Sign Vandalism

We wish there was a word to describe the feeling of being angry and sad, wanting to scream and cry at the same time. We wish there was a world where queer people didn’t have to live in communities where people try to destroy our Pride Festival banners and then tell us we’re indoctrinating their children. Unfortunately, this is the world that we live in and this is happening in Wenatchee. 

We woke up this morning to find our Pride Festival banner vandalized for the second time in the last week. We don’t believe that it’s a coincidence that our banner was cut in half on the same day that community members are planning a coordinated attack on queer literature at the Wenatchee School Board Meeting. Or that both of these are existing in the same world where there are more anti-LGBTQIA2S+ bills and laws being passed than ever before, and increasing anti-queer demonstrations across the country. 

Allies, we’re going to keep this simple: we need your help. Queer people are tired of having to face this fight alone. We need you to interrupt and confront hateful homophobic and transphobic rhetoric with your friends, family, neighbors, or coworkers. We need you to show up and advocate for LGBTQIA2S+ inclusion and safety. We need you to hang flags. We need you share our social media posts. We need you to volunteer or show up at Pride Fest and other events throughout the year. We need your financial support to ensure our work is sustainable. We need you to step up for us, our existence, and our liberation every single day, not just June 3. 

To the queer community…. We see you. We love you. We got you. 



Wenatchee Pride stands in solidarity with the YWCA, and their Drag Queen story time event

Hateful rhetoric towards our LGBTQIA2S+ community is not new. We’ve heard bigoted statements before and will likely hear them again. No matter how many times we read social media comments attacking our livelihood, see protest signs questioning our humanity, or hear campaign ads promoting that we are a danger to others - the hurt and the temptation to stay quiet remains.

And yet, our queer community in North Central Washington is more vibrant and beautiful than ever. We have grown and organized to the point where our voices no longer remain overpowered and our identities no longer remain unseen. We are heard. We are visible. We are strong. 

Coming together as a community to provide safe spaces for queer and straight people alike makes some people nervous, even fearful. Again, this is nothing new. Instead of returning the fear, the hate, the bigotry, we can only show them how strong our community truly is. How we show up for one another, even when the temptation to stay quiet remains. 

Wenatchee Pride stands with the YWCA in their mission for inclusion and queer visibility, and will show up for the Drag Queen Story Hour. We hope you will too.  

In Solidarity, 
Wenatchee Pride Board of Directors

Overturn of Roe vs. Wade

This is a hard statement to write. As we all sit here doom scrolling through social media, clicking through stories from the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and nationwide abortion support networks about where to receive abortion care in a post-Roe world, we’re overtaken with fear.  

We fear for our trans brothers, sisters, and nonbinary siblings with uteruses, who face discrimination in health care every day. We fear for the queer youth, who aren’t out to their parents or who don’t have a support system. We fear for survivors of rape and survivors of abuse. We fear for our LGBTQIA2S+ community members of color, who will likely face the brunt of the negative impacts of this decision made mostly by white people. 

We can’t help but recognize how unreal this moment actually feels, and how serious and harmful the consequences are going to be. Our community’s trust in the Supreme Court has been degraded for quite some time, given the innumerable anti-poor, anti-black, anti-LGBTQ opinions that have been decided over the course of many decades. But now we know without a sliver of doubt that this justice system was never built for us, and certainly not built to protect us. 

The overturning of Roe means many things to many people, but as an LGBTQIA2S+ organization, our focus is on what this means for our community and our people. What this means for our trans brothers and sisters, nonbinary siblings with uteruses, queer youth, survivors, and queer community members of color. The intersection of abortion rights and queer liberation has never been lost on us, but now it’s at the forefront of our call to action. 

Yes, we live in a state that doesn’t have a trigger law waiting to ban abortion, but that doesn’t mean our fight ends there. Our community needs us, especially as pride month comes to an end. We need to fight to protect our abortion rights in Washington state. We need to fight for comprehensive sex education in our schools. For accessible birth control. For gender affirming care. For black lives. Wenatchee Pride and our supporters have power in this community, and we will use it.  

Gender Unicorn Poster in Schools

We, Wenatchee Pride, affirm the inherent dignity of each individual and are committed to protecting the rights and voices of the LGBTQ+ community, especially those of our youth. We strive to dismantle all identity-based oppression and build an inclusive environment for everyone in our community; this starts with equitable education opportunities, strong role models, and increased visibility. Heterenormativity and cisnormativity support an environment of erasure for children, and families, who don’t fit into either of these socially constructed narratives. 

