“He doesn’t give a fuck what the event is, he’s just going to come in and start eating our food and drinking our drinks. tara jae, a psychotherapist and co-founder of Black Pride Colorado. “This white older gentleman came in, because he was at the Botanic Gardens - and because he’s a white older gentleman, he’s just going to come in,” recalls Dr.
All four official Black Pride Colorado events - the gala, a Black drag showcase, a gospel brunch and a happy hour at the Museum of Contemporary Art - had sold out organizers had even added a second round of tickets for the gala, which honored the work of Black community activists such as Nikki Swarn of 104.7/The Drop 303.īut suddenly, the gala was interrupted by an intruder who waltzed past registration and started to help himself to the open bar.
Attendees, decked out in black-tie attire, rejoiced in the culmination of the young group’s efforts to create an inclusive and safe space where queer and trans people of color could truly celebrate their full selves. People who have never attended a gay pride event showed up in Denver this year, including some who just wanted to express support.The highlight of the inaugural Black Pride Colorado festivities last June was the Strange Fruit of Black Excellence Gala at the Denver Botanic Gardens. Now this is open to the world and understanding is spreading," Layne said. In Syracuse, marchers with colorful face paint, glitter and rainbow capes marched through the streets under a heavy police presence, and in New Orleans, more than a hundred people led off a gay pride parade holding aloft hand-scrawled posters for LGBT rights and pictures of the Orlando nightclub victims pasted on pieces of colored paper.Ĭhristi Layne, who helped organize Denver's gay pride festival 40 years ago, said only seven people showed up for the original meeting, and only 2,000 people showed up for a parade that year. Others carried signs that read: "We stand with Orlando." Several people donned capes made from rainbow flags. In Rhode Island, extra police and fire personnel patrolled on foot. "The country has made a lot of strides since then, but there are still some people in the military that have a dislike for our kind," Freeny said. He said he told that he could resign or be court-martialed. Ron Freeny, a Vietnam veteran, said he drove to Denver from Albuquerque, New Mexico, for Sunday's parade.įreeny said he was forced to resign as a Navy lieutenant commander in 1978 after someone told military officials that he was gay. Parades were also held in New Orleans and Syracuse, New York, and a beach party was planned in California. Other festivals and parades went ahead Saturday under increased security in cities such as Chicago, Columbus, Ohio, and Providence, Rhode Island. He pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in a 911 call, his ex-wife said he was mentally ill and his father has suggested he was angry with gays.
The motive for his attack is still unclear. New Orleans authorities held a news conference Thursday to say extra officers and state troopers would be on duty.įorty-nine people were killed and more than 50 wounded when Omar Mateen opened fire inside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando last weekend. "This year, they have to go through security," Pollock said. Organizer Debra Pollock said in past years, the festival area was fenced in overnight, and when parade-goers arrived, they threw open the fences and people swarmed in for dancing and other performances. In Denver, authorities set up security fences, bag checks, and police rode Segway scooters and walked with bomb-sniffing dogs. Security was tight at events over the weekend. Crowds estimated at several hundred thousand attended a two-day festival in front of Denver's city hall.
DENVER - People in wheelchairs, walking on stilts and riding rainbow-decorated motorcycles turned out for gay pride events over the weekend, including participants in a Denver parade who carried posters of the names or faces of the victims who died in last weekend's attack on a nightclub in Florida.Ībout 2,000 people took part in Denver's PrideFest parade through town to Civic Center Park on Sunday as hundreds lined sidewalks.