LGBTQ communities, allies around US taking steps to promote safety at Pride 2024 events

There’s an air of defiance among those organizing or planning to attend Pride events around the country this year, despite underlying fears that occasionally prompt chills eight years after the mass shooting that killed 49 people at Pulse, an LGBTQ nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

Organizers of Colorado’s Pikes Peak Pride Festival are making plans to mark the event’s 34th anniversary in Colorado Springs, where a gunman killed five and injured 25 at LGBTQ nightclub Club Q in November 2022.

“The importance of Pride and celebrating our identity is more important than any fear,” said Pikes Peak Pride board member Justin Burns.

While organizers have hired a private security force and are coordinating with law enforcement and other groups to avoid potential disruptions, Burns said there’s only so much those forces can do.

“We all have to have each other’s backs," he said.

At a time of continuing anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and a spate of legislative measures targeting the trans community, LGBTQ groups and their advocates say it’s more important than ever to maintain a proud sense of identity while remaining vigilant in the face of unknown threats.

“The attitude continues to be that we will not let bigots drive us in to the shadows,” said Dara Adkison, executive director of TransOhio in Columbus. “We support each other visibly and proudly, this month and every other.”

Last month, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security issued a public service announcement to heighten awareness of the potential targeting of LGBTQIA+ events, such as Pride, by foreign terrorist organizations or their supporters.

One national group hopes to provide the LGBTQ community a sense of security by training faith leaders and congregants to play a protective, calming role at Pride events around the country. Interfaith Alliance, an organization based in Washington, D.C., that promotes LGBTQ rights and inclusive faith communities, teamed with the Southern Poverty Law Center to offer the training as part of its third annual “Faith for Pride” initiative.

“Folks across the country are concerned about a rise in extremism, including against LGBTQ people,” said Maureen O’Leary, the alliance’s director of field and organizing. “People are feeling like they can’t gather safely. Unless people can feel safe showing up as their whole selves, they don’t truly have freedom or equality.”

Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, a gay Baptist minister and the alliance’s president, said faith communities are especially obligated to be part of the healing process, given the unwelcoming attitude many in the LGBTQ community have felt from religious communities in the past. Despite polls that show Americans largely support LGBTQ+ equality, hate incidents continue to plague the community. Between June 2022 and April 2023, there were more than 350 anti-LGBTQ+ hate incidents nationally, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

With polarization high, the atmosphere “feels like a really important moment,” Raushenbush said. “There are people who are trying to rip those identities apart, and this is a way of not letting that happen.”

O’Leary said the initiative is designed to provide a counternarrative to those who attempt to pit religion against the LGBTQ community.

“A lot of extremists show up cloaked in the language of religion, using religion as a weapon instead of a bridge for healing,” she said. “When people of faith show up in a capacity that is healing, joyful and supportive of LGBTQ members, the idea of 'faith versus LGBTQ' identity falls apart.”

LGBTQ advocates say political climate drives hate

According to national LGBTQ+ advocacy organization Lambda Legal, more than 1,200 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced in 48 states since 2022. More than 130 have been enacted.

LGBTQ+ people can be denied service in businesses or lodging in hotels in 23 states, the organization said, while transgender youth face bans on gender-affirming care in 25 states.

More than 750 bills affecting the LGBTQ+ community have been introduced nationwide in 2024, according to LGBTQ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign, including potential bans on gender affirming care, restrictions on bathroom use and allowing business owners to refuse service to LGBTQ individuals based on religious beliefs.

Some say the accompanying rhetoric around such legislation has given fringe groups license to attack LGBTQ community members.

“All this heinous stuff happening legislatively is giving people license to hate,” said Cindi Creager, chief communications officer for Lambda Legal, who plans to attend next month’s 55th anniversary commemoration of the historic Stonewall riots in New York’s Greenwich Village. “So it’s a fraught climate to begin with.”

Roland Stringfellow, senior pastor of Metropolitan Community Church of Detroit in Ferndale, Michigan, said the atmosphere has pushed him to a breaking point.

“The rise of fascism in the U.S. is a constant problem,” said Stringfellow, a regular speaker at Detroit’s Motor City Pride celebration. “But I admit, if you’re looking for a fight, I’m going to give it to you. People want to minimize me as a Black man and a gay man, and I’m tired of it.”

Darcy Connors, who oversees the direct services division of SAGE, an organization serving elder members of New York’s LGBTQ community, said that while she’s heard both concerns about safety and attitudes of defiance among members, the latter is more pronounced, given the agency’s older clientele.

“These folks have lived through a lifetime of trauma,” she said. “While the majority are cautious, they’re still going to show up and continue to fight against hateful legislation and folks who want us to go back in the closet.”

How people can take steps to ensure safety at Pride events

In Houston, organizers of the 46^th annual Houston Pride Festival and Parade said safety has always been a "top priority." Security measures will include watchtowers, undercover agents and extensive coordination with law enforcement agencies.

“These measures are part of a comprehensive security plan designed to handle any threats effectively and ensure that our celebration remains a bastion of joy and unity in the face of adversity,” leaders of Houston Pride 365 said in a statement.

While organizers of Pride events elsewhere are taking similar measures, LGBTQ community members and advocates say there are precautions individuals can take to ensure their safety.

Melissa Vitale, a queer cannabis and wellness publicist in New York, said that while she often attends LGBTQ-supportive events and protests around the city and has yet to encounter any anti-LGBTQ forces, she still maintains a cautious approach.

“The first thing I do in a big crowd is find my exit points,” Vitale said. “You never know where a lone gunman may make his stand.”

That’s a step also recommended by Laura Frombach and Joy Farrow, co-authors of “Street Smart Safety for Women: Your Guide to Defensive Living.” The two suggest being aware of indications that signal a crowd turning into a mob.

“The crowd grows quickly in size, and the rhetoric grows fiercer and more violent,” Frombach said. “People do things in a mob that they wouldn’t do otherwise, and that’s when people get hurt. You can always celebrate later, another day – but if your personal safety is compromised, that could affect you for the rest of your life.”

The de-escalation training offered by Interfaith Alliance and Southern Poverty Law Center hopes to defuse such situations by giving people skills to deal with aggressive individuals in a nonconfrontational way.

“It’s rooted in a place of empathy and calm,” O’Leary said. “It’s really equipping people to be grounded and to have that mental readiness to be a peacebuilding presence.”

Raushenbush said the sessions are essentially nonviolence training, presenting various scenarios and ways to deal with them. But collectively, the project also hopes to collect on-the-ground data about what works, what doesn’t and what types of threats are encountered to better prepare people in the future.

“This training will not only equip people for peacebuilding this season but lay a foundation for years to come,” O’Leary said.

“Street Smart Safety” co-author Farrow, a former deputy sheriff, agreed.

“It’s important to talk calmly,” Farrow said. “It’s easy to get caught up in argument, and then other people get involved and it gets out of hand. ... It does take practice, because people want to push your buttons.”