HoCo Pride Braves the Heat

 

June 26, 2015. Eight years ago. The Supreme Court handed down the decision which would make same-sex marriage legal throughout the United States. It was a day to celebrate and it’s still worth celebrating. It’s also true (and alarming) that this decision wouldn’t happen today under the current Supreme Court. 

Last night I went with my family to a HoCo Pride event held at Color Burst Park in the Merriweather District. It was the first time we had been there and I ought to be able to give you some kind of decent description but I can’t.  It was so, so hot that my brain went into survival mode. My apologies. I can say that drinking fountains or those cool, newfangled contraptions that allow one to refill their water bottles would have been welcome. 

HoCo Pride is the group which organizes and puts on Howard County’s LGBTQ+ celebration in October at Merriweather Park at Symphony Woods. Yes, Pride is usually celebrated in June but, as someone who loathes the heat, I am grateful that HoCoPride holds our local event to coincide with LGBTQ+ History Month.  Why? Because it’s so much cooler then!

Ahem.

Back to last night. There were lawn games brought along by Karen Ehler of the Howard County Department of Recreation and Parks, a tie-dye activity station and all the sidewalk chalk your heart could desire. There was music playing and there were families and kids enjoying the fun.

The evening’s festivities were emceed by this year’s Pride co-chairs: Bella N. and Alisha T. They made sure to thank all the partners who made the event possible, including the folks at Howard Hughes for their use of the space and Rashida George, Community and Government Relations Manager for HHC. 

State Senator Clarence Lam read a proclamation and there were gratifying number of “electeds” on hand in support.

Part of the purpose of the event was to announce the winner of an art contest to design this year’s HoCo Pride T-shirt. 

The contest was a collaboration with the Howard County School System and the Howard County Libraries. The subject of the art work was the theme of this year’s HoCo Pride: Our Time to Thrive. Each submission had been blown up into a full-scale poster for last night’s event and they were all very cool. If I had been thinking I would have made sure to photograph each one to share, but: overheated brain was in charge last night. My apologies. 

Update: images courtesy of HoCo Pride.

Contest entries 

Winning T-shirt design

In addition, HoCo Pride presented three community engagement awards: Danielle DuPuis, Director of LGBTQ+ initiatives for the Howard County Schools, Lance Sovine and Douglas Yeakey of EC Pops, and Richard McCready, teacher at River Hill High School and Faculty Advisor for their Gender and Sexuality Alliance, a student identity group for LGBTQ+ students and allies.

Each recipient expressed their thanks with words that spoke to the continued importance of community engagement. DuPuis offered gentle and thoughtful advice that reaching out to help others inevitably makes you feel better, yourself. The spokesman from EC Pops invoked memories of all the people and activism that led to the rights that the LGBTQ+ community enjoys today and the importance of continued activism to protect and expand those rights. McCready talked about the importance of creating spaces for young people where they can safely be themselves, grow, and thrive.

Yes, that last fellow - - he’s my husband. I couldn’t be more proud.

Photo credit: Lura Groen

HoCo Pride will be held in early October. As emcee Alisha said last night, the LGBTQ+ community doesn’t exist merely during Pride Month or LGBTQ+ History Month, but every day of the year. And their lives should mean more than mere existence: every day should be an opportunity to thrive.