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Boxing champion among others added to Alumni Hall of Fame
Jump into fall with these orchards and pumpkin patches
Women’s soccer wins shutout game vs Morehead State
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Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Thursday, October 7, 2021 Vol. 75 No. 7
the student voice since 1960
NICOLE BOYD social media manager
Musical performances and a drag show on the adult stage, a dance party and amateur drag show on the teen pride stage and a kid’s zone brought fun for all ages at Metro East Pride Fest in Belleville, Illinois. D.L. Salisbury, Pride Fest chairperson, said they didn’t have Metro East Pride last summer due to COVID-19, but decided to have it in October rather than waiting a year until next June. “The desire for folks to be out and about and to show their pride is pretty great and the demand is pretty great, so we went ahead and went with October rather than our normal June,” Salisbury said. Salisbury said Pride is more than just a party and community outreach is also an important part. “We give back to the community every year through scholarships we give out to high school seniors every year, scholarships for college, and we raise funds for that through drag brunches and all different kinds of events. We have sponsors, locally owned businesses that sponsor those and help us,” Salisbury said. “We gave out Chromebooks to [Illinois Department of Children and Family Services] children’s homes that have a halfway house for them to be at so they’re able to look for jobs.” Alex Dougherty from Liberty, Missouri, said Pride is important because it provides a place for the LGBTQ+ community to get together and be included and validated.
“I haven’t been to a Pride in a long time and I missed the community and inclusivity of it, and I haven’t gotten to go out in a long time, so I thought it’d be really fun,” Dougherty said. Mal Hudson from St. Louis said Pride is a place to be free. “You don’t have to worry about boundaries,” Hudson said. “You don’t have to worry about being judged because there’s a street full of people that are just like you.” Gary Goldberg from O’Fallon, Illinois, said he attended Pride because it’s important to him to support the vendors and the festival. He said he was very involved with Pride St. Louis, so he wanted to give the festival patronage and publicity by posting on Facebook. “I’m happy to see as many people here. I was worried the rain was going to be a deterrent, but that shows good Pride love,” Goldberg said. A’kok Wallace from Fairview Heights, Illinois said Pride makes people feel safe and supported. “It’s just a really fun event where a lot of people are here who are like me and so I get to come out and see a bunch of other people,” Wallace said. “It’s also Pride, I’m gay, so what else do you expect?” David Shanks, a representative of five United Churches of Christ that are publicly committed to being open and affirming churches, said his church has been attending Pride for the last 10 years. “I think the important thing is … that people are assured there is agreement within this congregation that, ‘We’re going to be welcomed, we’ll be safe, that
Queen of Pride Roxie M. Valentine and Mona Chase talk to the audience during the Metro East Pride Fest drag show. | Jihun Han / The Alestle
we’ll be a part of this church,’ not just, ‘We’ll tolerate you,’” Shanks said. “We’re not about toleration. We’re about love and incorporating people.” Jen Mauk, a chapter leader of TransParent, said their organization came to Pride to be available to parents of transgender or gender expansive children who may be struggling. “Our main purpose is to help parents understand what their transgender kids or gender expansive children are facing or going through … because if you can support children, then they have better outcomes,” Mauk said. Sidney Spires from Belleville, Illinois,
said her family has been coming to Pride every year since her little sister came out to them to show their support. “I’m only 23, but I went to school where not so many people were comfortable coming out, and I feel like this has just made our town so much more open to being who they are and feeling more loved and supported,” Spires said. “Last year we were here we did the free mom hugs, and so many people were just crying, like, ‘Thank you so much for supporting.’” To learn more about Metro East Pride’s history and community outreach, as well as resources for members of the LGBTQ+ community, visit metroeastpride.org.
Women’s March gathers at Edwardsville Courthouse NICOLE BOYD social media manager
Despite rain, a small group met at the Edwardsville Courthouse and marched through downtown Edwardsville in solidarity with Women’s Marches around the country on Oct. 2 in response to recent abortion restrictions in Texas. Emily Gaither, organizer of the march, said she thought Edwardsville already had a march planned. When she realized there was no march planned, she registered the march herself online through the national Women’s March. “It didn’t appear that anyone else was really going to do much, and it’s something that’s really important to me, so that’s what prompted me starting it and organizing it and everything,” Gaither said. Gaither said she wanted to see a bunch of women, and even men, show solidarity for women’s rights. She said that alongside
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marches being held all over the country, she hopes they can get the government to realize they’re overstepping their boundaries when they try to control what women do with their bodies. “It’s obviously mostly geared toward women and abortions, and with that being said, I am personally pro-choice. I could never do an abortion myself, I have four beautiful kids, but I don’t think anybody has the right to tell a woman what she can and cannot do,” Gaither said. “The ultimate goal is to hopefully stop the government from overreaching.” Gaither said she wants women to be able to make their own decisions. “The goal is that maybe not for my generation, but because I do have three daughters, that they won’t have to hopefully fight as hard as my generation and generations older than me have had to fight for our rights,” Gaither said. Sue Pate, an SIUE alumna
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from St. Louis said she attended the march because she believes she has the right to make the choice about what happens to her body, except in cases of contagious diseases. “I just want to express my feelings and I don’t want to see a [Handmaid]’s Tale. When I first started at SIU, lo these many decades ago, I couldn’t even get a credit card, a bank account on my own, because women couldn’t,” Pate said. “So we’ve come a long way and I don’t want to lose any of that forward progress.” Gaither’s daughter Annie, a student at Liberty Middle School, said she wants all people to be treated equally, including their bodies. “We’re here to show the government that women’s rights are human rights, and that they should not make decisions for us,” Annie said. Gerry O’Brien, a professor in the department of social work at SIUE, said he attended the march because he believes it’s important
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Protesters marched through downtown Edwardsville and gathered on the steps of the Madison County Courthouse in response to recent abortion restrictions in Texas. | Nicole Boyd / The Alestle
to fight for social justice, and that reproductive rights are the major social justice issue currently. “The pro-life movement used to be much more social justice oriented,” O’Brien said. “But now it’s just about pro-life and I think that a lot of the social justice oriented pro-lifers have left the movement because it’s become so nasty and I think those who are left, many of them are
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just being used by conservatives for political purposes.” Gaither’s husband John said he attended the march because he wanted to support his wife and the cause. He said he hoped to raise awareness, and wished the march could do more to create change. “I’m very proud of my wife. I will support her every time she does this,” John Gaither said. See you on the Internet!