Farmington Pride has several events planned throughout the month of June to celebrate and create a safe space for the LGBTQ community.
Sasha’s Rainbow of Hope, a nonprofit advocacy organization, will be hosting gatherings with the help of community partners like Indivisible San Juan County, the organizer of the Pride Parade, which is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 17, in downtown Farmington.
“We want people to feel celebrated for who they truly are, especially people who throughout the year, might face bullying or stigma or ostracization,” said Sarah Branch, treasurer of Sasha’s Rainbow of Hope.
Pride in the Park returns to Berg Park at 4 p.m. Saturday, June 20, and attendees can expect vendors and performances from comedy to drag.
Drag performers Chaos, Cipher and Honey will be the local talent, and Aidan Park, founder of the YAY! Foundation, will be among the comedy acts.
Community organizations will have booths including Presbyterian Medical Services, the Farmington Police Department and Crystalline Pride Productions.
The hope in bringing organizations and businesses to the events as vendors is to provide a safety net for those who identify as LGBT to use their services, Branch said.
Hosting an event like Pride in the Park in Farmington allows those who are unable to travel to larger cities like Salt Lake City or Albuquerque to experience and celebrate the LGBTQ community, said Seth Miller, executive director of Sasha’s Rainbow of Hope.
“Rural people face more stigma, are more unsafe, and it’s also about creating safety,” Branch said. “If we can hold these events – everyone knows Pride happens every year, nothing bad happened there. It didn’t hurt anybody.”
Hosting Pride at a local level can also bring moments of education for those who only know of the LGBTQ community through news headlines, said Seth Miller, executive director of Sasha’s Rainbow of Hope.
“It’s not a crime to not know something, but when you don’t know something, and don’t care to learn, that is when it becomes more difficult,” Miller said.
Acceptance is another important part of celebrating Pride for those attending who may have not seen themselves represented.
“There seems to be a narrative that LGBT is new. It’s not,” Miller said. “It’s been documented in history for millennia.”
Miller said the Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico uses an example in their training of the population of left-handed people spiking from the year of 1900 to the year of 2000.
“It goes way up over that 100 years and they say, ‘Did something change in the water?’ ‘Was there a change in our genetics?’” Miller said. “No, we just stopped strapping kids arms to the desk and let them write with whatever hand they wanted.”
Miller said the event draws a diverse crowd of ages from young children to those in walkers.
“We’ll see teens, people who have one person who’s LGBT in the family and they’re all supportive, young adults who love drag shows and people who’ve been part of the community before I was born,” Branch said.
With a theme of “Queer Joy,” that is what both Branch and Miller hope people walk away feeling.
“If you’re free to be yourself and enjoy yourself, and not worry or hide, hopefully you’ll be joyful,” Branch said.