A week of LGBT pride events kicked off last Friday, but the main event, Bloomington Pridefest, is coming this Saturday. This year’s Pridefest includes workshops, a pride rally, live music, and drag queen and DJ shows.
Bloomington PRIDE Chair Janae Cummings said that while in the past the event has focused mainly on having fun and celebrating, this year it was important to add a rally to the schedule.
“The point of the rally is advocacy and making sure that people know that life is hard out there for a lot of people, and we need to pay attention to that,” she said. “It’s also reminding people that just because we have same-sex marriage now does not mean that we can complacently sit back and relax.”
Cummings said the Bloomington PRIDE organization came out of an annual LGBT film festival at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. While the film festival has a 15-year history, the Pridefest event startedfour years ago.
Originally called Summerfest, Cummings said the name was changed to avoid confusion. She said people often thought there would be another pride event following Summerfest.
“We’re focusing on having pride in ourselves in our identities, and all the people who are at the intersection of our community,” she said. “So making sure it was called 'Pridefest' was most important.”
Cummings said the educational workshops during the festival would come from booths from the three programs that make up PRIDE: Prism Youth Community, Trans and Ally Support Community (TASC), and the LGBT Aging & Caring Network. She said the information workshops are important because they will have resources on hand so that people can get the help and support they need and will also include other local non-profit organizations.
During the event, workshops will take place from noon to 2:50 p.m. at the Monroe County Public Library, and the rally will start at 3 p.m. on Kirkwood Avenue. After the rally, the entertainment portion of the event will begin.
Festival Coordinator Jenn Robinson said she is most excited about seeing the drag shows because many of those in the show are friends of hers. She said another way the focus for this year’s festival has shifted is that PRIDE is hoping to engage in more community involvement.
“We’re trying to be more involved in our community and support different intersections,” she said. “There are so many intersections within the LGBT community, and supporting them and being good community partners is more important now than ever, given the current political climate.”
Cummings said PRIDE is an especially important event for people living in Indiana. She said that although the Bloomington campus is liberal, in the surrounding areas, things get conservative very quickly. “You don’t have to get very far away from Kirkwood Avenue for things to really start changing,” Cummings said. “So it’s important to be visible. It’s important for people who aren’t comfortable coming out, or aren’t sure where their community is, to show that we’re here, and we’re proud of ourselves, and there’s a community here who will support you when you need it.”
Bloomington Pridefest
Noon – 11 p.m. Saturday on Kirkwood Avenue
$5 suggested donation
