Of the three-word theme for this weekend’s Pride Fest in Madison — Proud, Connected, Visible — it’s the middle word that may resonate the most. Because it’s the connections that make the annual festival a truly Madison event — connections forged between individuals, groups and the entire community.
Organized by Wisconsin Capitol Pride, Pride Fest will highlight how groups within Madison’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community are interconnected and working toward common goals, said events coordinator Derwin Leigh. The weekend includes kickoff events at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art and Club 5, a full day of bands and DJs at Willow Island, and the Pride Parade, with several of Madison’s better-known gay advocacy groups participating.
“There are a lot of great organizations out there,” Leigh said, noting that Wisconsin Capitol Pride formed in 2009 as sort of an “umbrella group” to help coordinate their efforts. “We’ve had a great response just in our second year.”
Pride Fest “is an opportunity for many different groups in our community to come together to celebrate our culture and the progress we have made in our struggle for equality and human rights,” said Steve Starkey, executive director of Outreach, Madison’s LGBT Community Center, which has worked with Wisconsin Capitol Pride on Pride Fest events and will host a Saturday, Aug. 21, brunch on Willow Island.
Starkey said Wisconsin Capitol Pride has been “very inclusive in their approach to organizing,” reaching out to many businesses, churches, elected officials and organizations. That is something Outreach has worked to do as well, he said.
Just as important as celebrating within the LGBT community is Pride Fest’s goal of demonstrating how Madison’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender population is connected to the community as a whole, Leigh said. Several events are designed to make those connections.
A free, open-to-the-public Greet & Meet at MMoCA on Friday, Aug. 20, will include the King and Queen of Pride, the hostess of the parade, and parade marshals. Performance art modeled on the famous Gay Liberation sculpture by the late George Segal is also planned for the museum event, Leigh said. (The sculpture depicts two men, standing, and two women, sitting on a bench, in casual poses. It’s located in Christopher Park across from the Stonewall Inn in New York City — the site of riots that catalyzed the gay rights movement.)
Sponsored by the GLBT Alumni Council of the Wisconsin Alumni Association, the Greet & Meet is also a fundraiser for WAA scholarships.
Faustina Bohling, director of diversity for the WAA, said the group’s sponsorship of the event is a way to “inform the community about the activism that is happening on campus, which spreads to the greater community.”
“We want to show that we are a partner and a conduit to the university, be a supporter to future alumni and the communities in which they live,” said Bohling. “Without all of these connections, the council would have little relevance for alumni.”
Another community connection comes in the form of Pride’s Big Gay Brunch, on Sunday, Aug. 22, in which several restaurants will welcome LGBT groups for a morning meal before the parade. Dykes on Bikes will meet at Granite City at West Towne Mall, for example, and Madison Rugby will gather at The Coopers Tavern. The Orpheum Theatre, Nick’s and the Old Fashioned are among several others participating.
“It makes participating in Pride accessible,” Leigh said.
And, of course, there is the Pride Parade, beginning at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 22, at the Capitol Square. The parade, led by Dykes on Bikes and featuring the King and Queen of Pride, will proceed down State Street to the Library Mall, where a rally will follow.
Maria Parker, senior co-chair of Wisconsin Capitol Pride and a founding member of the group, said the MMoCA event, the parade and Pride Fest’s other higher-profile events — including day-long entertainment on Willow Island at the Alliant Energy Center on Saturday, Aug. 21 — help demonstrate Madison’s uniqueness in terms of its LGBT community.
“In a lot of cities, the gay community is thought of as ‘this part of town,’ maybe like a Chinatown or other ethnic areas,” she said. “In Madison, there isn’t that one clear area. We’re really everywhere, and it’s nice to reinforce that with these events.”
Beyond making community connections, Leigh said Pride Fest also will show how individuals can be connected to each other, through a commitment ceremony set for Thursday, Aug. 19. As many as 20 couples are expected to participate at the State Capitol rotunda, he said, and walk-ins are welcome.
For some, the ceremony — especially in the midst of ongoing court battles over California’s Proposition 8 gay marriage ban — will be a political statement, Leigh said. For others it is “just to confirm the fact that they’re in love.”
“Laws can be passed all the time,” Leigh said, “but people will ultimately end up entering the loving relationships that they want to enter, and no law can stop that.”
There is one more connection Pride Fest organizers hope the event will make, Leigh said — to remind people how the LGBT community is connected to the past. That will be done through a “GLBTQ Legacy Tent” open during the Willow Island festivities.
“The adage is that you learn about history so you don’t repeat the same mistakes,” Leigh said. “We can learn from what they’ve done so we can move forward and not just fight the same battles.
“The biggest civil disobedience is just being who we are, if that seems disobedient to somebody. That sums up most Pride celebrations. You just have to be who you are.”
