Romero: It's fun because this year being the 50th anniversary, there's so much going on and there's so much excitement about it.

Right?

That's why we're doing this interview today, is because we're talking about what has happened in the past and also to PJ's point, like, what might the future look like for Albuquerque and Pride.

So it's really fun to see what we've been doing and how things are changing and the excitement that has been built up around that.

>> Faith: There's a lot of excitement going on, and you're going to have a float this year too, right?

>> Romero: Yep.

>> Faith: So that's really cool.

>> Romero: Well, hopefully it turns out decent.

[all laughing] >> Romero: Backflips for pride.

Wasn't planning on doing that.

I haven't done a backflip on concrete in a while, so it was a little sketchy, but it was good.

It was fun.

We're so ready for Bryan, but we have been looking forward to this day all year long.

Oh, I love all of the energy.

Everyone is so excited to be here.

Everyone is sharing love.

Everyone's creating community.

It's the best time of year.

>> Faith: Tell me about both of your first experiences with pride.

What was that like?

>> Romero: Yeah, I█ll take that.

My first one was in 2018, and that year was an interesting year for me because though I'd been with my partner for, I think it was like eight years or so, we had never actually been to a pride together.

I tell people jokingly that we were together, but in the closet still.

And so that year was our first Pride 2018.

And it was really it was really fun to see the joy that people have during the festival, during the parade.

And for the first time, I was like, whoa, there are people that look like me.

There are people that act like me, and we're all just excited to be here.

So that was my first experience.

>> Sedillo: mine was in 1989, and it was at Yale Park, where the current bookstore is located at UNM, and I was hiding behind the building.

I was terrified to come out.

I had just started teaching and at elementary school, and I went home and I sort of had a metamorphosis.

I started crying.

I was, you know, I was tired of being ashamed of myself, and I needed to be proud of myself.

And so that's when I actually changed my name from Paul James to PJ, because I had I was a different person.

And the very next day I went to Common Bond with the local gay and lesbian community center, and I volunteered for a Friday night game night.

And the next year I became president of Albuquerque Pride.

And through the help and his that gentleman right there in that poster, his name is Neil Isbin.

He was my mentor.

He's the one that taught me how to do the parade.

He did pass away in 1996 with Aids.

That was my first pride event.

>> Romero: How old were you?

>> Sedillo: Then I was 21.

>> Faith: What made you want to become the president?

>> Sedillo: I felt that since the individuals that were there were being my voice.

I've always felt that I now need to become that advocate and that voice for others.

And I've always said that if I saved one person's life there, or one kid who was there who, like you said, saw others that were just like them, then that was the job that I needed to do.

>> Faith: PJ, this one's for you So tell me about the first the very first pride march in 1976.

>>: Sedillo: It was it was a march There were 25 individuals.

Now, the rally happened at Yale Park and it was put on by two organizations.

So they got together at the social club, which was called the Heights Bar at that time.

And people went for to have coffee and donuts.

So some people were down there, some people decided to march.

We don't know exactly how many marched on the sidewalk.

A lot of people again did not know what was happening again.

It wasn't it wasn't a big, huge thing, you know.

So interesting enough is that when it was over, people walked back to their cars and they met up with other people on central, and people didn't decide to continue this, you know, celebrating.

And they went to Morningside Park and they that's where the planning stages become to plan for the next year.

So we had 25 in 1976 and in 1977 there were 100.

>> Romero: Was it was it like a protest similar to what happened in New York back in 1969, or was it more of a parade >> Sedillo: it was a protest It was a strict protest.

The interesting enough that in 1977, the 1960, 1970, so 1969 was the Stonewall Riots.

So 1970, we had New York who did a march, a protest, and we had Los Angeles.

They put on a parade.

So again, it's sort of that mixture now of what we try to figure out.

Let's keep the roots of of having that riot and a march, but also along with the big huge floats and the celebration, >> Faith: what were they risking meeting up and doing this March in 1976?

>> Sedillo: Your life.

>> Faith: Yeah.

>> Sedillo: You know, family, friends you know, again, look at 1989.

It was hiding behind a building, terrified that I could lose my job.

And so they took a big, huge risk, I think one parade in 1980.

It was called the Brown Bag Brigade.

They wore brown bags, paper bags on their heads with their sort of label of their job, their occupation, for fear of losing their job.

>> Romero: It's so interesting because I feel like when if you don't know that someone's queer or they don't identify with the queer community, you don't think much about their occupation.

But I feel like whenever someone identifies as a queer person, but then you hear that they're a doctor, you're like, oh, that's my cardiologist.

And I think more and more that's becoming the case, obviously.

