I live in a sea of red counties.
For reference, I was a senior in HS when gay marriage was legalized in the US..... It was not good here for a while. Still is shaky, but better than it was.
Our third annual pride festival is this Saturday.
The first year we had some out-of-state hate group email a death threat to the leader of our local pride organization. (This lady basically built the local pride community from the ground up. She's the sweetest person I know.)
Day-of the event, someone stole the signs leading to pride. There was security all around the perimeter. And there was a faith/freedom event that scheduled their event same day/time as Pride to try to compete. (They have done so every following year.)
Our first pride, we had over 1,000 people attend. (The faith/freedom event, despite being in the center of town, only had 30 attendees and 2 booths.)
To note, my hometown has under 9,000 people. Over 1,000 people is DAMN good for the size my town is.
Second year was about the same, the faith/freedom group tried to go around with sign-up sheets to local businesses. (Basically saying that the business agrees to support the faith/freedom fest that day and no other events.) My coworker said that our support was with a different org that day and refused to sign it. She threw their flier away as soon as they left. (Did I mention they tried starting to advertise the DAY BEFORE their event took place?)
Other than that, last year we had no issues. No death threats or stolen items. We still have security present.
We're approaching our third year. They've gotten big enough to list local businesses who are sponsoring this year's event. My workplace is one.
This year my boss hung a small garland of rainbow flags out front. He said there were two people in here shopping and he said they'd thanked him for flying the flags/carrying pride merch. (Because they said they'd felt safe here.)
Pride is incredibly important in communities, like mine. Even if someone is cishet (see above bullet points) - who fucking cares? And why is it YOUR job to police who is and isn't welcome?
In communities like mine, SHOWING UP is more important than cherry picking who can come. It shows others that you are a safe person to be around.
We NEED more people to show up and be safe people. Showing up to pride is one of the easiest ways to show that.
My local pride organization isn't limited to those in the community, but they do still highlight voices within the community.
There are also two offshoots of the pride org. A support group for adults and one for minors. Both support groups have booths at pride. (Along with churches, small businesses, etc.)
Yes, I do think we need to continue to center queer voices within pride, but I do think having cishet individuals attending pride is NOT a bad thing. It is a good learning opportunity and a good way to show support to marginalized voices.
Showing support for the community, especially in small towns like mine, matters WAY MORE than ANYTHING else.
germansingergirl
annaxmalina
ellievsbear
2087
theartofmadeline
yousharknotpass
