Stepping Stone’s 50th Anniversary Pink Gala

By Andrew Picard

Stepping Stone of San Diego is an LGBTQ+ nonprofit founded in 1976 to help people heal from addiction and reclaim their lives in a space where being fully yourself is not just allowed, it is understood. This year marks Stepping Stone’s 50th Anniversary, and on Friday, April 17, 2026, the community is invited to celebrate that milestone at our signature fundraiser: the 50th Anniversary Pink Gala at the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego.

Tickets, tables, and sponsorships are available now at www.thepinkgala.org.

The Pink Gala is designed as a joyful, elevated night out with real purpose behind the sparkle. Guests will enjoy a welcome reception, a three-course dinner and program, and plenty of reasons to dress up and show off. There will be a pink carpet, a step-and-repeat photo backdrop, and all the “look fabulous” moments we deserve. The night also includes a raffle, auction, and paddle raise, with proceeds directly supporting Stepping Stone’s life-saving services. The room will be packed with energy, because this is the kind of event that brings together people from across San Diego’s LGBTQ+ community and beyond, including elected officials, community leaders, and major supporters who believe in this mission.

Hosting and emceeing the evening is our very own local legend: Chad Michaels, RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars winner and iconic Cher impersonator, bringing glamour, humor, and heart to a night that honors Stepping Stone’s past while raising funds for its future.

But before we get to the sequins and spotlight, it matters to remember what Stepping Stone was born into.

In the 1970s, it was not just uncomfortable to be out, it could be dangerous. Queer people were harassed, policed, and punished socially and professionally for existing. Many lost jobs, housing, family support, and physical safety. Seeking help for addiction or mental health often meant entering systems that were openly hostile, where being LGBTQ+ was misunderstood at best and pathologized at worst. In that environment, the message to so many was clear: you can get help, but only if you hide who you are.

Stepping Stone was founded as a refusal of that bargain.

From the beginning, it was a place where LGBTQ+ people could pursue sobriety and stability without erasing their identity. A place rooted in the belief that queer people deserve care that meets us as we are. A place where healing is not separate from belonging. Fifty years later, that mission is still urgent.

Today, Stepping Stone is widely regarded as one of San Diego’s most enduring LGBTQ+ institutions, and it’s also something rare on the national landscape. Stepping Stone is the only nonprofit in the nation providing LGBTQ-specialized services through an integrated continuum that includes addiction recovery, mental health care, and housing services. While Stepping Stone specializes in serving LGBTQ+ people, all are welcome through our doors. What makes the program nationally recognized and sought-after isn’t exclusivity. It’s excellence: care that is culturally responsive, clinically strong, and grounded in the lived reality of the people being served.

That care is delivered across four facilities in San Diego, rooted in neighborhoods that feel like home to so many in our community: Hillcrest, City Heights, North Park, and Normal Heights. It’s a footprint that reflects both history and reach, meeting people where they are and offering multiple pathways into stability.

Stepping Stone operates with 60 beds, and across five decades the organization estimates it has helped save more than 15,000 lives. That number is staggering, and it is also deeply personal, because behind every “life saved” is a human story. Someone who had been counted out. Someone who thought they were too far gone. Someone who just needed a safe place to land, and people who didn’t flinch.

Even with hard-won progress, LGBTQ+ people continue to face disproportionate rates of substance use, depression, anxiety, trauma, and suicide risk. Many of us carry lifelong impacts from rejection, violence, stigma, and discrimination. And when those pressures collide with homelessness, HIV, or lack of access to affirming care, the consequences can be devastating. The need for services that are identity-affirming, trauma-informed, and rooted in real community understanding has not disappeared. If anything, the need has become more visible, more complex, and more pressing.

That is why Stepping Stone’s model matters today. Recovery is rarely just one thing. It’s mental health. It’s safety. It’s stability. It’s community. It’s learning to trust yourself again. It’s not being forced to edit your pronouns, your past, your grief, or your joy just to get support.

The impact is tangible. Stepping Stone provides housing support to more than 500 people experiencing homelessness and addiction and delivers over 5,000 free therapy sessions each year. But the deeper impact is harder to measure, and easier to feel.

The Pink Gala is the community’s chance to keep that going, in the most celebratory way possible. And the color pink itself is part of the story.

Pink is absolutely fabulous, yes, but it also carries history. During the Holocaust, LGBTQ+ people were among those targeted by the Nazi regime, and many were forced to wear pink triangles in concentration camps as a marker of shame and persecution. Over time, our community reclaimed that symbol, transforming it from a tool of dehumanization into a statement of resistance, remembrance, and pride. The Pink Gala honors that legacy: we wear pink not only because it sparkles, but because we remember. Because we reclaim. Because we refuse to be erased.

Guests will arrive for valet and check-in at 5:30 p.m., with a welcome reception from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. followed by dinner and program from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The setting is the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego on the downtown waterfront, a gorgeous backdrop for a night that honors 50 years of queer resilience and collective care. Parking details are available on the event website, with both self-parking and valet options.

For people who want to attend and also help bring others into the room, Stepping Stone has introduced a new Table Captain feature this year. Table Captains do not have to pay for an entire table themselves. Instead, a Table Captain simply purchases their own ticket and then invites friends and supporters to join them using a custom table invitation link. It’s a simple, very “group chat to ballroom” way to participate, especially for those who want to rally their chosen family, colleagues, recovery community, or friend group to celebrate together.

Ultimately, this is what Stepping Stone has always been about: queer people taking care of queer people, with pride and practicality, with joy and seriousness, with celebration that funds real services.

In a time when so many are overwhelmed by bad news, it can be powerful to gather for something that is both beautiful and concrete. A night where you can dress up, laugh, take photos on a pink carpet, bid in an auction, and still know that your presence matters beyond the ballroom. A night where community leaders and elected officials sit alongside alumni, staff, supporters, and first-time guests, all investing in the same truth: LGBTQ+ lives are worth saving, and worth celebrating.

To purchase tickets, become a Table Captain, or learn more about Stepping Stone’s 50th Anniversary Pink Gala, visit www.thepinkgala.org.