But back in the day, how powerful that must have been for a doctor to be wearing like a brown bag over his face with or her face with occupation across their chest.

Powerful.

>> Faith: Tell me about some of this amazing pride ephemera that you brought along with you.

Because you brought t shirts, and then you brought these amazing panels.

And I would love to start with this one, because this one is a newspaper article about the 1970 7th March, which was after the first one.

Right?

>> Sedillo: Yeah.

And Russell Gray is in the Russell Grays considered the Harvey Milk of Albuquerque.

And he's the one is quoted that there were 25 marchers in at in 1976.

And so that was written by the Seers Rio Grande weekly, I think, and the grand weekly part of Seers notes $0.25.

But that's the only known article, and that's a copy.

It's just to show this here.

>> Faith: Yes.

>> Sedillo: This is the first t shirt that has been made for Albuquerque Pride or for pride and notice lesbian before gay.

Now I go back and forth with GLBT, primarily because I'm from the Aids generation, and all organizations in the past had the G first because most men were dying and during the 80s the lesbians took the lead and have in charge of the organization to nurture it.

And that's when we changed GLBT to LGBT.

Oh, okay.

And this interesting why this is unique.

This was lesbian is before gay previously because there were two lesbians that said, if we're going to purchase the t shirts, we want lesbian first.

>> Faith: Okay.

That's awesome.

And it's the first one.

First one first.

See 1981.

Wow.

>> Faith: Why is it so important to preserve this history and to talk about, especially for younger generations?

>> Romero: You know, I just generally I think history is important.

I mean, we all go to school and they teach us history.

And the history is important because history tends to repeat itself.

So if we don't know what has happened in the past, then how can we act in the future to make sure that we prevent those things from happening?

And I think we're seeing a lot of that right now.

I think that's why pride more so today is important than it was maybe prior to like 2016.

And people like PJ are crucial pieces of the puzzle here because they have the history.

It's not written down in books, at least not the books that we're learning at school.

Right?

And so we need people like PJ to teach us.

So then we can all learn from the past and make sure that we are continuing to push the movement forward, ultimately, for the goal that we can all continue to live in harmony together without discrimination amongst our fellow brothers and sisters.

So that's why I think it's important.

>> Sedillo: And I want to say that you're making history as well.

You know, in the book that I just wrote, I have all the bars going back from the 1950s, and now you are making history because you're going to be opening up an establishment catering to our community.

And that's pretty brave.

That's pretty amazing.

So you're going to be changing a lot of people's lives for the future, and you'll be able to tell your stories too.

>> Romero: Yeah.

>> Faith: And that's so exciting that you're opening a bar it█s Vers, right?

>> Romero: Yep.

Vers.

>> Faith: Why did you decide to open this bar now and why in Albuquerque?

>> Romero: So my husband and I, coming out of Covid, I jokingly tell people that we wanted to put something together to get everyone out of their Covid slumber.

And that was back in November of 2021.

And what we did is we started hosting this quarterly queer mixer called Friends of Dorothy, and it was important to me because we had come out as a couple socially just a couple years prior.

So from 2018 to 2020 was like a short stint of time.

And so to really miss out on that connection amongst people was important to us and something that I was really craving.

So we started hosting this quarterly event, and the first one we had about 80 people that showed up and it was a huge turnout.

I thought there was going to be like 20, maybe 30, but we had about 80 people that showed up that day, and it showed us that there was a craving for connection.

And so we continued hosting that event quarterly.

We still do it today.

And the most recent one, we had anywhere between 3 and 400 people turn up.

And what we learned over the last six or so years is that people want more connection now than I think they have before.

I think we've all become so fixated to our cell phones, social media that there's a craving for connection.

And so my husband and I had always had this dream of opening a business, and specifically, we thought a gay bar would be a great business to have here in Albuquerque.

There aren't very many gay bars that exist.

And so we -- friends of Dorothy ended up becoming the proof of concept for what the business is today.

>> Faith: What does it mean to you personally to have a float representing Vers in the pride parade this year?

>> Romero: It's our coming out.

>> Faith: Oh!

Yay!

>> Romero: For the lack of a better term.

It truly is our coming out.

You know, the float and everyone who's participating with us is going to be in the Vers branded outfits.

We've had a lot of people see us on social media.

Obviously, I think seeing us now in person is going to make that personal connection that we are missing right now.

I'm excited to be out in community this weekend.

It's going to be a lot of fun for people to see that we're real humans.

We don't just exist on TV screens, you know?

Oftentimes we don't understand that there are people like us that exist in the world, especially when you're a young kid who maybe hasn't even come out.

To know that there are people just like you that do exist is the most powerful experience you can ever have.