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We firmly believe that inclusive policies create and foster positive school climates for all students, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression. These policies help ensure a safe classroom space to learn and explore, which then helps to reduce stigma, discrimination, and erasure.  

An inclusive curriculum benefits students of all sexual orientations and gender identities in several key ways: 

  • Cisgender students gain an unbiased and more thorough understanding of the LGBTQ+ community while learning how to promote acceptance, empathy, and positive allyship;

  • LGBTQ+ students receive validation of their experiences and identities, allowing them to express their opinions and values, free of judgment and bullying. 

Wenatchee Pride believes that not only is this poster educational, it’s also lifesaving. 

LGBTQ youth who had access to spaces that affirmed their sexual orientation and gender identity consistently reported lower rates of attempting suicide. - Trevor Project

61.6 percent of LGBTQ students who took part in a recent GLSEN report stated school staff did not respond to reports of LGBTQ-related harassment or assault.

A great resource for families and educators to help create inclusive classrooms and schools: Human Rights Campaign - Welcoming Schools

Resource on the folks that created the Gender Unicorn. https://transstudent.org/gender/

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A local couple opens up and talks about raising a transgender child in our valley

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BY RUFUS WOODS on Art of Community

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Last week was Transgender Awareness week. This annual, global event helps raise and center the voices and visibility of transgender people; it brings to light the myriad of issues and discrimination trans and non-binary people face. It is also a time of hope and celebration for this incredibly diverse population.

On the last day of the week, November 20th, the community holds Transgender Day of Remembrance to honor the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence during that year. I find myself thinking about how our binary and gendered system of male or female excludes and punishes those that don’t prescribe or fit within this social construct. Being excluded, different, or othered can be dangerous.

I’ve been trying to educate myself on this issue over the past few years by considering what life is like for individuals born one gender but then realize they don’t fit that gender assignment. I’m grateful to one local couple for sharing their journey as their child explores their gender identity and expression. This friendship has helped reframe and shape how I see and experience the many nuances of gender.

They asked me to keep their real names confidential because they are adamant about protecting their child’s privacy, so I’ll call them Bob and Lindsay for the sake of this article. “We’ve always believed that gender is a spectrum (rather than binary),” Lindsay told me. But that didn’t prepare them for the day when their child started crying and said, “I have always felt more like a boy.”

That event started a challenging family journey they could have never imagined — one that began with a lot of fears and private tears by the parents. Immediately they began to methodically reach out to mental health providers and connected with other parents of transgender children.

Pride flag burned outside Pybus coffee shop

By Pete O'Cain in Wenatche World

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Little Red’s Espresso & Bakery hung a Pride flag at a table in its courtyard on Sunday evening in support of the first Wenatchee Pride & NCW BLM Action Council march.

The next morning, employees of the coffee stand outside Pybus Public Market found the rainbow flag had been set on fire overnight. No other property was damaged.

“I personally feel like it was obviously a very directed message,” said owner Aubrey Dickinson on Tuesday. “It’s not my battle, it’s not my journey, but ... I feel like it’s my job to stand up for what’s right and I feel like that was very wrong, personally.”

Security footage from Pybus has been turned over to police, Dickinson said. She hadn’t seen the footage when she was interviewed Tuesday, but was told by Pybus officials that the video apparently shows a single person setting fire to the flag about 12:30 a.m. Monday.

As of Tuesday morning, there have not been any arrests. The suspect, if arrested, would likely face charges of reckless burning and malicious mischief, and possibly arson, according to Capt. Edgar Reinfeld with the Wenatchee Police Department.

Wenatchee Pride/BLM March Held Sunday

By Kyle Lamb on 560 KPQ

A group of about 300 people met in Memorial Park in Wenatchee Sunday afternoon for Wenatchee Pride’s Black Lives Matter March.

Wenatchee Pride and the North Central Washington Black Lives Matter Action Council teamed up to host the event.

Demonstrators listened to speakers on the eastern steps of the Chelan County Courthouse before beginning the march. The march moved through downtown Wenatchee before returning to Memorial Park.

Dusty Mahoney with Wenatchee Pride said that turnout was good, considering a Facebook glitch showed the event as canceled the morning of.

