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Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

Bloomington group presents first Pride Summerfest

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Everything from unicorn costumes to glittery make-up and plain T-shirts adorned those gathered at Fourth Street and College Avenue for Bloomington’s first Pride Summerfest Celebration this weekend.

The event was created in hopes of giving Bloomington a chance to celebrate Pride outside in warm weather, said Nicci Boroski, co-owner of the Back Door night club.

Although the weather was more than 10 degrees cooler than usual for this time of year, according to the National Weather Service, and rain misted throughout the event, more than 1,600 people and no less than 20 booths were at the inaugural event.

Children adorned in multi-colored beads ran from booth to booth for free stickers while parents scrambled not to lose them and dined on the Big Cheese food truck.

Meanwhile, teenagers huddled with their friends decked out in rainbow shirts that read “We like you here” with an Indiana state outline.

College students frantically tried to finish the scavenger hunt their resident assistants gave them to learn more about diversity and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

“When I heard Bloomington only had the film festival in January, I was disappointed,” IU student Ash Kulak said. “We just huddle outside the Buskirk in the winter because the cold isn’t really great. Bloomington can’t say it’s LGBTQ friendly ... I mean, how can you say you’re the Mecca of queer people if you don’t have a summer Pride?”

So, to meet the town’s apparent demand for a warm-weather celebration, the owners of the Back Door and Bloomington Pride directors joined forces to throw the multi-event ?celebration.

“The film festival is wonderful, but we wanted something where people can get outside and be more engaged and visible, be able to make a little more noise,” Boroski said.

One focus of the summer event was to “give things for everyone to get involved with,” Boroski said.

“For families with kids, we’ve had trouble because a lot of the films we show have content that isn’t family-friendly,” Bloomington Pride Director Sarah Perfetti said. “For this we made sure we had family activities, like carnival games.”

For example, the block party had a photo booth, caricature artist and a ring toss game.

The weekend also included a gig by the band Middle Class Fashion for the college and high school audience members , an all-ages drag show and ?workshops focused on social justice.

Boroski and Perfetti both said they had high hopes for the event and how it might affect the Bloomington ?community.

“I hope it creates a broader sense of community and starts discussions that need to be had,” Boroski said. “But our goal is to show off what a fabulously creative and passionate community we have.”

Discussions on the intersection of race and social class, as well as what queer identity is, are two topics Boroski said she thinks Bloomington needs to tackle.

A workshop on race and gender identity was?offered to help bolster these discussions.

Perfetti said she hopes the celebration makes Bloomington even more well-known as an LGBT-friendly community.

“I really think Bloomington is already the queer club of Indiana, but I don’t think everyone knows about that,” Perfetti said. “Spreading events throughout the year and continuing to grow will hopefully make Bloomington recognized as a really safe, fun and inclusive space for LGBTQ people.”

For Kulak, it was all about connecting with people.

“The sense of community at Pride is so important,” Kulak said. “You feel at home even if you don’t know ?anybody.”

Booths present ranged from religious groups to HIV/AIDS information tables with free testing to the Gay Straight Alliances from Bloomington-area ?high schools.

“Kids are struggling with their identity and need support,” said Erin O’Loughlin , GSA junior leader at Bloomington High School South . “If they don’t get that at home, school is the only place. I think it’s important we all get together and show there is huge support for this and that everyone is loved.”

Although larger cities such as Chicago or Indianapolis do have summer Pride celebrations, Bloomington Pride attendee Betsy Williamson said it’s important to bring in these events on a smaller scale.

“Pride is most often thought of in big cities, but it’s important to have at the local level, especially for younger people to feel they have support in their home communities,” Williamson said.

Bloomington Pride also happened to be two days after the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Indiana’s marriage ban, but both Perfetti and Boroski said that’s not the reason for their celebration.

“I think it may be more celebratory because of this decision, but I think a lot of people know that Indiana is probably going to appeal this,” Perfetti said. “My partner and I got legally married and had a big ceremony, but now we’re in this limbo on if it’s legal or not. I think the decision is a good indication where we’re moving, but we keep celebrating too early.”

Boroski said she wants to move beyond celebrating marriage rights and use the weekend to celebrate just being human beings.

“This is a festival for everyone to celebrate themselves, that’s really it,” Boroski said.

The need to celebrate oneself is especially necessary for those who are normally pushed to the side of normalized society, Boroski said.

“I think any marginalized community, and there’s a lot of those, who don’t have full rights need to be able to celebrate themselves because it’s hard to live in that reality,” Boroski said. “For folks to be able to know everyone around them is a part of a supportive community and that everyone in a room supports their existence is just invaluable.”

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