By Wylliam Smith
June is Pride Month, and Pride 2017 is off to an incredible start. I had the privilege of going to my first Pride festival, and as cheesy as it sounds, it was everything I expected and so much more.
This was a good year for me to go to my first Pride Festival, considering so many issues related to the LGBTQ community have been in the spotlight.
LGBTQ rights have come a long way from what they were, and more and more people have become accepting of the LGBTQ community. At the Pride Festival I attended, I saw Christians, who are stereotypically against gay rights, support the festival.
However, it goes without saying there is still a lot more work to be done before the LGBTQ community receives complete equality. For instance, current Vice President Mike Pence supports conversion therapy, a method of psychological or spiritual manipulation meant to change someone’s sexual orientation. This is completely inhumane and an all-around horrible thing to even consider, and yet one of the most powerful people in country has supported it.
You’d think that with this looming over everyone’s heads, there would be a lot of tension both during Pride Month and at Pride festivals, that it would put a damper on the events. However, the turnout proved to be the exact opposite.
Bartender and co-owner of Studio 13 John Hass said it was one one of the busiest Pride Festivals he has ever worked. Hass both drove a truck for the parade and worked the bar on that night.
“I think it was the biggest yet,” Hass said. “There were more tables and groups set up to along the Ped Mall. We even had an all-age drag show at 5 p.m. at the bar.”
When asked about the vice president’s statements on conversion therapy, Hass said it likely encouraged more people to attend the Pride Festival.
While I was unfortunately unable to attend the Iowa City Pride Festival, I did get the pleasure of going to Pride in my hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan. And just as as Hass said, I, too, found the festival to be full of people having a great time.
What I loved the most was that nothing could stop the community from having a good time, including the weather, which was sporadic at best. The day started out incredibly hot and finished off with rain. The music even stopped working at one point.
But through all the chaos, Pride still went on. People adapted to the weather, and when the music went out, the singers sung a cappella.
I like to think that the Grand Rapids festival is a good representation of the LBGTQ community as a whole and its ability to adapt to adversity. No matter what comes at it, whether it be rain or “conversion therapy,” the LBGTQ community will survive. We are here to stay.
