Pocatello Pride event features patriotic drag for America’s 250th birthday
Published at | Updated at
POCATELLO — People of all kinds gathered at Centennial Park on Saturday for the Gate City Pride Festival.
The event opened with a special patriotic story time hosted by Reading Time With the Queens, a nonprofit where drag artists read books, sing and teach American Sign Language to youngsters.
Miss Cali Je, a drag queen with the nonprofit, told EastIdahoNews.com that Saturday’s reading time was special as this year’s Pride event corresponds with America250.
“Now that it’s our 250th birthday here in the United States, I wanted queer people, specifically, to remember that they have a part in this nation and that they are loved and no matter what anybody else says, they are a part of our community,” Cali Je said.
The group read several children’s books, including “Freedom We Sing” and “For Spacious Skies: Katharine Lee Bates and the Inspiration for America the Beautiful.”
Bates, who wrote the poem which is now a song, “America the Beautiful,” is widely celebrated as a queer historical figure as she had a long-lasting, deep relationship with a female colleague, Katharine Coman.
Jona Jacobson, vice president of Gate City Pride, said it’s important for people to see performances like they did on Saturday so they feel represented.
“Otherwise, they don’t see us out in public quite as flamboyantly. There’s a place for that, and that’s Pride,” Jacobson said.
Gate City Pride President Kellie Pierce said she was very excited to see the turnout for Saturday’s Pride event. Other than shows, people also saw all the resources available to them in the community, as well as other community members who are supportive of them. She said she hopes everyone knows Gate City Pride is a resource available year-round.
“When I started going to Pride as a young person, I didn’t really know what my place in the world was,” Cali Je said. “I know that today is going to be that for somebody. It’s going to be the first Pride that they came to and they are like, ‘You know what? I can have a future and it’s glorious. It’s colorful. It’s beautiful. And there’s a community that’s going to be there to back me up.”
PHOTO GALLERY:
