LGBT Days kicks off in Cathedral City

A weekend of of fun, food, and music starts Friday with a message of inclusiveness and diversity.

The first annual Cathedral City LGBT Days started Friday night and will continue through the weekend.

“Palm Springs has there big gay pride festival and that encompass everybody in the Coachella valley, but for the smaller communities to do something like this that’s a very big move on their part,” said Daniel Sanchez, President of Palm Springs Gay Men’s Chorus.

They preformed the opening act for the ceremony where members of Cathedral City Council officially signed a proclamation making the weekend LGBT Days.

“We’ve always had a motto of being inclusive and we’ve always tried to be a community that celebrates diversity and I think it’s great that we can be inclusive of everybody,” said Mayor of Cathedral City, Stan Henry.

“Cathedral City has 3 out of 5 Council Members that are openly gay, we have a large gay population, and before the early 1980’s Cathedral City was the center of gay life in Coachella Valley, and this is our way of reclaiming it,” said Cathedral City Events Manager Chris Parman.

The majority of the weekends activities are family friendly.

“Many LGBT families have kids and we wanted to make sure that kids were a part of the celebration as well not just adults,” said Parman.

This festival comes at time when some feel gay rights are being attacked in other parts of the country.

“In a world that we have issues like in states like Indiana and Arkansas it’s so great that Cathedral City is celebrating diversity and embraces everyone in our culture and our community,” said Sasha Scarlet, host of LGBT Days.

For more information and a list of LGBT Days events go to www.cathedralcityLGBTdays.com