INC NEWS - Pride parade draws thousands to West Durham (Herald-Sun, N&O, and Duke Chronicle)

[John Schelp]

Duke, Durham host Gay Pride Parade
Duke Chronicle, 2 October 2006

With the roar of motorcycle engines, the wail of fire
truck sirens and the display of a rainbow-colored
flag, the North Carolina Gay Pride Parade was off to a
rambunctious and colorful start Saturday afternoon.

The annual event, the biggest of its kind in North
Carolina, was held on and around Duke's East Campus,
attracting thousands of people from both within the
state and as far away as California.

Approximately 6,000 people gathered around Main, Broad
and Ninth streets to support the parade in its 22nd
year and cheer as the floats drove by.

"[The purpose of this event is] to create a day and
time for the LGBT community to celebrate... and build
positive bridges with the non-gay community" said
Keith Hayes, spokesperson for The Pride Committee of
North Carolina. "We couldn't pull it off without
Duke."

Stands from a variety of organizations-including
churches, political groups and a community rugby
club-lined the lawns near the gazebo on East,
attracting visitors who turned out for the parade.

The event drew many members from the Duke and Durham
communities.

"It's a wonderful day in the neighborhood," said John
Schelp, president of the Old West Neighborhood
Association. "[It is] an opportunity to embrace
tolerance and diversity."

Even though Duke students were the minority at
Saturday's festival, those who showed up enjoyed the
event.

"[The parade] adds color, acceptance tolerance and
confidence," senior Patrick Phelan said.

Some students also said they were attracted by the
novelty of the parade.

"It is good to see new things you never see in a
conservative state," said freshman Johnny Lai, a
native of Alabama.

Other students voiced similar opinions.

"I wouldn't expect this in Durham," freshman Philip
Gnaedig said.

Although some praised the message of acceptance,
members of the conservative religious group Operation
Save America stood on the sidewalk heckling
participants in the parade.

Group members broadcasted through a megaphone that
homosexuality is a sin "with severe unintended
consequences."

Flip Benham, director of Operation Save America, said
homosexuals are not at fault, but that they will
suffer the consequences of their actions.

"Jesus loves you, unconditioned, your sin is going to
kill you, you are free to make that choice," he said.
"[It is] an utter disgrace."

Gay pride supporters confronted Benham for his
comments.

"This is America, people are entitled to express their
visions," Hayes said. "[This is] a perversion of the
message of Christ... It holds no credibility with the
gay community."

As attendees watched the North Carolina Pride marching
band play "Lady Marmalade," they lauded the event for
bringing different members of the community together.

"It helps destroy the barriers between Duke and
Durham," one student said.

****

Pride parade attracts thousands
Ninth Street to East Campus: 'Environment of
Acceptance'
Herald-Sun, 1 October 2006

Spilling from Ninth Street to the Duke East Campus and
attracting an estimated several thousand people from
around the state and beyond, Saturday's Gay Pride
Parade meant different things to different people,
depending on the particular perspectives and life
experiences they brought to it. 

But all agreed on one thing, according to spokesman
Keith Hayes, a corporate communicator for Blue
Cross/Blue Shield of North Carolina. 

Hayes said he could speak for everyone in
characterizing the NC PrideFest weekend as "the
state's biggest feel-good event of the year for
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people and
their straight allies and supporters." 

Hayes described the Triangle as having a "remarkably
upbeat and positive" attitude toward gays and
lesbians, making them feel safe, happy and proud to be
here. 

"Unlike many similar events, we've never drawn
protesters, just supporters," Hayes said. "And our
straight allies and participants who turn out -- from
churches to politicians to civic organizations -- see
the positive energy their support has helped to build.
Everyone comes away feeling good about the environment
of acceptance that we've created in this area and
that's slowly influencing old-guard attitudes around
the state." 

However, Saturday's parade -- unlike those of recent
years -- was met with a small demonstration of
protesters armed with bullhorns and harsh words. 

The protest involved about 15 people, most of them
reportedly from South Carolina. They lined up on Main
Street opposite the entrance to Duke's East Campus and
heckled those parading. No arrests or incidents of
violence were reported. 

"It was hurtful and hateful to me," said Hayes, the
event spokesman. "It's hard on a gay person, and even
on a human being, to listen to such castigation. It
also underscores the need for parades like this to
continue." 

Hayes said some of Saturday's participants were from
"very rural areas, places where they perhaps don't
feel safe. This event gives them a chance to come out,
pat each other on the back, bask in solidarity and
celebrate our accomplishments." 

At gay pride events in large cities like New York, Los
Angeles and San Francisco, sexuality often is
blatantly featured on parade floats, according to
Hayes. 

"But that doesn't go down here," he said. "We don't do
things that way. It's counterproductive. I think only
a very small number of the gay community thinks they
should be able to do whatever they want to on parade
day." 

One goal of Saturday's event was to build bridges to
the non-gay community, Hayes said. 

He said he was encouraged by the fact that more than
20 Ninth Street businesses displayed "gay-friendly"
logos in their windows. 

