TACOMA — Tacoma’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community turned out to party Saturday but politics were never far.
What was Vincent Leon celebrating at the annual Tacoma Pride gathering?
“This, that and the other thing that I am and alloying myself to enjoy it with other people from the community,” he said at the festival’s entrance at Pacific Avenue and South Ninth Street.
Leon, 28, was wearing a rainbow-colored pair of wings, leather harness and T-shirt portraying a pastel-colored Husky puppy. He was with several friends who wore various articles of rainbow-colored clothing.
Leon said he is concerned about recent state legislative actions aimed at blocking lesbian and gay parents from adopting children. Discrimination with the LGBT community is also a issue, he said.
“Being a man of color, still have a lot of discrimination issues,” Leon said. “But, we’re getting past that point.”
Mayor Victoria Woodards was busy posing for photos with festivalgoers after the event kicked off at noon. It was her first oride as mayor.
She noted that the recent plastering of white supremacist posters in the city, including on the doors of the Rainbow Center — a resource center for Tacoma’s LGBT community — has made many realize the community must remain vigilant against hate.
“Our whole city has to stand up and say, ‘Not here,'” she said. “Tacoma will not be a community that accepts that kind of behavior. We love our entire community.”
The purpose of Pride, said Manny Santiago, the Rainbow Center’s executive director and Pride organizer, was first and foremost to celebrate. But with that comes a sense of fortitude.
“We are happy, we are proud, we are ready to take on whoever comes for us,” he said.
Santiago said this year’s festival was busier than 2017’s and more diverse in terms of ethnicity and age.
Booths, commercial and nonprofit, lined Pacific Avenue and surrounding streets. Pacific Lutheran University was present for the first time, said Dawn Cutherbertson, a gender-based violence advocate at the school. For her, Pride has personal meaning.
“We can be out and proud of who we are,” Cutherbertson said. “We don’t have to hide it.”
She acknowledged advances in LGBT rights, such as the right to marry, but also turbulent political times.
“In this current climate, it’s still a little worrisome,” she said. “I’m hoping that things like this can bring people together where we can change that narrative.”
Outside the festival area, Scott Nelson of Tacoma Artists Collective was chalking “Love is Love” on a wall. Nearby was the Tacoma Dome in rainbow colors.
