Pride Planners: How We’ll Celebrate Despite Anti-Drag, Anti-LGBTQ Laws
In America’s ever-more-polarized political environment, annual celebrations of diversity are as fraught as ever. Here’s what’s happening with festivals big and small in states inundated with anti-LGBTQ legislation.
Nashville Pride
Photographer: Jason Kempin/Getty ImagesIn state legislatures across the US, lawmakers have introduced a record number of anti-LGBTQ bills this year, including anti-transgender and anti-drag laws. For organizations that produce the hundreds of annual Pride celebrations around the country, the show was always going to go on. The root of Pride, after all, is protest.
The current iterations of Pride are manifold, including festivals, parades and marches. They are also major economic drivers. LGBTQ nonprofits rely on Pride events to fund year-round programs, and local businesses bank on crowds spending money at bars, restaurants and hotels. The National LGBT Chamber of Commerce estimates that LGBTQ-owned businesses contribute more than $1.7 trillion to the national economy each year. Much of that can be generated during Pride events, which typically occur in June.