"I think Durham has really come to appreciate the
character of our event," said Hayes. "Durham has been
so accepting and so supporting. We are about
representing ourselves positively to the community.
It's clear this community is responding positively." 

For George Alwon of Raleigh, president of a consulting
firm, Saturday's event was a chance to get out the
vote for the November mid-term congressional
elections. 

"Everything we can do to get out the gay vote might
turn Congress away from its attitude of viciousness
and hate toward the gay community," said Alwon. "I
want to get out the vote without actually influencing
people how to vote. 

"We need to let the world know we're here and we're
real, normal people who have lives and families,"
Alwon said. "For me, this event is a celebration, but
it's also a political statement that this is America,
and we can be the way we want to be in America. Yes,
we are different, and we're proud of it. It's about
time America recognizes that we're here and we're OK."


Durham Assistant City Attorney Sherri Zann Rosenthal
was a keynote speaker for Saturday's event, dwelling
largely on the evolution of public attitudes toward
the gay and lesbian community. 

She said the first gay rights march in Durham, called
"Our Day Out," was held in 1981 after a man thought to
be gay was clubbed to death at the Little River. 

"This galvanized the gays and lesbians in Durham,"
said Zann Rosenthal. "After that, a lot happened.
Before, people had been working on civil rights in
general, but not specifically on gay and lesbian
rights." 

Contrasting markedly with Saturday's aura of openness,
some people marched in 1981 with bags over their heads
because they feared losing their jobs if recognized,
according to Zann Rosenthal. 

She said others wouldn't take part in the event, even
with their heads covered, because they were afraid of
being beaten. 

"The change from then to today is amazing," Zann
Rosenthal said in an interview. "Today is a
celebration, a fun, lighthearted kind of day. It's a
really happy contrast to 1981." 

****

Pride parade surges past protesters: Durham event
draws thousands
News & Observer, 1 October 2006
 
Men dressed to the nines in glittery gowns, steep high
heels, glistening tiaras and lots of makeup playfully
posed for thousands of fans in front of floats on one
side of Main Street.

On the opposite side, a half-dozen men from Concord
huddled around an amplified megaphone, preaching their
version of the Gospel to a crowd that did not want to
hear them.

Nearly 6,000 people had gathered on the edge of Duke
University's East Campus for the 22nd North Carolina
Gay Pride Parade.

The parade typically is the big draw in PrideFest, a
three-day event that pulls in people from the
Carolinas, Virginia and beyond.

Organizers were proud of how much the event had grown
since the first one 25 years ago. Events, serious and
festive, were scheduled in Chapel Hill, Durham and
Raleigh.

"It's just gotten bigger," said Annette Warner, 45, a
Wilmington resident who has attended the annual parade
for the past 10 years. "But this is the first time
I've seen this," she added, pointing to the men across
the street shouting Bible passages over a bullhorn.

Flip Benham, the leader of Operation Rescue/Operation
Save America, a Concord-based organization that
battles abortion, homosexuality and Islam, was ordered
by police to turn off the amplifier. He had not gotten
the proper noise permit, a lieutenant at the event
said.

"We get one day out of the year, and we get people
like that who want to preach to us," said John Martin,
34, of Charlotte. "We don't go to their holy roller
events and disrupt them. The Bible says to love your
neighbor as thyself. It doesn't tell you who to love
and not to love."

Once the parade started, the preachers were drowned
out by loud cheers, honking horns and buzzing kazoos.

A marching band, political dignitaries and numerous
gay advocates, including church groups and college
alliances, made their way down Main Street toward the
Ninth Street business district.

Smartly dressed drag queens delighted their audience
with beauty-queen waves from colorfully decorated
floats. Men in Army fatigues topped the Fayetteville
United For Pride float displaying the banner: "742
Kicked Out, 2005."

"I've never seen a parade without Santa Claus," said
Bobby Archer, 47, of Locust.

North Carolina's first gay pride rally was organized
in Durham 25 years ago after a deadly gay-bashing
incident on the banks of the Little River.

Much has changed since that first gathering.

Wib Gulley, counsel for the Triangle Transit Authority
and a former six-term state senator, was mayor of
Durham in 1986 when he issued an "Anti-Discrimination
Week" proclamation that put him up against a recall
movement that failed for a lack of signatures.

In his proclamation, Gulley denounced discrimination
of people based on race, gender and sexual preference.

"It's a little hard today to imagine the time period
20 years ago, but that wasn't the usual or acceptable
approach to anti-discrimination at the time," Gulley
said this week in a telephone interview. "I heard
about it. But you couldn't say some forms of
discrimination were wrong and other unjustifiable
forms of bias were OK."

Keith Hayes, spokesman for the Pride Committee of
North Carolina, said that although he was saddened by
the attention paid to the protesters, he was heartened
by what he saw this weekend at PrideFest and in years
past.

"We continue to make it safer and easier for people to
be out, out as gay people in society," Hayes said.
"Every year I see more and more young people out and
participating in this event. That's momentous, really.
I didn't come out until I was in my 30s."

****