What do Mr. Gay USA, a drag race and a marching band all have in common?
They all came to East Campus Saturday to celebrate “Twenty Years of Pride” and the progress that has been made in the North Carolina gay community with PrideFest, a rally, parade and fair organized by the North Carolina Pride Committee.
The highlight of the weekend’s extensive activities in the Triangle area was a parade that started on East Campus and moved through Ninth and Broad streets and then back to the grassy area next to the East Duke Building. The 118 groups marching in the parade constituted the maximum number organizers could allow before the parade looped back around on itself.
Throughout the day, the entire lawn next to East Duke was filled with a broad swath of progressive groups under tents and vendors selling all manner of foods as well as an array of trinkets and apparel, both erotic and wholesome, in rainbow colors.
“Attendance for the parade was incredible and we seemed to get a lot of support from the crowds, especially on Ninth Street and around East Campus,” senior Brian West, president of the Alliance of Queer Undergraduates at Duke, noted after the event, which brought at least the expected 5,000 to 6,000 participants and attendees. “It was especially incredible to see Duke faculty, staff and students out in the crowd and receive support from them,” West said.
Although Duke organizations like AQUADuke, Duke Allies, a group for students who support the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, and Duke OUT, AQUADuke’s graduate and professional student counterpart, took part in the parade, few students were present at the festivities. Organizers said students did not play a large role in the planning. Senior Jonathan Tarr, AQUADuke’s publicity chair, said he saw “a good number” of undergraduates, graduate students and faculty Saturday but explained that some students were concerned about safety and privacy.
“We are probably never going to see every single person who identifies with an LGBT event participating,” Tarr said. “A lot of people want events that are more discreet.”
The annual parade used to move throughout North Carolina from year to year but has now come to East Campus for five years in a row, and N.C. Pride spokesperson Keith Hayes said Duke has been very “supportive and helpful.”
The Duke University Aids Research and Treatment Center was one of the groups tabling on the lawn, along with rows and rows of other groups ranging from the Triangle Gay Men’s Chorus to the North Carolina Gay and Lesbian Attorneys to Pilgrim United Church of Christ and even the Home & Garden Television network.
Some groups had a less clear connection to the day’s festivities. AXA Advisors, a financial consulting firm, was there because the gay community is not being served by the financial industry, representatives Dave McKinnon and Jim Richmond said.
This idea of responding to and understanding the gay community’s needs in the Triangle area was part of the goal of the event, Hayes said.
He saw the event as an opportunity not to affect dramatic and widespread political change, as much as to win over the hearts and minds of people in the area, an idea Hayes calls “small-pea politics.”
Twenty-three years ago, the murder in Durham of a young man, presumed to be gay, sparked the first local pride event. And Hayes said only a few years ago stores and shops on Ninth Street avoided any involvement in the parade; now they decorate their windows with rainbows. “[It] makes you feel easier about being out,” Hayes said.
People of all ages wandered around on the grass Saturday delighting in the booths, sights and sounds. Families pushed strollers and walked dogs. Stephanie Harrison described the day as simply “wonderful,” as her friend Bliss Floccare gushed, “Everyone is happy!”
An elaborate stage on the side steps of the East Duke Building showcased live music and speakers as part of a pride rally. Making a big splash were the musicians of the N.C. Pride Marching Band, who played the all-too-appropriate theme from The Flintstones. As the song goes, they had a gay old time gathering as a community Saturday.
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