NC PrideFest Draws 5,000 to Durham
.U6>. Mi Annual
Lesbian. Gay. Bisexual Trangbidcted Event
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DURHAM - The 2005 N.C. Gay Pride
Parade celebrated its sixth consecutive
year in Durham this past weekend.
The event was organized by the
Itfde'>Caminittee of North QuoJinar:
and celebrated the gay, lesbian, bisexu
al and transgendered communities
with a wide range of festivities, includ
ing informational worksKbps, a church
service and a drag queen race on
Duke's Campus Drive.
The event offers a a real sense of sol
idarity" to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgendered community, said event
spokesman Keith Hayes.
More than a hundred vendors and
several thousand people from across
the state attended the event
Banners declaring "Equal Rights: No
More, No Less" — the international
theme for lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender pride programs in 2005 —
were featured throughout the area and
on board the leading float in the
parade.
Hayes said he hoped the parade's
theme highlighted mat lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgendered people stQl
faced significant disaimination.
In Saturday's parade, a crowd of
nearly 5,000 people marched from
Duke University's East Campus to foe
Ninth Street retail strip and back, form
ing a rainbow-colored stream of floats,
church groups, high school students,
drag queens and local leaders includ
ing Stormy Ellis, an assistant district
attorney in Durhiun, and Carrboro city
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councilman Mark Kleinschmidt, who
gave a speech during a rally.
Spectators hollered and applauded
when the group horn the Unitarian
Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh
walked down West Main Street raising
poles covered with foam hearts deco
rated with messages like 'love should
not be legislated" and 'love is for all."
"We're showing that there is a signif
icant amount of support for marriage
equality within faith communities,"
Tracy Hollister; the project leader for
the Equal Hearts campaign, told foe
Durham Herald-Sun (9/24/05).
Thomas Farmer; a 42-year-old
banker; who marched behind a PFLAG
banner; said it was heartfelt gratitude
pouting from people whose pains have
been eased by groups like PFLAG.
'It makes us feel so good about what
we do," he told the News & Observer
(9/25/05). Farmer himself has benefit
ed from groups like the one he now
runs. It was in the 1980s that Farmer
was coming out as a gay man in
Wilson, a small town in the eastern part
of the state. "We're in a much better
place today than we were 15 years
ago," he said.
'1 really like N.C. Pride because it's a
very on-message event that's very rep
resentative of die entire LGBT spec
trum," Maddie Dewat president of file
Alliance of Queer Undergraduates at
Duke, told the Duke Chronicle
(9/26/05). "All the universities in our
area come to the parade. It's an oppor
tunity to build commum)|MMHHMH
culture and meet people who are dif
ferent from you. It's very family-orient
ed even—you see people with their
catsari
Raleigh resident Josh Runyorv 23,
and his boyfriend snagged a spot on
the rock wall facing West Main Street to
watch the parade. Runyon's 21-year
old partner has yet to tell his family he's
gay, but he welcomed the opportunity
to kiss Runyon and hold ms hand in
public without being stared at.
"I don't have to worry about homo
phobic people, gay bashers, stuff like
that," Runyon's boyfriend said.
Bill McIntyre, 60, and Jim Nuss, 49,
sat near the comer of West Main and
Broad streets to be near the flower
shaped stage Nuss crafted out of papi
er-mach6 for the parade announcer to
stand on. The couple teased each other
about checking out attractive ypunger
men before getting serious about the
reason they came.
'There are still gay bashings - there
are people who lose their jobs because
they're gay, there are people who get
railroaded in court because they're
gay," Nuss said. "The fight is not over.
This is not just a festival, there's a seri
ous meaning under it we're here and
we're just as good as anybody."
The parade was the signature event
in a weekend of activities, including
Pride NightFest in Raleigh. This year's
grand marshal was Ira Schultz, pub
lisher of Out in Asheville.
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