Pride grows at colorful annual LGBTQ-Plus event in Lewis County

Jun. 4—LOWVILLE — Colorful flags from across the LGBTQ-Plus spectrum flew from the rafters and were worn as capes at the fifth annual Lewis County Pride Picnic held on Sunday afternoon that was attended by more than 150 people.

For first-time attendees Rachel Flynn of Lowville and Nicole Plantz of Castorland, the picnic was a pleasant surprise.

"This is a wonderful event," said Ms. Flynn, "I felt more comfortable here than most places. Everybody's just so accepting and so kind. The vendors have been wonderful, the food was spectacular... it's just an amazing event and I can't wait to see it grow over the years."

From its humble beginnings as a pot-luck picnic held in Whitaker Park in 2018, with about 50 people sharing their personal stories for strength and inspiration, that growth is already underway.

The family-friendly afternoon ran the emotional gamut from an interpretive dance by Carmen Sweet of Lowville — a planning committee member since 2018 — to Bette Midler's "Wind Beneath My Wings," to poems read by their authors and, once the Pride Cow Bell was rung marking the beginning of Pride month festivities around the north country, disco tunes infusing the hall with energy until there was nothing left to do but dance the Macarena with striped flags from across the LGBTQ spectrum flying as capes around dancers' necks.

Mr. Sweet said the "Plus" added to LGBTQ was to ensure no one is left out of the community, including those who are supportive and feel solidarity with people trying to live a life that is true to themselves who fit somewhere in the LBGTQ spectrum.

"We want our community to welcome everybody," Mr. Sweet said, adding that the event, while about togetherness, community and support, is also about remembering the people that have been injured or lost their lives in the fight for equality that has been underway since the riots in response to a police raid on June 28, 1969, of the Stonewall Inn in New York City — a club frequented by gay, lesbian and transgender people — which are widely credited as the catalyst for the gay rights movement.

Many people at the picnic said that although the anti-LGBTQ legislative actions and postures by some people around the country have made them feel unsafe in some ways, those that live outside of the county were happily surprised by what they found at the picnic — in the heart of a very conservative county — even without security and without a sense that it is needed.

"I'm shocked and encouraged by that. I feel very comfortable here," said Hans Kubillun of Schenectady, who comes to Lewis County to visit relatives and attended the first Pride Picnic.

That is not the case for him in the Albany area where, he said, there are often aggressive protesters on the street that is known as the "gay area."

"There's fear in the community again. It's just wrong," he said, his voice breaking with anguish. "I said I wasn't going to do Pride again this year but because people are being harassed again, I'm here because I'm queer and I'm OK with being queer. I just don't understand why other people can't be OK with me being queer. It has nothing to do with them. It's me. It's not you."

Sporting Watertown Pride T-shirts and big smiles, Marc Foulger and Tao Wang of Dexter along with Darrell Brown of Clayton and James Fischer, formerly of Florida but now living in Sackets Harbor, all spoke of how happily surprised they were by the picnic, the openness of the people and how safe they felt at the event.

They also said in the past few years, actions taken by protesters, law enforcement officers and municipal officials relating to Pride events have made them feel disenfranchised and the growing vitriol online every time a positive event, like the Pride Picnic, is posted on social media.

"The concern is that it may come to a point that they move the hatred from online into real life," said Mr. Foulger.

An amateur drag competition was originally planned for the event which received some backlash online from commentors equating drag shows to burlesque despite the fact the guidelines for participants stated each act had to be such to be "allowed on daytime television... family-friendly."

Organizing committee member Hilary Avallone of The Q Center said most drag queens in the area are professionals and are paid for their appearances so no one signed up, but if there had been contestants, the angry social media posts would not have stopped the contest from happening.

The Pride Picnic was sponsored by The Q Center at ACR Health, the Northern Regional Center for Independent Living and Planned Parenthood of the North Country has been growing year over year.