Murray residents enjoyed a fun-filled day of LGBTQ+ pride festivities on Saturday, Sept. 21.
Charlie Heeke, vice president of the Murray KY Pride board, said this year’s festival was focused on the personal connections the organization felt they had been lacking in recent years.
“This year we are really trying to go back to our roots of connecting with the community,” Heeke said.
LGBTQ+ and allied community members met in the parking lot of Roy Stewart Stadium Saturday morning for the Pride March. Led by Heeke and Megan Durbin, Murray KY Pride board member, they marched from the stadium to The Grove of Murray. Many people carried flags and handmade signs. They marched along and across roads with the help of crosswalk guards. Along the way, many cars passing the march honked their horns to show support, while others– albeit few– heckled the marchers.
Caspian Hardy, a Sodexo employee at Murray State, attended the march.
“It was pretty fun actually seeing people support us from outside the march as well,” Hardy said. “Other than that one person who shouted ‘You need Jesus,’ but that was just funny.”
The vendors market had booths set up inside and outside The Grove of Murray. There were local craft businesses selling dice, wall art, clothing and more. Many larger organizations came out to show support and promote voter registration, like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and health safety, like LiveWell and Turning Point Recovery Community Center. Local churches, Episcopal Campus Ministry and First Presbyterian Church of Murray, set up crafting stations for attendees to color and make their own pride bracelets.
Emily Nolan, sophomore creative writing major, said they enjoy seeing all the organizations who came out in support of the community.
“It’s nice because Murray is a small town, so you sometimes forget there are people here who do support us,” Nolan said. “And I also just love a good excuse to buy from local artists.”
Jess Ford, another sophomore creative writing major, agreed.
“I’m also from a small town, so I’m not used to seeing a bunch of gay people in one area,” Ford said. “It’s definitely welcoming, and everyone’s very nice.”
Inside the venue, there was a rotation of live entertainment and informational speakers.
Christine Lindner, president of the West KY chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW), was the first speaker of the day. She spoke on behalf of NOW to keep attendees informed about important topics to consider for the upcoming election season.
“We’ve been really active at our booth… encouraging young people to vote and to check their voter registration,” Lindner said. “We’re also letting people know about the ballot initiatives in Kentucky because people are not aware of what the language is… We’re just encouraging people to start thinking about these issues and giving them ways to plan what their voting will look like.”
Later in the evening, The Grove Of Murray opened its doors once again for the Murray Pride Drag Show. Hosted by Heeke, as her drag persona Vyvika Evangeline, a lineup of West Kentucky drag queens performed for an audience of 18-and-over Murray residents. Before the show, the drag queens had a meet-and-greet with attendees to chat and take pictures.
This year’s Pride festival was organized by a new leadership team within Murray KY Pride, and though the event as a whole went well, several attendees noticed minor communication issues in this transitional period. When gathering for the Pride March, two different groups formed on opposite sides of the Roy Stewart Stadium parking lot and had to find each other.
Guinevere Hester, senior wildlife and conservation biology major and vice president of Alliance, attended all of Saturday’s major events.
“I think we definitely had more people last year (because of) a combination of the weather– because it was extremely hot outside– people potentially not knowing where The Grove is and it being a new leadership team,” Hester said. “I think hopefully as this leadership grows as a collective and learns as a team… fingers crossed for a better turn out next year.”