That's why we all have friends.

That's why we all join clubs.

Think of like Albuquerque run club, like we want to be around people who are like minded.

We want to be around people who share the same ideas and have passion for the same hobbies that we do.

I think being at the parade itself is going to be probably the most motivating thing for a kid who's really struggling to see that there are people that exist that are just like you is it's the most powerful thing.

>> Faith: And when you think about the next 50 years of pride in Albuquerque, what do you hope the community looks like and what do you hope like spaces like Vers and the parade do for this community?

>> Sedillo: I would hope that, you know, we would come together as mankind.

I think that we need to do that.

We're so separated right now with the division, you know, and the hatred that is happening out there.

So I would hope and pray that we would come together and unite, as -- with all our differences.

>> Faith: Yeah.

>> Romero: I think just to touch on that too, I 100% agree with you.

I think what's important for people to know, though, is that we can all exist, but we can also all be different.

We don't have to like the same things.

There█s enough of us in this world that if you aren't someone who necessarily wants to go to the pride festival, that's fine.

But you have to also understand that there are people who do.

And I think when we talk about these protesters, it's interesting because we see them showing up.

I think ultimately what they're trying to share is love.

And that's exactly what the parade is.

The parade isn't just gay people.

The parade isn't just lesbian people or transgender people.

The parade is everyone.

Truly.

That's why the flag has evolved.

I'm not sure if you seen the pride flag recently, but it has evolved because there are so many more colors.

We understand that really diversity is what brings us all together.

Right?

So my mom's not lesbian, but she's coming to the parade.

My dad is not gay, but he's coming to the parade and they're going to have the best time.

So when I think about 50 years from today, I think I want to mention what I said at the beginning of our conversation was that I just want to see that people can exist and be loved, no matter who they are.

I think that pride has started off with the Stonewall riots in 1969, in New York.

What some people don't realize is that was they were riots.

It was a protest.

That's what turned into gay pride.

And that's where we are today.

And so I think if we just continue embracing each other, no matter who we are, for all of the flaws that we have, I think that's just going to continue this movement of positivity and love into the future.

And so I think it's more acceptance than anything.

I do think that there is a lot of division, as you alluded to earlier, we're all the same.

At the end of the day, we're all going to live, if we're lucky, 100 years.

So let's just embrace these moments as we have them and love each other as much as we can, because who knows if we'll be here tomorrow.

>> Faith: For the last question, what does pride mean to each of you?

>> Sedillo: It's a time to be who I am and come out.

You know, I've always said that people think that you only come out once, but you come out sometimes second by second, hour by hour, day by day, because you have to figure out, is it okay for me?

We're coming out right now.

On to everyone that's going to be watching this show.

And it's sometimes very scary.

You have to figure it out because your life could be in danger.

And I've always said that when you come out, it's a superpower.

Everyone who comes out, you know, you're a superhero to others.

So again, it's just a time to be whoever you are, whatever you are, whatever you want to wear and be proud.

It's just it's such an exciting, exciting day.

I wish that we had it all year long.

It's just -- gives me that strength that I can live another day.

>> Faith: And what is pride for you?

>> Romero: Yeah, that's such a good point.

You -- I totally agree with you, PJ.

You do come out.

And I don't even think it's just queer people.

I think like, generally like as you grow up from a child to an adult and even as you get older, like you go through these phases of coming out.

And that is so true.

I think that, I think you hit the nail on the head there.

I think I'm still coming out as I think about it now.

I guess pride to me is again, love what I said earlier.

I think it's just an opportunity for people really to like, have fun.

You know, like a herd of horses when they're together, they all seem to be a little more like comfortable together.

They seem to function a little easier.

They're not as stressed out.

But if you put one, one horse like out in a pasture by itself, it kind of tends to freak out because it's like, where are all of my friends?

I think that's what pride is.

And I think that's why I love it so much and why I think it's so important.

Because if we see each other as a herd of horses we don't feel is lost, you know.

>> Sedillo: And you can have stallions -- >> Romero: Yeah!

>> Sedillo: And mustangs, and pintos >> Romero: You have a variety of horses.

So that's how I see it.

I think it's it's just so much fun.

If you've never experienced it before, I highly recommend it.

Even if it's just the parade.

It's just so much fun to see everyone.

And a lot of people put a lot of effort into this, so the more people, the better it tends to be.

Yeah.

Thank you everyone for coming.

>> Romero: Today was a huge success.

It must have been about 200 entries plus.

I want everyone to know that this is a day of happiness.

That's why everyone says “Happy Pride.” Because everyone can celebrate, be who they are and be your authentic self.

On to 51.

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