PRIDE film festival features dance party, parade

For most people walking around downtown Bloomington at noon Saturday, movement was just a means to keep warm in the brisk January cold — but about 20 locals bearing rainbow flags and a nine-member band marched through town with a more personal purpose.

On Jan. 28, members and supporters of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community had their first Bloomington PRIDE Walk in conjunction with the city’s annual PRIDE film festival.

Bloomington resident Keith Romaine organized the walk. He serves on the film festival steering committee and said this is something they have been wanting to do for years. Romaine, who has his Ph.D. in African Art and teaches at Ivy Tech Community College and IU-Purdue University Columbus, said his passions for LGBTQ awareness and art motivated his involvement in the PRIDE activities.

“I am really committed to creating spaces for people to celebrate,” he said. “It’s in traditional African art where art is a part of the celebration.”

The walkers gathered at noon at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, where the march began. One IU student, wearing a FCKH8 zip-up sweatshirt, walked hand-in-hand with his boyfriend, rainbow flags in their opposite hands. “Fuck Hate” (FCKH8 is an organized campaign dedicated to ending gay bashing.

The crowd was lead by the Jefferson Street Parade Band, a group of musicians in Bloomington that plays at weddings, concerts and clubs.

“We just hope to make a little noise and be seen,” Band Director Ben Fowler said.

Their upbeat tunes and high-energy music drew attention of passers-by and inspired some marchers to break out in dance.

The marchers walked west on Kirkwood Avenue, weaving through Showers Plaza and ending on the steps of City Hall. Couples danced while others subtly swayed to the music and talked. The group met in the City Hall lobby for coffee before heading into the cold for the trek back to the Buskirk-Chumley.

Buskirk-Chumley Director Danielle McClelland said they strive to make their PRIDE activities inclusive to all people, regardless of sexual orientation.

This year’s film festival theme was “The Politics of Pride,” so the steering committee thought it was only appropriate to conduct a parade in the traditional sense of a gay rights march.

McClelland, who joined in the dancing at City Hall in the Showers Building, said they hoped the parade would bring more visibility for PRIDE into the already gay-friendly community.

“On one hand, people may feel in their day-to-day lives that they are accepted by their friends and neighbors,” she said. “Our day-to-day existence here is protected, but that’s only a shadow of what full equal rights in the state and in the nation should be.”

McClelland said she and Romaine both hope to make the parade an annual event, although it will largely depend upon weather.

Following the walk, participants were invited to attend a matinée showing for the PRIDE film festival. McClelland said the festival draws in about 2,000 people every year from across the nation.

This year, the festival ran from Jan. 26-29 and showed 34 films about the politics of pride. The IU GLBT Alumni Association’s Celebration Weekend happens during the film festival, as well, which McClelland said draws people from all over.

She said the Bloomington PRIDE film festival even attracts participants from large cities because it is such an intimate, community-oriented weekend.

A PRIDE Dance Party at the Buskirk-Chumley wrapped up Saturday’s events, although the festival continued Sunday.

Couples spanning many generations took to the stage at the Buskirk-Chumley to dance late Saturday night into early Sunday morning. DJ Action Jackson played pop hits.

Robin Tala, a Bloomington native who was back in town from Oakland, Calif., visiting family, marched in the walk Saturday too.

He said regardless of how open-minded a community  is, there can always be improvement.

“I have seen many small groups with beautiful ideas catch steam and grow,” he said. “This is exactly what I love about Bloomington. This is the only place in the Midwest where something like this could happen.”