Calling In The Community To Save A Pride Organization From Challenging Times

Episode 37

Published in

InterPod

4 min readMay 27, 2023

The InterPride podcast series, ⁠InterPod⁠, The Global Voices of Pride Podcast, where the world comes together for the LGBTQIA+ community, is proud to launch our 37th episode, Calling In The Community To Save A Pride Organization From Challenging Times with Fernando Zweifach Lopez, (them/them/theirs), Executive Director of San Diego Pride.

The LGBTQIA+ community has come a long way in the fight for acceptance. However, our voices matter and will be heard. Many LGBTQIA+ community members have fought for decades for the right to be seen and heard.

About Episode 37

Hear from Fernando and their journey coming out and how they transformed San Diego Pride!

About Our Guest Speaker

Fernando Zweifach Lopez (them/them/theirs)

Fernando Z. Lopez, the Executive Director for San Diego LGBT Pride, moved to San Diego in 1999 as a homeless youth and has since become a prominent LGBT community leader through their work with organizations such as Equality California and Marriage Equality USA, advocating for the rights of LGBT individuals, couples, and families.

In their time with San Diego Pride, Fernando oversaw the creation and growth of Pride Youth Leadership Academy, Youth Internship Program, Pride Youth Lunch Bunch, and Pride Youth Marching Band, that foster leadership skill development in LGBTQ+ young people. Through their board service with Lambda Archives of San Diego and We are FAIR, Lopez has helped to organize educators in developing LGBT curriculum. Currently, the chair of the Community Leadership Council’s LGBTQ Youth Services and Advocacy Committee and a member of San Diego Unified School District’s LGBTQ+ Community Advisory Committee Lopez has been instrumental in organizing local LGBTQ youth-serving organizations and leaders to push for reform within the region to better support queer and trans-identified youth.

Lopez has expanded LGBT voter outreach, increased San Diego Pride’s international relations work by meeting with over 400 delegates from 127 countries around the world, helped to build a coalition of LGBT athletic organizations to combat homophobia in sports, and worked with US law enforcement and armed services to increase LGBT sensitivity and compassion. Lopez’s years of LGBT advocacy, nonprofit management, public education, diversity consulting, media relations, guest lectures, and organizing have made them a consistent presence, ensuring the struggles of the LGBT community are ever visible.

Follow San Diego Pride on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!

News Contributor

Global LGBTQIA+ News Update By Michael K. Lavers, the international news editor of the Washington Blade.

Follow us on social media:

Listen to our podcast:

Interested in being a podcast contributor?

We want to hear from you! Visit interpride.org/podcastcontributor to submit ideas, suggestions, and feedback!

Michelle Meow, Producer & Host

Michelle Meow is the host and producer of “The Michelle Meow Show.” The program’s tagline is: “Your A-Z, covering the LGBT, LMNOP, and everyone in between.” Michelle’s mission is to construct opportunities for people to listen to deep conversations to develop understanding and empathy. She shares, “We simply don’t have enough opportunities to talk and not enough moments to listen.” Michelle’s show can be heard in San Francisco and nationally on the Progressive Voices Network, and her local TV show can be seen on KBCW TV and Channel 44.

Michelle also produces programs at the iconic Commonwealth Club, where she has also served on their Board of Governors. There, she is dedicated to conversations around social justice with an intersectional lens. She has interviewed notable thought leaders such as Olympic medalist Adam Rippon, NFL’s first out LGBTQ coach Katie Sowers, the first American woman in space, and Sally Ride’s widow, Tam O’Shaughnessy. Since 2006, Michelle has been a co-host of the San Francisco Pride Parade broadcast and was President of their Board of Directors from 2014 to 2018. She is a self-described LGBTQI+ history geek, information sponge, and lover, not a fighter.

Michelle shares, “Exchanging thoughtful dialogue can create change. We are all different, but we find similarities and hope in our differences. Exchanging thoughtful dialogue can create the change we all seek in humanity.”

You can learn more about Michelle and her programming here.

Michael K. Lavers, Global LGBTQIA+ News Contributor

Michael K. Lavers is the award-winning International News Editor for the Washington Blade. He has been with the newspaper since 2012.

Michael has reported from the Deep South, the United Nations, Cuba, Israel, Brazil, and more than a dozen other countries and territories. In addition, he has appeared on Al Jazeera, BBC, Sirius XM, and other English and Spanish-language media outlets to discuss LGBTQ-specific issues.

Michael holds a degree in journalism and Spanish from the University of New Hampshire. He grew up in Manchester, N.H., and currently lives in Dupont Circle with his husband.