Mahoney said, “So June is Pride Month. It’s the month that we celebrate the Stonewall Riots and gay rights really gathering ground. But in light of the recent events of George Floyd’s murder and all of the black/trans lives that we’ve lost, it felt really important this year for Pride to honor that.”

Just like similar marches held in Wenatchee this year, the demonstration was completely peaceful. Mask usage also appeared to be well above 90%.

The event included decolonization and anti-racist conversation circles after the march.

Wenatchee Pride, NCW BLM Holding March Sunday

By Kyle Lamb on 560 KPQ

Wenatchee Pride is teaming up with North Central Washington Black Lives Matter Action Council to host Pride’s Black Lives Matter March this Sunday at 12:00 pm beginning and ending in Memorial Park.

The event will begin with speakers Luz Esbeidy Monserrat Estrada Gonzalez, Khalil Dashay English, and Dusti Mahoney.

The march’s route will be disclosed at the event.

There will be decolonization and anti-racist conversation circles to join after the march.

Those attending the event are asked to socially distance and wear a mask. A small amount of masks will be on hand for those that don’t have one.

Voter registration will be available at the event.

#BLM

Wenatchee Pride stands on the shoulders of black & brown activists, trans women, and revolutionaries. Without them, without Stonewall, without riots and other acts of protest, we would not be here. There would be no Pride month. There would be no marriage equality. We could not safely hold the hands of those we love.

We unequivocally stand with people of color. We unequivocally stand with Black Lives Matter and other anti-racist, anti-white supremacy movements. Our stories and lives are linked. We hold in our hearts a collective grief and, in the words of Angela Davis, we call upon our community to commit to not just being not-racist but to be actively anti-racist.

Historically, marginalized people have been unfairly targeted by police and further disenfranchised by the prison industrial complex. We as a community must stand up and hold those systems and individuals accountable. We demand justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and all other lives lost to police violence.

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Pride leaders adapt to support LGBTQ community during Covid-19

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BY RUFUS WOODS in the Art of Community

hysical distancing is necessary during the coronavirus pandemic, but maintaining social connections while being physically distant is absolutely essential. We, humans, are social animals, and isolation is not healthy, after all.

Fortunately, we are finding different ways to connect. We can interact with each other on various online platforms while social gatherings have been discouraged. Social disconnection is a problem for all of us, but its impact is especially serious for marginalized people. Our neighbors who are part of the LGBTQ community find it challenging to be accepted for who they are in the broader community. In some cases, youngsters find that they cannot be their authentic selves at home.

Recently, I spoke with several members of the Wenatchee Pride board of directors, including Tan Gleason, Jillian Danley, Micah Vacatio, Ashley Olson, and Luz Estrada, about moving the annual Pride Day to an ongoing Pride series of events. With the coronavirus shutdown, the group has chosen instead to launch a series of virtual events beginning in May and lasting through the summer. On May 8, for example, an online meditation class has been scheduled, you can obtain tickets to this free event using this link,https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wenatchee-pride-guided-meditation-for-youth-and-families-tickets-103616700340?utm_source=eventbrite&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=post_publish&utm_content=EBLinkEvent&utm_term=fullLink, and the group plans to have a series of other events, including art and yoga events.

“The (LGBTQ) community is already socially isolated,” noted Olson. With the shelter at home recommendations in place, the virtual events will allow members to connect on an ongoing basis.

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‘Celebrate Love’ at 3rd Annual Wenatchee Pride Festival Saturday at Lincoln Park

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KOHO 101

In 2017, Wenatchee held its first ever Pride event, with roughly 150 people in attendance. With many hundreds, if not thousands, of people attending this year, they’ve moved the festival to Lincoln Park in south Wenatchee.

Event organizer Skylar Hansford told KOHO the event is about connecting as a community of LGBTQ+ families and straight allies, and coming together to celebrate as one.

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2nd Annual Wenatchee Pride Fest Comes To Pybus, Downtown Tomorrow

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KOHO 101

In 2017, Wenatchee held its first ever Pride event, with roughly 150 people in attendance. This year’s festival has grown to multiple venues, including a big family-friendly bash at Pybus Public Market.
Katharine Grove, Communications Specialist with Columbia Valley Community Health, a primary sponsor, told KOHO the event is about connecting as a community of LGBTQ+ families and straight allies and come together as one to show that love trumps all.