Tacoma celebrates pride at ‘Out in the Park’

Photos courtesy of Out in Tacoma

PROUD AND STRONG. Danielle Agnew, the Los Angeles based singer/songwriter headliner for “Out in the Park” this year was nominated for a Nammy (Native American Music Award) last year for her album, Red Lodge. (Right) The memorial area will be returning this year to remind visitors of the lives that have been claimed by HIV.

This weekend, gather together with friends and family to celebrate Tacoma’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered pride with the theme of “One heart, one world, one pride” at the 12th annual Out in the Park event, which returns to Wright Park this summer.

On the heels of Seattle’s recent, and well-known, gay pride event, Tacoma puts its own special spin on the celebration by bringing out upwards of 5,000 people for the event and creating a truly unique, family-friendly experience.

This year’s event is special in that it is dedicated to and sheds light on the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, the event that was the initial impetus for GLBTQ pride events all over the world. On June 28, 1969 at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City, the first instance in American history of the homosexual community fighting back against persecution took place in the form of riots against police harassment at the bar.

“(They) fought back and said you can’t do it. There was a riot that lasted a few days, and that event ignited pride, it’s the root. Whether in Sydney or London or Seattle. Every pride is a byproduct of what happened in Stonewall,” said Shelly Maas, spokesperson for Out In Tacoma.

Out in the Park was originally held at the University of Puget Sound under the guidance of the LGT community, but moved over the years to Wright Park. Last year it was held at Lincoln-Eldridge Park due to improvements being made at Wright Park last summer, but this year it is returning there to accommodate the large crowds the event always draws in.

This year’s event will feature some entertainers who often frequent the Out in the Park stage. The headliner for 2009 will be Danielle Egnew, a singer/songwriter hailing from Los Angeles who also acts and directs. On the main stage, three dance troupes will strut their stuff, a few drag performances will grace the stage and Jenu-Wine Beaute and Lady Chablis will entertain the crowd with their opposing sugar and spice personas.

A kids’ area, vendor booths composed of restaurants and snack vendors, LGBTQ-supportive non-profit organizations such as the Rainbow Center, Tacoma Lesbian Concern, Pierce County AIDS Foundation (PCAF), Oasis Youth Center and others that serve the community, in addition to artisans selling their wares will staff 50 booths to offer visitors a chance to learn, share and support the cause locally. There will also be a memorial area that PCAF helped support, which will be showcasing some of their walls to remind people of HIV. “It’s meant to show people where we’ve been and where we’ve come and the people we’ve lost in the 1990s. (We) need to remember that it’s a horrible thing that’s done some bad stuff in the community,” Maas stated.

Local bars such as the Mix, Club Silverstone and the Tempest will also help the area celebrate its pride by offering drink and appetizer specials.

Another important element of this year’s Out in the Park event, according to Maas, is that it provides an opportunity to get the word out about Referendum 71, which would retract the Domestic Partnership Expansion Bill of 2009, which would permit gay domestic partners in the state of Washington to receive all rights that married spouses are granted.

“There’s some people that didn’t like it and they’re out trying to get people to sign 71, which wants to revoke it. (They are) currently running a campaign with Washington Families pushing a campaign to decline signing,” said Maas.

Show your pride this weekend and celebrate with the rest of the community at Out in the Park.

Pride Week in Tacoma kicked off on July 4, and Out in the Park takes place on July 11 from 12-7 p.m. at Wright Park, located at the intersections of Sixth and ‘I’ streets. For more information, call the Rainbow Center at (253) 383-2318 or visit http://www.rainbowcntr.org/outintacoma.htm.

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