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“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was repealed last September, gay marriage is legal in six states and Ellen DeGeneres became the face of JCPenney — even Bill O’Reilly stood up for her. But opponents of the LGBTQ community were still out waving signs in protest at the Albuquerque Gay Pride Parade on Saturday.
The Albuquerque Pride Parade celebrated the LGBTQ community with floats and rainbows galore, but opponents of the community shared their opinions as well. A group of protesters marched at the end of the parade carrying signs with slogans such as “God hates homos,” while bystanders booed and threw candy at them.
Pride bystander Alyssa Anasazi, who was attending in support of her gay friends, said the protesters bothered her.
“If you don’t support, then don’t come out, but don’t come just to bash them,” she said. “I just think, who are we to judge, who is anyone else to judge?”
Bystander Nikkita Olonovich said she didn’t support the opinions of the protesters, but said they have a right to express their opinions under the First Amendment. She said she served in the military in the Middle East and heard many people bashing the military, and in turn bashing her, but she thinks they have the right to do that.
“The same way I fight for people’s right to burn the flag, to say f*** America, they have the right to say f*** fags, f*** queers, f*** gays; that’s their right,” she said. “We might not appreciate what they’re putting out in the parade, but hopefully just them being exposed to the positivity around them and the way that nobody got violent or got hurt: that shows a lot more than them not being allowed in the parade.”
The Albuquerque Pride Parade marked the beginning of the daylong PrideFest, a celebration of the oldest and newest members of the city’s LGBTQ community. The parade first began its march along Central in 1976 and has grown in popularity since, gathering fans new and old to the festivities.
Air Force pilot Chris Stewart said it was his first Pride Parade; he came out this year, shortly after the nationwide repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
“It was a huge relief. I was going to come out to some, regardless, but now I don’t have to worry about job security,” Stewart said. “In this economy, that’s a big deal.”
Stewart said the United States’ support of the LGBTQ community has steadily grown over the nine years he spent in the Air Force.
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“People have come around — even those who aren’t supportive, they’re just less not supportive, mostly like ‘Do whatever makes you happy,’” he said. “If they’re not all for you, at least they’re not fighting with you with every step.”
Stewart said he wants to see the LGBTQ community more integrated into society in the future.
“I hope that eventually all of this is less of a big deal, that it’s all just a part of the norm,” he said. “Most people I’ve come out to have generated little reaction, and I feel that’s the direction we need to go.”
The parade featured floats from groups such as the Raging Grannies, a local bike repair shop and the Albuquerque Episcopal Church.
Haley Vanwinkle has attended the Pride Parade for the past 15 years and said the event has helped create a support system for the city’s gay community.
“It’s like gay Halloween,” Vanwinkle said. “Once we can express ourselves like this every single day, we’re going to see more people comfortable with themselves.”
Conrad Sanchez, communications director for the New Mexico Gay Rodeo Association, said the Pride Parade has helped him openly embrace his love for living a Western lifestyle. The NMGRA is just one of 28 chapters in the International Gay Rodeo Association, Sanchez said. It accepts rodeo participants of all kinds, including women bull riders, men barrel racers and “wild drag races,” in which men in drag ride wild steers.
“OUTSpoken,” Albuquerque’s queer slam poetry group, celebrated its second year in the Pride Parade, and group member Nathan Coffing said slam poetry is vital to self expression, especially for the LGBTQ community.
“I think it’s highly important for us to have a space where we can talk about our problems, where we can talk about our joys and our triumphs,” he said. “I think that in the end, spaces like this allow queer voices to be understood at a level with each other that isn’t allowed in many other spaces in this world.”
