Several hundred attend Grand Island Pride festival
Several hundred people showed their pride Saturday at the annual Grand Island Pride festival behind First Presbyterian Church.
It was the second year the event was held at First Presbyterian.
"I'm just really excited for today," said Brenna Poindexter, president of both Grand Island Pride and PFLAG. "I think there's a lot of folks in our community who really appreciate the opportunity to have a shared space where they feel safe and affirmed and get to celebrate their queer identity or their allyship."
Pride is a great opportunity for people to connect with vendors and other folks "who are safe and affirming for our LGBT community, and let people know that they're supported and that there are people here in Grand Island who support them — and I think a lot more than people think," Poindexter said.
Poindexter expected a turnout of 300 to 400 people, including vendors. The event ran from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The day began with a dog fashion show, in which eight pooches participated.
Entertainment included a family-friendly drag performer and the River City Mixed Chorus, from Omaha. State Sen. John Fredrickson of Omaha and his husband were set to speak about their work, Poindexter said.
Sarah Walker of Civic Nebraska was scheduled to appear. Another speaker was Eli Rigatuso.
One of the organizations on hand was the LGBTSA club from Grand Island Senior High. The SA in the acronym stands for Straight Alliance.
Fifteen to 20 students show up for the weekly meetings, said President Oliver McComb, who will be a junior this fall.
"We could really use a lot of donations — not only for like activities and food but just to give support to certain kids who are in unwelcoming households," said Pyro Lynn, the group's vice president.
"Eventually I'd like this club to be able to help trans kids like myself get binders," McComb said, referring to chest compression garments.
"LGBT students are four times as likely to commit suicide than their straight and cisgender peers," said Aly Alexander, a social worker at GISH and the faculty sponsor of the LGBTSA club. A cisgender person's gender identity corresponds to his or her sex assigned at birth.
The club is not just trying to provide a place where kids can come and hang out and have fun. "It's also a place where we can show support for our students who don't always receive the best support from peers, teachers, home or the community in general," Alexander said.
It's important to have a place free of bullying, where students have common ground and shared expectations in how they interact with each other, she said.
"That has really helped students get through really difficult parts of their life, whereas if they didn't have that group they could be heading down a path where they are struggling more mentally or thinking about suicide or self-harm. So we're trying to help save lives too," Alexander said.
One of the major sponsors of the event was Blue Elephant Counseling, owned by Katie Donahoo of Dannebrog. The mental health therapist provides online counseling.
Blue Elephant chose to sponsor the festival "because we really wanted to reach the LGBTQ+ community," Donahoo said. Grand Island is a hub for smaller towns in the area "and Blue Elephant Counseling's mission is to reach rural and frontier Nebraskans who have very limited services and resources and to just let people know that we are an affirming therapy company, so that they can reach out to us with any issues."
