Technically called the "Lesbians, Gays, and Friends Walk For Charity", St. Louis' first official Gay and Lesbian Pride parade occurred on April 20, 1980. Marchers assembled at Maryland Plaza in the Central West End, and the parade went up Lindell Boulevard to the campus of Washington University. The parade was the culminating event in a week of activities organized by the Magnolia Committee for the St. Louis Celebration of Lesbian and Gay Pride 1980.

The Magnolia Committee was founded in Glenda Dilley’s apartment on Magnolia Street with representatives from local gay, lesbian, and other minority organizations. Dilley, who adopted the name of Adrienne Rae for her activist activities in order to protect her teaching job, was a seasoned activist who had fought for gay and lesbian rights while a student at the University of Missouri-Columbia. One of the Magnolia Committee’s primary goals was to organize a pride march, and it was decided to call this march a “Walk for Charity” in order to appear less threatening to the wider community. At the same time, other local groups were independently organizing their own Pride events. These disparate events merged to become a full week of Pride activities called the St. Louis Celebration of Lesbian and Gay Pride, capped by the Magnolia Committee's Walk for Charity. After the 1980 celebration, the Magnolia Committee reorganized and became part of the St. Louis Gay and Lesbian Pride Committee.

Donor Chris Guerrero was a member of the Magnolia Committee and served as the Publicity person on the Celebration Committee. An undergraduate at Washington University, Guerrero held the role of Women's Programming Coordinator at the school from 1977-1982. She handled much of the coordination with Washington University for the parade and rally, and she was one of four individuals from the Magnolia Committee who met with St. Louis Mayor James Conway's office to negotiate the details of the march.