By: Jacob Kuiper
Staff Writer
After a two year hiatus, Ann Arbor Pride’s Pride in the Park event returned back in person with vendors, entertainment, food, and love.
First held in 1995, this event “is a weekend festival…celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer identities, community, and allyship,” according to their website. The event is hosted by the Jim Toy Community Center, although unfortunately, 2022 marks the first event held since the death of Jim Toy in January of this year. Toy is known to many as Michigan’s first openly gay man and was a prominent LGBT activist.
This year’s event included a group yoga session, Drag Story Time for kids, and music by award-winning R&B/soul artist Alise King. Following her was the Out Loud Chorus, Washtenaw County’s original mixed LGBTQ+ chorus. Other performers included Joanna Sterling and Unveiled Belly Dance. The event was capped off with a drag show by rapper and drag queen Aja Labeija, best known for her appearances in Rupaul’s Drag Race.
Out Loud Chorus performs at Ann Arbor Pride. Jacob Kuiper | Washtenaw Voice.
Dozens of vendors, from churches to corporate groups to local businesses, descended on the event to help share their messages of allyship as well as personal connections. One organization, Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), is dedicated to supporting and advocating for LGBTQ+ people and their families. President of PFLAG Ann Arbor, Kathy Kosobud, explains that often the biggest obstacle for queer people and allies seeking assistance is simply not knowing where to go, “There aren’t many of us and many don’t know where to go.”
Another vendor had a similarly upbeat, but more serious message. UNIFIED – HIV Health and Beyond offer free HIV and STI testing, as well as syringe services, harm reduction services, and counseling. At the event, member of the UNIFIED outreach team Laurence Wilson helped educate patrons on overdose rescue and prevention with naloxone nasal spray. The seriousness of his topic, however, didn’t bring down his excitement about attending the event, “It’s amazing [that] you get this community together [for] the same cause of promoting community and love.”
Many artists also attended. Isabel Clare Paul of Sable Cat Studio worked with Tim Retzloff to create a beautifully illustrated comic book “Come Out! In Detroit” commemorating Michigan’s first Pride celebration, the Christopher Street Detroit ‘72 Pride March.
Others were there to simply spread love. Fawn Armstrong, a candidate for judge of Washtenaw County’s 14A District Court this November, attended the event with Free Mom Hugs to do just that: hug. “Kids need someone to be there to show that they’re loved,” she explains. Sarah Altenburg, attending with Trinity Lutheran Church, wanted to spread a similar message, “We want to rewrite the message that churches don’t love [queer] people.” To go along with this she handed out cards with a simple but powerful message in a community often feeling targeted and left out: “You Are Loved.”
