Aurora Pride: Protecting the Queer Haven
Despite being the third largest Pride in the state, Aurora Pride is constantly fighting to secure local support and funding to ensure the event can continue to thrive for years to come.
Zander Okler encourages the Aurora community to support Aurora Pride—In a time when anti-LGBT+ legislation is becoming the norm, he believes the economic and social impact of Aurora Pride must be preserved.
He says, “In a lot of communities across the U.S., things are actually getting more difficult for the queer community rather than better. And so we’re seeing a lot more hate. And people feel comfortable with sharing that hate out in public. We’ve had some of our drag performers who have (had people) protest in front of their house. We’ve had kids who used to do drag quit drag because their parents are too scared for their own safety. We’ve had people getting death threats. We often get threats of protest for our events.”
With anti-LGBTQ+ legislation on the rise, the discourse on LGBTQ+ issues is rampant throughout the nation. In June, the Colorado GOP released an email with the subject line “God Hates Pride” and hateful rhetoric playing off slurs.
This demonization of the LGBTQ+ community was met with backlash from many members of the Republican Party, including Aurora Council Member Curtis Gardner, who is now unaffiliated after GOP’s message.
In response to Gardner, Okler says, “Well first off, we’re so proud of Curtis Gardner for doing that and making a stance. And actually, we’re reaching out to him and offering him a spot on the board of directors for Aurora Pride. And because he has a foot in both sides, he can really help us to garner the support of the city council. So we’re hoping that he will accept our invitation.
“There’s got to be so many other centrist, republicans, and conservatives who share Council Member Gardener’s feelings about this but who stay silent, because they don’t want to push the boundaries. They don’t want to lose the support of their voters, and so the amount of courage that it takes to do that, I really commend him for that.”
With LGBTQ+ youth often in the middle of the argument, Okler has witnessed the impact this discourse has on his local community. Dragutaunte, a local youth drag organization, will no longer be performing at Aurora Pride despite their presence in previous years. After the release of Generation Drag on Amazon Prime, local Colorado youth featured—including youth associated with Dragutaunte—in the documentary were met with retaliation and threats of violence.
Okler says, “This year, Dragutante stopped performing … after that show, which no one got compensated for being a part of that or anything like that, they’ve received so much hate since. A number of those drag performers are no longer performing in drag because of the fear that they have of retaliation.”
Okler adds, “…We’re just seeing it kind of grow and grow and grow. Just the number of anti-trans bills out there, and the amount of things that we’re excluding our trans youth from.
“At (Denver) Pride, I was working a booth for a gender-affirming healthcare provider. And even within our own community, the LGBT community, there is misinformation about trans youth. There’s so many misconceptions.
“So many people think that we’re going in and doing all these crazy invasive surgeries on kids when they’re so young. The reality is that’s not happening at all … But these things will get their base activated; they’ll get them yelling and screaming and continuing to spread.”
With election season in full swing, LGBTQ+ rights are under even more scrutiny, and public opinion and community support is more important than ever. Pride is meant to bring people together, and Aurora Pride is no different. The event brings resources to people who need it the most. But securing funding is at the forefront of Okler’s mind.
With the economic boosts the event brings to the community, he believes that Aurora Pride brings a lot to the table for the city and the community, not just to LGBTQ+ individuals.
Okler says, “Not only do we bring a lot of the Aurora community out, but we’re bringing in people from all over the metro area. We track where people are purchasing parking passes from, and we’ve had people from even the East Coast— They’re probably not coming out just for this. But, they added Aurora Pride as a part of their festivities while they were visiting Colorado.
“And so just our economic impact on the city is so huge. And I think a lot of people in the city don’t understand what we do for the city. They’re trying to cut our funding. And what they don’t realize is, every ounce of funding that they give us goes directly back to them in the form of renting the reservoir.
“And on top of that, we’re bringing in 10s of 1000s of dollars of economic benefit to the city, every single one of our vendors … supports Aurora. And so all of those businesses that are making money at Pride—the person selling lemonade or tacos, the person who is selling their art, all of those people are paying sales tax. And people are driving down from Fort Collins and staying in hotels for Pride. And so just the impact on the community in general is so much larger than I think a lot of people understand.”
Aurora Pride offers a unique beachside view where people from all walks of life can get a sense of community and necessary resources. The economic booms attached to Pride only adds to this incentive. Preserving Aurora Pride and ensuring the queer community is celebrated not demonized is essential amidst the rising anit-LGBTQ+ sentiments spreading across the United States.
On a parting note, Okler says, “In a time where there’s a lot of hate, it’s so important to provide safe spaces. And this is one of the only safe spaces in Colorado. There might be some street businesses that are accepting and stuff. But that’s not a queer space, that’s a space that allows queer people … And we don’t have any queer bars, clubs or any spaces like that … and so, now, this is the one event a year in the city boundaries, where queer people can come out, dress and be themselves, express themselves in any way that they would like, and know that they’re going to be safe. That’s why this is so important.”
Photo courtesy of Veronica L. Holyfield
