Together in Pride

Written By : Nick Vargus

Togetherness, unity, and celebration of the diversity of the human experience are felt at LGBTQ+ Pride events. PRIDE Visalia in particular has brought together people who ordinarily might not mix, in an area where a Pride ordinarily might not happen. The past four years of PRIDE Visalia have been attended by LGBTQ+ people in all their colors, ethnicities, identities, abilities, political affiliations, and ages. But what’s unusual about PRIDE Visalia is that it’s also been attended by an equal number of straight allies who wanted to demonstrate their support of the local LGBTQ+ community. And as someone who grew up in Visalia, the thought of having a Pride event was radical enough. To have it attended by over 3,000 people equal amounts of straight allies was paradigm altering for me.

In all the Pride events I’ve been involved in, most of the attendees are part of the LGBTQ+ community. Of course you see a lot of support from straight allies, but I’ve never seen so many proud parents, siblings, and classmates come out to show their support.

Tulare and Kings counties have historically been difficult places for LGBTQ+ people to live openly. Access to health care, suicide rates, and other markers of LGBTQ+ acceptance and inclusion have been worse than other areas in California. In 2016 when we began this work, there wasn’t a single healthcare provider listed on The HRC Equality index. With our support and guidance, we have fostered meaningful relationships with our local health care centers, and 3 of them are not only listed, but work with us directly to increase access and safety for our shared clients.

As I think back on the founding of The Source in early 2016, it makes sense that half of PRIDE is made up of allies. Our founding board was half straight allies, and continues to be today. Particularly women ages 25-45 make up our strongest supporters. But I’ve seen dads giving out “Free Dad Hugs’ alongside the moms at the entrance to PRIDE. I’ve also seen our local elected officials like Devon Mathis and Bob Link engage our youth programs in civic discussions.

Most importantly, our local sponsors have stepped up to show their support with donations so that we can have large cultural events. Having an event for 3,000 people costs more than one might think. And for businesses and individuals to sponsor an event and put their name/logo on display as supporters shows our community that we are seen and that we matter. Visibility is a key component of acceptance and togetherness. We are seen as valuable members in our own community. This hasn’t always been the case.

At PRIDE 2018 a local man came up to me and said that it was a dream come true to have this event in his hometown. He’d always wanted to go to a Pride, but his circumstances were such that it was never possible to make it to San Francisco or LA. When he learned about Pride Visalia he was overjoyed. But he was brought to near tears when his mother and his sister said they wanted to come too. They insisted on taking pictures in our “Portraits of Pride” studio and buying

a “Proud Mom” button. Events like Pride create space for people to show their support.

During the pandemic we’ve continued to bring the community together by reaching out and into their lives, virtually. We hosted “Pride Inside’’ an event that reached over 3,000 households on Facebook alone. If there were just 2 people watching in half of those households, we would have reached over 4,500 people. We can also see in the Facebook stats that many of our viewers live outside the Visalia area. So we are bringing together even more people than an in-person event. The engagement with Pride Inside was amazing, but we engaged with even more people in our virtual LGBT+ Center in the form of community conversations, support groups for people living with HIV, support groups for trans people, and our “Mental Health Monday’’ livestream. We’ve been told several times that these virtual groups have helped people feel the connection and hope they desperately needed in 2020.

2021 will see another virtual Pride event on May 29th. And we are planning to host a “hybrid” Pride Visalia event on October 23rd in conjunction with our Halloween Gala, which will also be a hybrid event. Hybrid in that people can attend in person, or participate from home. Technology allows us to do this and make it so that a person can still engage with others, bid on auctions items, and even talk to vendors.

In 2020 our virtual event fundraisers raised over $100,000 for our mission. I’m especially proud to say that we gave more value to our sponsors such as Family HealthCare Network, Kaweah Delta, and Gilead than we would have in an-person event. Being virtual means that their commercials and logos embedded in our broadcast will be seen by people who couldn’t attend the event and who view it years down the road.

We believe that when people feel safe and included, the whole community thrives. We’d love to see you, your family, your business virtually or in-person. Your support of our events is bringing people together which is saving lives and making our community a place that works for everyone. Email me at nick@thesourcelgbt.org or call 559-429-4277