On Saturday, Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, will attend the Santa Barbara Pacific Pride Festival, an annual celebration of the diversity of the LGBT community.

Thousands of people are expected at the festival, which also serves to raise money to support Pacific Pride’s programs and services.

Capps, a longtime supporter of equal rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people and a founding member of the LGBT Equality Caucus, will speak at the event from noon to 1 p.m. at Leadbetter Beach.

“In addition to being Pride month, June also marked the one year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down DOMA and Proposition 8,” Capps said. “The decisions were historic ones, and in the year since we have seen our nation take tremendous steps toward marriage equality.

“There is more to be done in our effort toward full equality for the LGBT community, but on Saturday we will celebrate how far we have come and the strong community we have in Santa Barbara.”

— Chris Meagher is the press secretary for Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara.