‘Faces of community’: Raleigh Pride to mark 12th year of LGBTQ+ celebration Saturday

For Bliss Floccare, being a queer wedding photographer is bittersweet.

On one hand, having an LGBTQ+ couple thank you is heartwarming, they said. On the other hand, it’s a reminder of the work that needs to be done to provide people with more inclusive spaces.

“My favorite part about my job are those moments where I really get to connect with a couple and make them feel safe,” Floccare said. “They don’t need to worry about anything in regard to fear or discrimination.”

On Saturday, the LGBTQ+ community and its allies will celebrate the 12th annual Out! Raleigh Pride from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Fayetteville Street in downtown Raleigh. Performers include Jorgeous and Dawn from “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” the Triangle Gay Men’s Chorus, Common Women’s Chorus, the Triangle Pride Band, rapper Saint Ahmad and Maya.

“While Pride is a time for celebration and fun, this is an opportunity for our historically excluded and oppressed communities to speak on the history of the movement and why visibility is important,” said Kori Hennessey, the executive director of the LGBT Center of Raleigh and Out! Raleigh Pride organizer,

“We have a responsibility to not only provide an opportunity for people to gather in community and celebrate, but to also educate those around us,” Hennessey said.

This year’s event has over 300 vendors and sponsors. Attendees should bring water and sunscreen to protect themselves against the summer heatwave.

NC’s LGBTQ+ community

LGBT MAP, or the Movement Advancement Project, reported in 2020 that 4% of North Carolina’s adult population identified as LGBTQ+.

The North Carolina Office of State Budget and Management reported that 30,575 N.C. households were same-sex households in 2022, with about 26% of LGBTQ+ individuals having children.

Still, LGBTQ+ people in North Carolina sometimes struggle for acceptance.

Erica Street, the president of PFLAG Southern Pines, shook her head with disappointment when she read a local florist’s Facebook post on why the business won’t serve LGBTQ+ couples.

PFLAG supports, educates and advocates for the LGBTQ+ community and those who love them.

“I hope one day we are able to not judge people based upon orientation, their identity, all of those things,” Street said. “It reminds me of segregation, and that is not the path that we need to be going down.”

‘Thousands of faces’

The Carolina Aging Alliance, a group that focuses on older LGBTQ+ people, will have a tent at Pride events in Raleigh and Winston Salem on Saturday.

Sharon Kilpatrick, the Interim director of the alliance, said many older LGBTQ+ adults face great vulnerabilities due to their health and finances. Those concerns aren’t specific to Pride month, she said, but are year-round. challenges.

For instance, in 2019, the UCLA School of Law published North Carolina LGBTQ+ statistics showing 29% of LGBTQ+ people were food insecure, 21% were uninsured and only 30% had an income slightly greater than $24,000.

Many of these issues disproportionately affect people of color in the LGBTQ+ population. According to the 2019 report, 22% of LGBTQ+ people in North Carolina identify as Black and 11% identify as Latino/a. For those facing economic challenges, the LGBT Center of Raleigh provides a comprehensive list of resources for youth and adults.

“There isn’t one face of our community, there are literally thousands of faces of our community,” Kilpatrick said. “There are needs across health care, social economic and all people of color. There isn’t one look to our community, there’s just a human.”

Floccare, who’s based in Durham and uses they/them pronouns, said it feels like more people are coming out and being supportive but also as if society is walking backward at times.

The queer community has gone above and beyond for decades trying to educate the general public, they said.

“It’s not [our] job to make people see us as human beings who deserve the same rights as everyone else,” they said.

Through pride events, but mostly social media, people can connect and see others who are coming out, supporting queer rights and supporting the community, Floccare said.

But Floccare won’t be at Pride this year. They’re spending their weekend photographing newlywed queer love.