If you weren’t at Blue Ridge Pride hollering loud and loving proud…then where were you?
Blue Ridge Pride brought together over 200 vendors and tons of people to celebrate its Pride festival in Pack Square Park on Sept. 26. Throughout the day, there were many performers, as well as speakers on the main stage and a drag show featuring local drag queens and kings.
The packed festival had an array of small businesses like Ginger Snap Jewelry and organizations giving out free merch including Flourish Counselling and Wellness. There were many food options and something for everyone.
Asheville has been celebrating Pride Month since 1992, as one of the first cities in North Carolina to host a statewide Pride parade. Since 2009, the Blue Ridge Pride organization has been following its mission to bring together the community and smaller Pride organizations.
“Doing our best to bring smaller pride organizations into the fold, make sure we are all having conversations about how to strengthen our collective impact, and really engage with the community deep in the hollers of rural Appalachia here in Western North Carolina,” associate director for Blue Ridge Pride, Beulah Land, said.
Sylva residents who attended Blue Ridge Pride, may have recognized Land from her work as president of the Sylva Pride committee which held a Pride event last weekend. Other familiar faces included Western Carolina University student and activist Rose Daphne, who gave a speech on the main stage.
For many, Pride is the time of year where they can come together with people in the community to feel welcomed and accepted. Many vendors at Blue Ride Pride championed the community aspect of Pride events and the need for safe spaces, including the Human Rights Campaign. Steering committee member of the Human Rights Campaign chapter for North Carolina, Dan Carey, said Pride is celebrating inclusivity, diversity and the power of the people.
A key theme at Blue Ridge Pride was the importance of protecting queer people and preserving queer history.
“Pride is important so that people know that they are loved, cared for, and welcomed exactly as they are, and mental health therapy is especially important right now for trans folks,” said Jill Williams, owner of Flourish Counselling and Wellness.
Starting in 2019, Dr. Amanda Wray, director of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and professor at the University of North Carolina Asheville, started putting together the LGBTQIA+ Archive, including over 130 oral history stories, digital files, pictures, and other artifacts of queer history in the South and in Western North Carolina.
On Sept. 28, the Trump administration announced it would be removing wording from Title IX that protects LGBTQ+ students from sex discrimination as well as sexual orientation and gender identity. Another setback for the LGBTQ+ community as the Trump administration continues to implement anti-LGBTQ+ rulings and laws.
“They can take away our rights, and they can try and attack us, but as long as we have our story, we have a way to march forward,” said archive assistant at the LGBTQIA+ Archive, Ida Carolina.
